A Guide To A Beginner’s Herb Garden

Have you ever had an interest to plant your first herb garden? Herbs have been around for ages and have been used in various purposes, such as treating sickness, craft projects and flavoring food. Here’s a few tips on getting started.

Make your garden plan. Think about the type of herbs you want to plant. Consider the kinds available. Would you like annuals, biennials or perennials? What are the purpose of the herbs that you are interested in?

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).

Another factor to consider is to plant the tall ones towards the back and the shorter ones in front. Give your plants plenty of space to grow and also find out their sunlight requirements and make adjustments accordingly. Properly positioning will help you in this department.

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 consider having a square herb bed. You can have your square bed divided into sections. You can edge it with stones or bricks for a beautiful look . A wooden ladder may also do the trick. You can lay it down on your garden and plant your herbs between its rungs. You can also choose to have a wagon wheel bed. Planting here is like planting with the wooden ladders. Plant your herbs in between the wagon wheel’s wedges.

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 are some of the simplest plants to grow. You need to provide them with effective drainage, sunlight, enough humidity or moisture and fertile soil. With these basic conditions they are bound to produce an awesome harvest.

Think about harvest time as well. What will you do with them? Eat or cook them fresh? Freeze or otherwise preserve them? You’ll discover after your first year which ones you really liked and were useful to you, and which didn’t work out as you would have liked. So next year your herb garden can be even better with more experience under your belt.