If you want to know how to start a herb garden but aren’t sure where to start, read on! If you love using fresh herbs but often find yourself disappointed at the supermarket selections, starting your own herb garden is the answer to having herbs at your fingertips.
Fresh herbs like rosemary, basil, mint, or fennel make mealtimes special and there is no reason you can’t start your own herb garden. A herb garden is easy to maintain, fun to work in and has the added benefit of making it possible to enjoy the freshest of herbs each and every day.
A herb garden doesn’t have to be big so you don’t need much space to grow one. You can even start a potted herb garden on your windowsill! This way you’ll have the aroma of fresh herbs right inside the kitchen or on your patio.
So where do you start? When you start a herb garden its location is very important. This is because most herbs require specific conditions to grow to their tasty best. While many herbs enjoy a sunny, dry spot there are also herbs that like filtered sunlight and moist growing conditions.
The first thing do before starting your herb garden, is make a list of the herbs you like to eat and then research their ideal growing conditions. Next examine your garden (morning and afternoon) and determine whether you have the right conditions for them to grow in. If you are lucky you should find an ideal spot in a sunny garden. You can also use taller plants like sunflowers to create shade for sun-shy plants.
As a general guideline the following plants will do best in a sunny location so your herb garden will need full sun for most of the day:
The following plants prefer partial shade in your herb garden:
* Chervil
* Lemon Balm
* Mint
* Planning Your Garden
Next, set about planting only the herbs you know you will definitely use in your daily cooking. Add a few that you haven’t tried before just to spice things up a bit and give yourself something to look forward to. Your herb garden doesn’t have to contain several plants of each variety. One plant can produce enough herbs to keep you happy in the kitchen and most herbs sprout once cut so they will actually grow better the more you use them! However, if you plan to cut your herbs for preserving in oil, vinegar or for freezing you might need several plants to carry you through winter.
You can either start your herb garden by planting seeds, propagating them from cuttings or buying seedlings from your local garden shop or nursery. Basil, chives, lemongrass, parsley, and thyme are best started from seed while mint, rosemary, and tarragon are easily propagated from cuttings or bought as plants.
