Outdoor Herb Gardens
Indoor Herb Gardens

A garden full of herbs can improve your cooking and your landscaping with minimal space and effort. For beginners, a garden of perennial herbs is a good starting point. The most popular herbs are also the best loved in the kitchen so you’ll put them to work immediately. Also, since perennial herbs renew themselves year after year, your time spent planning and planting won’t wither away at season’s end. Instead you’ll build a base of herbs that will return next spring. Then, you can branch out and experiment by adding annual or biennial herbs, which have limited life spans.

Seasoned herb gardeners recommend the following 14 perennial herbs for a basic culinary herb garden: bay, chamomile, chives, comfery, Egyptian onions, lemon balm, lovage, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme, and winter savory.

After selecting your herbs, design the layout. Your garden can be used as elaborate as imagination allows, with stones or brick paths weaving through walls of blooming herbs to a secluded bench. Or, you can keep it small and simple, dividing a section of yard into squares using two-by-fours.

An herb garden really needs only three things too succeed: good sun, good drainage and good soil. Find an area that gets at least six hours of sun each day. If drainage is poor, raise a flat plot with dirt from a surrounding ditch.

Like any plant, they will grow much better in good soil. Artificial fertilizers, dried manure or a layer of compost will provide a wealth of nutrients for your herbs.

Harvesting is one of the joys of an herb garden. You can clip them whenever you need them throughout the summer and pinch out flowering shoots to encourage bushy growth. Or, you can do a major harvest when you’re ready to preserve a supply for later use.

Most herbs will be ready for a harvest once around July and again in September. Harvest between the time the flower buds appear and before they are fully open. This is the time the oil content is just right.

Unless you are using them immediately in cooking, dry herbs as soon as possible. Hang them to dry or use the ‘90’s method: microwave oven. Small-leafed herbs take about one minute on high, while juicier, large-leafed herbs take about three minutes. Another great way of preserving herbs—-especially those with fine, delicate leaves—-is to seal them in plastic bags a few sprigs at a time and freeze them. Or chop sprigs into small pieces and place in compartments of an ice tray, top with water and freeze. When thawed, they are comparable in flavor to freshly cut herbs.

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Indoor Herb Garden

Herbs can be a year-round treat when grown indoors. Take a little time to provide proper growing conditions and you can expect a continual harvest of fresh herbs.

Many herbs do well indoors in clay pots or any other type of planter. Plants of bright-flowering herbs grown in pots are useful both indoors and out. Set them in your garden during warm months to fill temporary gaps. Perennials grow more vigorously and live longer when outside during summer, especially if they are grown in clay pots sunk into the earth to live a more natural life for a month or two.

When potting, start with any packaged soil, add a half of cup of dried manure and a handful of gardener’s sand. Indoor herbs can be started any time, but planting them outdoors in August or September will establish them before moving indoors. Bring them inside before the first frost and enjoy them all winter.

Herbs grown indoor need a minimum of five to six hours of sun a day (or 14-16 hours of fluorescent), evenly moist soils, pots at least eight inches deep and cool temperatures (60-70-degrees by day and 50-60 degrees by night.) Look for a sunny window in an airy, slightly humid area. If light provided is less than 6 hours, there are herbs that do not require as much light whether natural or artificial. Some suggestions would be bay, lemon balm, mint, parsley or thyme.

Potted herbs need regular watering, a good soaking once or twice a week is adequate. Good drainage is important, because herbs can not tolerate excess water at their roots. Misting is also helpful. Fertilize once a month.

Herbs grown indoors need more pinching and trimming than regular houseplants, but do not get carried away. Carefully prune wayward stems and remove decayed or brown growth. Culinary herbs can be harvested any time during the growing season. Pick fresh green leaves but not too many from one plant. Proper trimming will also allow the herb plant to bush out and get nice and full.

Herbs such as sweet bay and rosemary do best when planted in their own container. They can then be brought indoors when desired.

A tall container such as a strawberry pot or urn is a perfect container for trailing or low growing herbs such as thyme, mints or winter savory.

Shallow containers are best suited for the annual herbs such as basil, parsley, chervil, dill and calendula because they can more easily be emptied and changed season to season.

Pot size is only a matter of common sense based on how big the plant is at the time, how big the plant will get, how much room is needed for root growth, and how tall the plant will grow. Annuals will grow bigger faster than perennials. Fast growing plants need to be planted in a larger container than slower growing plants.

A rule of thumb for watering your container plants is to remember that smaller pots will dry out much faster so it is a good idea to plant in a larger container. A little patience will reap better long term results.

Keep in mind that many containers will hold more than one plant. Generally plants can be much closer in pots than in the garden but too much crowding can result in leggy growth or stunted growth.

Found containers such as glass bowls, old tins, washtubs, sinks or old wooden boxes are creative and add design to your garden. The drawback however is that they lack drainage holes. In order not to over water gravel or rocks can be placed at the bottom of the planter to help protect the root system.

Container growing is easy and only needs a small amount of time and dedication to reap the rewards of fresh homegrown herbs. So find a container and have some fun. Enjoy!

Here are some herbs that do great in containers: