Planting Herbs

Easy Herbs To Plant Include Basil And Chives

Before you start planting herbs, you need to decide which herbs and their uses best fit your needs. For instance, do you want to plant fast growing herbs, flowering herbs, companion herbs, or would you prefer growing culinary herbs to add to your favorite dishes?

One of the most enjoyable steps in planning an herb garden is choosing the herbs you want to grow in your garden. While this can be a lot of fun, it can also be exhausting picking the herbs that are right for you.

In the garden, herbs can represent both practicality and pleasure. Even the most dedicated vegetable gardener will grow a few basil plants for flavoring their tomatoes.

Some gardeners will choose to grow herbs as companions for their other plants. Certain herbs act as insect repellent, keeping damaging insects away from their other plants.

When your interest in herbs grows beyond simply tucking in a few plants with your flowers or vegetables, it will be time to plant some herbs in a garden of their own. Make sure to plan your garden around your personal tastes, style, and needs.

Choosing Your Herb Plants

Choosing which herbs to grow can be a little intimidating, especially since there are literally thousands of varieties throughout the world; some of which you may have never heard of.

Most people choose their herbs based on what they intend to use them for. I personally started growing herbs for culinary uses, so naturally I began growing herbs such as basil, parsley, thyme, sage, rosemary, and cilantro. These herbs just happen to be some of the easier ones to grow and maintain.

There's just something about picking a few fresh herbs from your garden to add to your favorite dish. It's also a good way to impress family and friends with your culinary skills.

Some herbs make great herbal teas, herbal lotions, creams, potpourris and even herbal flower arrangements. In this case you could start out growing lavender, chamomile, violet, or lemon balm.

Once you get the hang of it, I'm sure you'll want to branch out and experiment with the different uses herbs can provide. After all, experimenting with new herbs is part of the fun in growing an herb garden.

Other things to consider when choosing your herbs is the location. Where is your garden going to go? If the only spot you have is a shady spot in the yard, then you don't want to choose an herb such as sweet basil or calendula that requires full sun to grow.

If you are planning on growing an indoor garden, you will need to choose herbs that require partial to full shade such as Roman chamomile or Chervil.

Something else to consider is whether or not you want to grow annuals, or perennials.

Annual herbs will germinate, flower, and die all in the course of a year. If you decide to grow annuals, you will need to replant them each year. Annual herbs are characteristically weaker and rely mainly on stem and leaf growth.

Perennial Herbs live for more than two years, and are a hardier, bushier herb with an average growth of about 10% each year.

Start Out Planting Herbs In A Small Garden

The world of herbs is far larger than most people imagine, which you'll soon discover when you visit your local gardening center, or when you open a catalog from a company that specializes in herbs.

A lot of beginning gardeners act like a kid in a candy store when they purchase their herb plants/seeds for the first time.

They buy every type of herb their garden center carries, even if they have never heard of it before. This is not only expensive, but can sabotage your herb garden before you even plant the first seed.

Planting herbs is like any other type of gardening in that you reap what you sow. This means you're going to get out what you put in.

The more you plant, the more work will be required to have a successful garden.

No matter if we're beginning gardeners or veterans, most of us have a tendency to plant more than we can handle. Planting herbs is no different.

I made the mistake of growing too much basil once, and had basil growing out of my ears. Needless to say I learned my lesson.

It's tempting to get carried away while planning a garden, but your herbs will give you greater pleasure if they're easy to tend.

With proper preparation, planting herbs can be a wonderful and exciting experience!

Whatever your interest, start with the basics and choose the herbs appropriate to it.