Why a shady balcony suits herbs better than you might think

Most herb advice assumes a sun-baked Mediterranean terrace, and if your balcony faces north or east, or sits in the shadow of a neighbouring wall for much of the day, it is easy to conclude that growing anything worthwhile is a lost cause. It is not. The trick is to stop thinking about heat and start thinking about light. Bright shade, the kind you get under an open sky with walls bouncing light back at you, is perfectly workable for a good range of culinary herbs. What defeats them is deep gloom, waterlogged roots and wind, not the absence of a blazing afternoon sun.

As a rough guide, aim for at least three hours of direct sun or a full day of bright, indirect light. Hold your hand up at midday: if you can see a soft shadow of it on the wall, there is enough light. Fewer than that and you will get pale, leggy plants that taste of very little.

The three dependable herbs for a shaded balcony

Mint, parsley and chives earn their place because they evolved in damp, lightly wooded places rather than dry hillsides. All three will crop steadily for months if you treat them well.

• Mint. Spearmint and Moroccan mint are the best for cooking and for tea. It is vigorous to the point of thuggish, so give it a pot of its own, at least 20cm across and 5 litres in volume, and never plant it alongside anything you value. Pinch the growing tips every week or two to keep it bushy.
• Parsley. Flat-leaf types have the better flavour and are slightly more forgiving of shade than curly ones. Parsley sends down a long taproot, so choose a deeper pot, around 25cm, rather than a wide shallow one. Sow or buy fresh plants each spring, as older plants lose vigour.
• Chives. Happy in a shallower container because their roots are fibrous. Snip the leaves close to the compost and they will regrow within a fortnight. Garlic chives are just as easy and give you a gentler, sweeter flavour.

If you have room for a fourth pot, chervil and coriander both tolerate light shade, though coriander bolts quickly in warmth. Lovage is a fine choice for a large container in a corner, where it will reach waist height and keep you in celery-flavoured leaves all summer.

Compost and containers: get the foundations right

Balcony herbs live entirely on what you give them, so a decent multipurpose compost matters more here than in open ground. Choose one with added drainage material such as bark or grit, or mix your own by combining two parts multipurpose compost with one part grit and a couple of generous handfuls of garden compost or worm compost for body. Herbs in shade use less water than herbs in sun, so a free-draining mix protects against the rot that sets in when roots sit wet for days.

Every pot needs drainage holes, without exception, and a layer of broken crocks or gravel over them to stop compost washing out. Terracotta looks lovely and dries faster, which suits mint and chives; glazed or plastic pots hold moisture longer, which parsley appreciates. Group your pots closely together. They shade each other's compost, slow evaporation and, once the leaves touch, form a small humid microclimate that suits all three herbs nicely.

Watering: the habit that decides everything

In shade, more herbs are killed by overwatering than by drought. The compost surface should be dry to the touch before you water again, and even then only the top centimetre or so. Push a finger in up to the second knuckle; if it feels cool and damp, wait a day.

When you do water, do it thoroughly until it runs out of the drainage holes, then empty any saucer within half an hour. Little and often is the wrong approach: it wets only the surface and encourages shallow roots. Water in the morning where you can, so surplus moisture has the day to disperse. During warm spells you may need to water daily, and twice on a hot day, but in cooler shaded conditions every second or third day is often plenty.

Shelter from wind and a little gentle grooming

Shade and wind frequently arrive together. A north-facing balcony can funnel gusts that snap stems and dry leaves faster than the roots can replace the water. Group pots low and tight, use heavier containers, and place the tallest at the back against the wall. A trellis with a climbing plant, or a screen of breathable horticultural fabric, works far better than a solid panel, which simply creates buffeting turbulence behind it.

Pinch out leggy growth regularly, removing the top pair of leaves to encourage side shoots. Then, in late spring, keep an eye out for aphids on the soft new tips. A firm jet of water from a spray bottle usually deals with them before they become a problem.

Feeding, cutting and looking after pots through the seasons

Container herbs exhaust their compost within weeks. From March to September, feed with a liquid seaweed or general-purpose organic feed diluted to half strength every fortnight. Mint and parsley are the hungriest; chives need less.

Harvest little and often rather than in one big cut. Take no more than a third of the leaves at any time. Snip chives about 2cm above the compost, cut parsley stems from the outside of the plant, and pick mint tips from the top.

In autumn, move pots against a sheltered wall. Chives die back completely and parsley often sulks through winter, but both will return in spring, and mint will vanish underground and reappear with fresh green shoots just as you have given up on it.