Planning A Basic Herb Garden

You want to start a basic herb garden but you have no idea which plants you should buy or where you should plant them. Do not fret, it is not difficult to make a basic herb garden. Even for beginning gardeners the task is rather easy.

The very first thing you must do is determine what type of herb garden you want to grow. Are you looking to grow fresh herbs to cook with, scented herbs to dry and make potpourri with, medicinal herbs to soothe what ails you, or utilitarian herbs for practical uses?

Once you have that decided, you should find a good spot to plant them. The area where you make your garden should get full sun for at least six hours a day. The soil should be rich and dark and filled with nutrients. If you have heavy clay soil, you will either need to make a raised bed or amend the soil to make it better. Amending your soil sounds difficult, but it is nothing more than mixing in a lot of composted material.

Once you have determined the location of your herb garden, it is time to plan the layout and size. Most herb gardens are laid out in geometric shapes. If you prefer a formal look, you may want to edge your garden beds with boxwoods. For a country look, you could plant your herbs in an old wagon wheel. How much room you have will play a big role in the quantity and type of herbs to plant

Now you will need to choose the plants for your basic herb garden. What you plan to do with your bounty will help you make the next few decisions. If you will be using a certain herb heavily, you should plan to purchase three to five plants. If you are just buying a plant because you like the way it looks or smells, you may only want to buy one or two of those particular plants.

If you want to grow a basic herb garden for the kitchen, you should put parsley, chives, rosemary, fennel, and sage on your shopping list. For an aromatherapy garden, lavender, lemon grass, and rosemary are popular choices. For a healing garden, try coneflowers, pot marigolds, aloe vera and feverfew. A dye garden should include baptisia, French marigolds, and indigo.

Once you have all of the plants for your basic herb garden, it is time to place them in the ground. Pull each plant out of the pot and check to be sure it is not pot bound. When a plant is pot bound, the roots start to grow up around the sides of the plant’s root ball. Spread the roots at the bottom of the root ball out to keep them from continuing to grow in a circle. Dig a hole and place the plant in so that it is growing at the same level as it was before. When all of your herbs are planted, water them to remove any air pockets. You now have your first herb garden. Enjoy!