How to Plant a Culinary Herb Garden

Fresh herbs can be costly and sometimes hard to find. If you enjoy cooking, a fresh herb garden is almost a necessity. A culinary herb garden does not have to be planted in a complicated design nor do you need a lot of space to plant a simple herb garden. Herbs are very versatile and can be planted almost anywhere. You can plant them along pathways, in rock gardens, on terraces, among vegetable beds or your other plants or they can be planted in containers. Very little planning is needed for designing a basic culinary herb garden. Read on to learn how to plant a culinary herb garden.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• An area to plant your herbs
• Small herb plants
• Watering can
• Trowel
• Gardening gloves

1. Prepare your garden spot by cleaning out an area in your yard. Dig out all the weeds and grass, pull out all the roots.

2. Work the soil until it is nice and loose. You may want to use a rototiller or just work it by hand. Make sure you break up clumps of soil then rake it all nice and smooth.

3. Add organic matter to your soil such as fertilizer or compost.

4. Choose your herbs. Some of the most popular culinary herbs are basil, bay, chives, dill, garlic, lemon balm, marjoram, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon and thyme.

5. Plant your starter herbs in your garden. Plant the ones that will get the tallest in the back and the shortest in the front.

6. After planting water well and place mulch around your plants to keep the soil moist and help keep weeds from sprouting up.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't have yard space for a garden many herbs grow well in containers. Some of the smaller herbs like chives, basil, parsley, rosemary, sage and thyme can easily be grown in window boxes or small container gardens.
• With minimal effort and care you can have a culinary herb garden. Imagine bragging to guests that you made culinary dishes prepared with herbs grown in your own garden.
• Always know your herbs before planting, some have different needs like less water or more sun. Some also can be continually harvested while others can not.