Growing an Herb Garden

After you choose to develop your own herb garden, the next step is picking the assortment of herb plants you want. In addition to all the different herbs out there, each plant has a number of varieties to select from—such as basil which has 100s of varieties.

Each herb variety has its own life cycle. In order to make nice choices, it is important to know the growing period of your herb plants. Before you buy your herb plants, you’ll want to be aware of their growing season, or life cycle. There are 3 main kinds:

• Annuals: These flowers start from a seed. They grow, flower and die all in the same growing season. Some good annual herbs are dill, cilantro, mustard, chervil, basil and borage.

• Biennials: This variety of herb will grow for two years and will generally bear “fruit” after the first year. Some herb plants (like parsley) can produce leaves during both years but die early in the second growing season. Some biennials you should use are angelica, Queen Anne’s lace and chicory.

• Perennials: Herbs that tend to survive for more than 2 growing seasons are called perennials. The climate where these herb plants grow determines how many years they will come back, or if they can come back at all. Some perennials you might like include yarrow, lemon verbena, mints, rosemary, scented geranium, thyme and lady’s mantle.

My favorite herbs are perennials because I only have to purchase and plant them once, but I also have fun growing annuals and biennials. Be careful of how much cold weather your perennials are exposed to because too much will kill them. You can lengthen their growing cycle by bringing them in during winter months.

There are many other things you can do to lengthen the life of your herb plants:

• Some perennials will need for you to trim them back, dig up the bulb, roots or rhizome, and keep in your garage, basement or cellar over the winter.
• If you are going to bring your herb plants inside during winter, try containers instead of planting them in the ground.  If you want to plant these herb plants in the ground, a good trick is to plant them container and all. This makes it a cinch to store them during winter months—just dig up the container at the end of the season.
• Plant your biennials in middle of the summer so that you can get lots of flowers in the second season.
• A few herbs are self-sowers, which means that they will sow their own seeds for the next year. A few great self-sowers include: mustard, borage and catnip.
• A great way to boost a short-lived annual’s growing cycle is to remove any flowers that have faded. Depending on your area’s climate; your annuals may self-seed if you cut the herb back at the end of the summer.
• If you get some unexpected cold weather be sure to cover your plants with a blanket, towel or sheet which will prevent the frost from killing your herb. If you have your herbs in containers, you can always move them under a covered porch.

I hope that these tips will assist you with your herb garden planning. It can be difficult sometimes to get it just right. I have been doing this for years and I often end up digging up what does not work and redoing it!

Here is more information on Herb Garden Information. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.

Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.