An herb garden can be a place of enchantment on a summer’s day. You can watch the hummingbirds feeding on the bright-red bergamot flowers, bees sipping nectar from the pale pink thyme blossoms, inhale the fragrance of mints and lavender and delight in the butterflies dancing around the Echinacea.
Then comes the question... "How do I start one of my own?"
Herb Gardening is perfect for the beginning gardener and the experienced. Herbs need very little special care and they resist disease and pests naturally. In fact some herbs when brushed up against or rubbed on skin keep mosquitoes away. But more about that some other time.
Herb Gardens are as varied as the personalities of their gardeners. From traditional knot gardens to wild and wonderful natural landscapes. In fact the hardest part of herb gardening may be choosing the style and the kinds of herbs you want to plant.
Designing your garden
Time your willing to spend in the garden - This is a good question. Take a realistic look how much time you not only want to spend but have to spend, even though herbs may change your attitude. If you’re a weekend gardener than a little patch of kitchen herbs or a nice tea/fragrance garden near the back door may be the best for you. You can always enlarge next year. You can also just tuck a few herbs in with the veggies or flowers for now and see if you like them. Let’s take a good look at designing.
Where to Put Your Garden
Most herbs need five or six hours of sunlight. They like it slightly on the dryer side. If you live in a very cold climate as I do you may want to think about winter winds and find a spot they are more protected. And if you have many areas you can plant then think about common sense. A culinary or kitchen garden near the back door for convenience when you’re cooking. A fragrance garden near a window or next to the patio so you may enjoy the sights and scents.
Lay out your garden on paper
You need to decide what kind of garden style you might want. Informal groupings lush and undisciplined or a formal edged garden laid out precisely. Keep in mind when planning to include walking paths so you can reach to weed and harvest your herbs and keep your feet dry when the ground is wet. Usually no more than a two and half foot reach, which means five feet between paths. Your paths can be bare soil, straw, mulch, brick or walking stones. Your imagination is the only limit. Decide if you'd like a fence or wall around the perimeter too. And keep in mind the occasional decoration you might like to add later like a stone figure, or small bird bath or even a garden bench if space permits. With all this in mind measure your new garden area and transfer it to graph paper. You can then draw your plants on this later.
What to Plant
If you intend to cook with the herbs make a list of the ones you use most common. If you want to use herbs for crafts make a list of these. You can also make a tea garden, or a medicinal herb garden or one for dyeing or a collection of one type of herb such as thyme. As you make your list, note heights and colors of each kind, are they annual or perennial and how much space they will need.
Planning the Garden
Then arrange the plants on paper. You can draw each or another good idea is draw each on a separate piece of paper and cut them out so you can rearrange them until you decide. A few helpful guidelines when planning:
When possible you might want to keep the annuals and perennials separate so when the end of the season comes you won't disturb the roots of the perennials when you plant or pull out annuals. Try to keep taller plants to the back of the border or in the center of your bed and smaller ones near the edges to form borders. For a more formal look you can use lavenders or satolina or germander to create small hedges for borders. Keep in mind textures and color of not only flowers but leaves as well such as purple basil or satolina with its silver leaves, or velvety lamb's ears and crinkled horehound and mints. Try to contrast the colors and or textures to add interest. If you feel your not an artist at all you can play it safe and just keep related colors together like blues, purples and whites, or yellows, oranges and reds.
Planting Your Garden
Transfer your main outline of your graph paper design to the site. Hammer stakes into each corner and use string to outline. If your garden is a circle put a stake in the center and use string looped around it and then pull it taunt and use lime to outline the edges by making a funnel from a plastic baggy. These things will help guide you as you dig your garden.
Preparing the Soil
When you first dig your new garden it is a good time to prepare the soil. Check the drainage and if needed you can add sand to clay soil or perlite to improve the drainage. Add compost or sphagnum peat moss into the top 12 inches. Humus added can benefit almost any garden. It helps to loosen hard clay soils and it helps hold the moisture of sandy soils but lets the water drain away and that gives the roots air and rooms to grow.
Herbs like a fairly neutral or slightly alkaline soil. So if you know your soil is acid you can add some lime to this also. I like to dig in some organic matter in at this time too. I have very well rotted manure with compost and then I add a little lime to sweeten it. Herbs don't need to be fertilized the same as other more fussy garden plants. In fact too much will rob them of their scents and flavor. Just dig in some organic fertilizer each fall.
Buying Your Plants
Your local garden centers will have the more common herbs. Some may be in the perennial sections so ask if you don't see it. If you have a friend who is an herb gardener they most likely will be happy to give you some to help get you started. Herbs can be divided almost every year or so.
If you plan on buying your plants here are some basic guidelines to follow:
Look for plants that are branched with strong stems and new growth. The bigger or taller plant is usually not the best. The roots should not be running in circles in the bottom of the pot.
Make sure the plant is free from insects and disease. Look at the leaves and under them also. You will bring home a whole new problem if you purchase someone else’s problems. It will quickly spread to your gardens.
Make sure the plant is clearly labeled. Even this is not fool proof. I have seen plants with the wrong labels but if all of the plants in the garden center of the same kind have the same label you can be pretty sure that's what it is. If you're buying something totally new to you and you will be using it for culinary or medicinal make sure you KNOW what it is. Look in reference books or make sure you buy from a reputable herb farm.
Planting
It is best to plant any new garden plants either early in the morning or late afternoon because the hot midday sun can easily wilt newly planted. I also try to plant on a cloudy day and even when there is forecast of rain to come.
Take care removing the herbs from their pots. Don't try to pull the poor little things out by their leaves or stems. Squeeze around the container if you can to loosen it from its pot, then turn it upside down onto your open hand with your fingers spread so the stem is between them. Gentle squeeze the pot or gently push the bottom so the plant pops right out. If the roots look crowed, gently loosen the outside edges. Place your plant into its prepared hole that should be twice the width of the new plant and the bottom soil has been loosened. Fill the hole with soil half way up the new plant and water. Let the water drain and fill in the remainder of the hole. The top of your new plant should be just barely below the finished grade. Pat the soil on top and water again. Keep an eye on the new plants and water daily (don't drench, but water to moisten the area) until your new plant shows signs of new growth which means the roots have established themselves.
Taking Care of your Herb Garden
Herbs are a lot simpler than the fussy hybrids and flowers most of us see. A good example would be a 10' by 10' plot planted with 50 herbs. You most likely will spend 15 minutes a week weeding (more if it is a brand new garden area). And 15 minutes a week harvesting your new herbs. Water if you get less than an inch of rain per week. (But remember herbs like it on the dryer side once they get established.) Keep tops pinched back in early summer to promote branching out. No need to fertilize, work in a little compost each spring and you'll do fine.
