So You Want To Plant An Herb Garden?
Herbs have been around forever it seems and serve different kinds of purposes. Herbs have been used to treat illness, maladies, and flavor cooking as well as being used in many craft type projects. Interested in starting your own herb garden? Here are a few pointers on how to start an herb garden.
Plan your garden. Consider the herbs you want to plant. Think about their types. Would you like annuals, biennials or perennials? Are you wanting certain plants for cooking, or another purpose?
Time to research some specific information on those plants. How big will they be full grown? What are their sunshine and soil requirements? You can get a book at the library or gardening catalog of some type that will list those variables for you.
List or draw your garden on paper first. Consider planting the annuals separate from the perennials so when at the end of the season you can pull up the annuals, you won’t disturb the perennials. Perennials can be planted on the outer edges of your garden so when it is time to till your garden they won’t be in danger of getting dug up. They can also be placed in an area dedicated for just the perennials (which means they come up every year on their own).
Some tips would be to consider planting the taller plants towards the back of the garden and the shorter ones in front. Give your plants plenty of space to grow and mature to avoid overcrowding. Be sure to consider their sunlight requirements as well when choosing which to position to plant each plant.
If you don’t want to plant your herbs in your garden, or you don’t have a garden, you can always try planting them in container pots. There are large pots with three or more outlets in them. When planting, fill the container to the first level, then plant your plant. Then continue to the second level and plant, and so on until your pot is finished. Generally you want to plant the herb that needs the most water at the bottom and the one that needs the less, at the top. Use a good quality potting soil and make sure you have proper drainage.
You can also have a square shaped herb bedding area. You can divide your square bed into sections. Consider edging it with stones or bricks for a lovely look . A wooden ladder can be used as well. You lay it down on your garden and plant your herbs between its rungs as a divider. You can opt to use a wagon wheel in the bedding. Planting is like planting with the wooden ladders only it will be a circular shape.
It’s important to factor in the needs of each variety of plant. Many need alkaline soil conditions, so if you need to add any special additives you’ll already have that information on hand. If you start your own seeds, be sure to read the packet on the seeds as to water, temperature requirements, as well as when it’s safe to plant them in the spring.
Herbs can be very easy to grow on your own. Give each plant it’s basic requirements in regards to sunlight, proper drainage, moisture and fertile soil and you’re bound to get a great harvest.
You’ll also want to consider what you plan to do with the harvest. Will you cook them fresh? Freeze or preserve them in some other way? You’ll discover that you have some favorites each year and which ones didn’t perform as you would have hoped.
