How to Prepare Soil for an Herb Garden

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

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An herb garden is a practical and environmentally-friendly way to utilize even a small space outside. Herbs are easy to grow and low-maintenance, but it is important to prepare soil properly for herbs in the beginning to ensure their growing ability. An herb garden can be done in a container or in a patch of earth.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

Shovel
Container
Dirt
Fertilizer
Organic waste

Step1

Proportion correctly. The soil for an herb garden should be half solids and half porous space. The porous space allows room for air, water and growth of the roots of the plants. Things will need to be added to soil that is too dry and lifeless.

Step2

Get the soil tested to see what nutrients are needed n your soil. Contact the regional agricultural division of the local government to find out how to get it tested. The pH of the soil needs to be between 5.5 and 7.5 for most growth.

Step3

Till the soil with a small shovel. Break up and stir the dirt it until it is loose and mixed up well. Carefully till the soil all the way to the bottom of the container of about nine inches in the earth.

Step4

Add organic material into the soil as it is tilled. Organic matter will enrich the soil each spring with its diverse nutrients. Organic material includes anything once living but now decomposing such as vegetable seeds, corncobs or apple cores.

Step5

Fertilize the soil. These will keep vital nutrients in the soil and herb plants and keep away pests.