How To Build An Herb Garden

In comparison to other plants, herbs don’t need that much care. It is necessary to spray roses and trim orchids, but herbs can grow in poor soil and don‘t need any trimming or special care. As long as there is sunlight and a water, they can thrive, therefore learning how to build an herb garden is quite easy.

However, it’s not quite as easy as just tossing seeds on the ground and leaving them there so you do need to have a few herb garden plans in mind if you want to grow these plants successfully.

Since herbs can do well in not so great conditions, they can overtake your yard quite easily. Lavender is known to spread and Yarrow may take control of large areas. Chives can even become bushy and dense. Be sure to leave enough space in your garden or pot for the amount of plants that you deem appropriate.

Most herbs will do great as long as you give them at least a foot of space between your major sections. For example, chives prefer to grow in a bunch so keep that in mind for your herb garden plans. However, it is important to remember that their roots will need both water and nutrients because other nearby plants will try to compete with them.

The need to prepare soil for herbs is minimal, however that does not mean that it doesn’t have to be done. To support a wide variety of herbs, a good compost or mix of clay and sandy loam will suffice. Also, adequate drainage is necessary when you learn how to build an herb garden. Since many herbs are native to the Mediterranean area, they will grow well in rocky, relatively dry soil. Drainage was perfect where they evolved. All herbs have the need for some water. It has a need to be moist and not soaked.

Two herbs that can usually get by without manually watering them are lavender and sage. Any occasional rain will suffice. Peppermint, however, will need more which can be given by an automatic drip system.

By putting down some landscape fabric, you should be able to limit the amount of weeds. This will help avoid pulling up weeds later or resorting to the use of herbicides. Herbicides will possibly kill the biological similar herbs along with the weeds and also spraying them onto your food does not bode well.

Herbs stand up well to bugs, however you may want to use some to sacrifice for the good of the others. Dill is used as a ‘trap crop’, which attracts insects away from more important crops such as tomatoes. However, if your desire is to grow dill, using insecticide should be a part of your herb garden plans.

When learning how to build an herb garden, it‘s important to know when each herb should be planted. Some herbs can be planted at anytime, however others should be sown at 4 week intervals and others even as soon as the snow finishes melting.