Planters
The Best Planters for Indoor Herbs
Herbs are the thirstiest thing most people grow indoors and they live on the narrowest surface in the apartment. Those two facts decide the pot.
By Scooter M., enthusiast · Published · Last updated
The short answer
Measure your sill depth first — most are 4 to 6 inches, and most herb planters are wider than that. Then buy the deepest pot that fits, with drainage and a tray, because herbs are heavy water users and a shallow pot on a sunny sill can dry out in a day. A self-watering box is genuinely useful here, unlike almost anywhere else in this section.
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Herbs are the one category where the plant's needs and the apartment's constraints point in opposite directions. They want the brightest spot available, which in an apartment is a kitchen or south-facing windowsill. Sills are shallow — often four to six inches from glass to edge — so the pot has to be narrow. And herbs use water fast, especially basil, so a narrow shallow pot in the brightest spot is the fastest-drying combination in the apartment. Something has to give, and it is usually the basil.
So this page is organized around sill width first and water second. If your sill genuinely cannot take a pot, the answer is not a smaller pot — it is a window shelf that widens the sill, or a lit shelf somewhere else entirely, because herbs are the crop most worth putting under a light. How these picks were chosen.
Quick picks
Ranked, with the published figure each pick turns on. Tap a row for the full reasoning further down this page.
| # | Product | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  OurWarm Windowsill Herb Planter Box, self watering, 10.5 in, set of 3Rectangular rather than round, which is the shape a windowsill actually is, with a water level window so a herb that hates drying out does not. | Herbs on a kitchen sill | |
| 2 |  TCBWFY 4.7 in Metal Herb Pots with Drainage and Removable Tray, 3 packSmall enough to fit the sills that defeat everything else, with removable trays so the pot can go to the sink without the tray. | A narrow sill or a kitchen counter edge | |
| 3 |  Barnyard Designs Indoor Herb Garden Planter Pots with Trays, set of 3Metal rather than ceramic, which is the format that survives being carried from sill to counter and back every time you cook. | Herbs that get moved around | |
| 4 |  YNNICO Self Watering Planters with Drainage and Saucers, 6 potsSelf-watering pots that also have drainage holes, which sounds contradictory and is the detail that makes them survivable for a normal waterer. | A whole shelf on the same watering system |
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Measure the sill before you buy anything
This is the step everyone skips and it is the one that causes the return. Measure from the glass to the front edge of the sill, and note the sill depth as the limiting number — not the width, which is usually generous. Then check the planter's published depth against it. A 6-inch-deep box on a 5-inch sill overhangs, and an overhanging box full of wet mix on a radiator ledge is a genuinely bad idea in a rented apartment.
| Sill depth | What fits | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Under 4 in | Almost nothing safely | Window shelf, or move the herbs under a light |
| 4 to 5 in | Small individual pots, 4 in or under | Group several small pots on a tray |
| 5 to 7 in | Most windowsill boxes | This is the comfortable case |
| Over 7 in | Anything on this page | Consider a deeper box for basil and mint |
Which herbs a window can actually support
The honest version, which nobody selling herb kits prints: a bright windowsill grows some herbs well and others badly, and the difference is light. Extension guidance on indoor plants is consistent that a windowsill delivers far less usable light than an outdoor position even when it looks bright, and herbs are high-light plants. Mint, chives and parsley tolerate the deficit. Basil and rosemary usually do not, and the leggy pale basil that dies after three weeks is a light problem, not a watering one.
- Does well on a bright sill: mint, chives, parsley, oregano, thyme in a south-facing window.
- Struggles without more light: basil, rosemary, cilantro. These are the ones worth putting under a shelf light.
- Not a windowsill plant at all: anything you intend to harvest heavily and continuously. Continuous harvest needs continuous growth, and continuous growth needs more light than glass provides.
Why a reservoir is worth it here
Elsewhere on this site we are cautious about self-watering pots, because the mechanism keeps the lower mix damp and most houseplants do not want that. Herbs are the exception that proves the rule: they are heavy water users, they are annual or short-lived, and drying out is a real risk in exactly the position they need to be in. A windowsill box with a visible level is the one place in an apartment where a reservoir solves more than it causes — the reasoning is worked through in self-watering versus a plain drainage hole.
Every pick, in full
We have not handled any of these. What follows is what each listing publishes, what that means once you put a watered pot on it, and who should buy something else.
1. Herbs on a kitchen sill
OurWarm Windowsill Herb Planter Box, self watering, 10.5 in, set of 3
Rectangular rather than round, which is the shape a windowsill actually is, with a water level window so a herb that hates drying out does not.
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- What the listing publishes
- 10.5 in boxes with a visual water level window; three per set
- Against a 10-inch pot
- No weight rating is published for this product, so there is nothing to check. That counts against it here rather than being treated as neutral.
Round pots waste a sill. A 10.5-inch box uses the full depth of a standard sill and leaves room for the next box, which is why three of them fit where two round 8-inch pots would.
Herbs are the plants least tolerant of a dry week. Basil in particular collapses and does not come back, so a level window is more useful here than on a pothos.
Box planters spread their weight along the sill rather than onto a point, which matters on the thin sills common in older rentals.
What is good
- A rectangular shape uses the whole sill
- The level window suits plants that will not tolerate drying
- Spreads load along the sill
What is not
- Reservoir volume is not published
- A sill-only shape is useless anywhere else
- Herbs in a shared box compete once they establish
Skip it if your sill is under four inches deep. These are 10.5 inches long but still need real depth, and a hanging window shelf is the better answer.
2. A narrow sill or a kitchen counter edge
TCBWFY 4.7 in Metal Herb Pots with Drainage and Removable Tray, 3 pack
Small enough to fit the sills that defeat everything else, with removable trays so the pot can go to the sink without the tray.
#ad · Price shown on Amazon. How we are funded
- What the listing publishes
- 4.7 in metal pots, drainage holes, removable trays
- Against a 10-inch pot
- No weight rating is published for this product, so there is nothing to check. That counts against it here rather than being treated as neutral.
4.7 inches is under five inches of sill depth, which is the dimension that decides whether a rental kitchen can grow herbs at all.
Removable trays matter more than they sound. Carrying a pot with a loose full tray is how a sill gets watermarked.
Saturated mix at this size computes to well under 2 lb per pot, so the whole set is lighter than one 8-inch ceramic.
What is good
- Fits genuinely narrow sills
- Removable trays travel to the sink separately
- The whole set weighs less than a single large pot
What is not
- Too small for anything but herbs and seedlings
- Metal is non-porous and holds water
- Painted metal chips at the rim
Skip it if you want a productive basil plant. 4.7 inches restricts it, and a 10-inch box gives you something to actually cook with.
3. Herbs that get moved around
Barnyard Designs Indoor Herb Garden Planter Pots with Trays, set of 3
Metal rather than ceramic, which is the format that survives being carried from sill to counter and back every time you cook.
#ad · Price shown on Amazon. How we are funded
- What the listing publishes
- Metal windowsill containers with drainage trays, three per set
- Against a 10-inch pot
- No weight rating is published for this product, so there is nothing to check. That counts against it here rather than being treated as neutral.
Herb pots get handled more than any other plant in an apartment. Metal survives that; glazed ceramic chips and terracotta cracks.
Individual pots rather than a shared box means the basil that dies can be replaced without disturbing the thyme that did not.
Metal has no porosity at all, so it holds moisture longer than clay. For basil that is right, and for rosemary it is wrong.
What is good
- Survives daily handling
- Separate pots, so one failure is not three
- Drainage trays included
What is not
- No published dimensions on the listing to plan a sill around
- Non-porous, so rosemary and thyme stay wetter than they like
- Bare metal marks a wooden sill where it stays damp
Skip it if you are growing Mediterranean herbs. Rosemary, oregano and thyme want the fast drying that terracotta gives and metal prevents.
4. A whole shelf on the same watering system
YNNICO Self Watering Planters with Drainage and Saucers, 6 pots
Self-watering pots that also have drainage holes, which sounds contradictory and is the detail that makes them survivable for a normal waterer.
#ad · Price shown on Amazon. How we are funded
- What the listing publishes
- Six pots from 5 to 8 in, each with drainage holes and a saucer
- Against a 10-inch pot
- No weight rating is published for this product, so there is nothing to check. That counts against it here rather than being treated as neutral.
Most self-watering pots have no drainage hole, so an overfill has nowhere to go and the roots sit in it. Holes plus a reservoir means the system tolerates being watered from the top by mistake.
Six pots from 5 to 8 inches computes to between 1.8 and 7.5 lb of saturated mix each. Even fully loaded that is a shelf-safe set.
Matching a whole shelf to one watering method is worth more than it sounds. Mixed systems are how half a shelf gets overwatered.
What is good
- Drainage holes and reservoirs together
- Six graduated sizes
- Light enough for any stand here
What is not
- Small reservoirs mean days, not weeks
- Plastic
- Six near-identical pots is a commitment to one look
Skip it if you wanted a fortnight of autonomy. Small reservoirs in 5 to 8 inch pots buy days, and the 12-inch with a published 60 oz reservoir is the pot for a vacation.
Questions people actually ask
How deep does a herb planter need to be?
Can I grow herbs on a north-facing windowsill?
Should each herb have its own pot?
Why does my basil keep dying?
Sources
- University of Illinois Extension: Houseplants — lighting
- Clemson HGIC: Indoor Plants — watering
- Michigan State University Extension: Smart Gardening — growing houseplants indoors
Product specifications are quoted from each seller's own listing and are the seller's claim, not a measurement of ours.