How to Cultivate Herbs

A small herb garden is indispensable for adding layers of flavor to sweet and savory dishes. You can also cultivate herbs for aromatherapy treatments or alternative medicine preparations. Most herbs are resilient plants that tolerate some benign neglect, so a small herb patch is a fine introduction to gardening for the novice.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Compost
• Peat moss
• Stone or gravel mulch
• Yellow sticky traps
• Diatomaceous earth
• Grow light

1. Choose a sunny spot for your herb garden. Your herbs should receive at least 6 hours of full sun each day.

2. Amend the soil with organic matter. Many herbs hail from Mediterranean climates, and they don't appreciate wet feet. Dig in 3 inches of compost or peat moss to improve the drainage of your soil.

3. Fertilize herbs sparingly. Excess nitrogen can cause rank growth, which decreases the concentration of the essential oils you want to season your food and add fragrance to your home.

4. Water your herb garden evenly. Apply water to the base of the herb plants to keep foliage dry and discourage foliar diseases like powdery mildew.

5. Mulch your herb garden with stones or gravel. Stone mulch depresses weeds, and stones retain heat to speed up the growth of hot-weather lovers like rosemary, sweet bay, oregano and lemon verbena.

6. Control pests with organic methods. Handpick caterpillars and beetles, use yellow sticky traps for whiteflies and use diatomaceous earth to deter slugs and snails.

7. Harvest herbs frequently to promote bushy growth. Unless you're growing chamomile or sweet marjoram for flowers, pinch off the flowers to discourage seed production, which suppresses the level of essential oils in the plants.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't have a sunny outdoor spot to cultivate herbs, plant them indoors on a south-facing windowsill, or use a grow light (see Resources).

Resources

• Shop for grow lights at Grow-Light.