How to Design an Herb Garden

Series Summary

Landscaping a front or back yard doesn't have to be a professional job. Home gardens provide a tranquil area for reflection and relaxation. Tending and enjoying a garden can lower blood pressure, ease anxiety and provide diversion in which to ponder and meditate. Even with limited yard space, planting a small corner garden is an afternoon task. In this free video series, a gardener provides tips on herb gardening, including advice on designing the garden, drying herbs and planting herbs. Discover how to grow an herb garden indoors and how to grow herbs organically. Learn about planting and growing various herbs, such as basil, chamomile, garlic, ginger, rosemary and thyme. Fill the kitchen cabinets with home-grown herbs!

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Yolanda, from vanveenbulbs.com. In this segment, we're going to learn about how to design an herb garden, so your garden is part of your own personality, so I love planting plants in my garden, that I use in the kitchen, and so the first thing that you should do, when you design your garden or your herb garden, is deciding what herbs you want to grow, and an easy way to decide, is to just look in your cabinets, and so I always look and see which herbs do you really use? And then those are the ones that you should grow, because if you're growing a lot of herbs that you're not using, then it's kind of silly, and it might be a waste of space, so make sure first, to figure out what kinds of plants you want to grow. I love rosemary, and I love my Cajun spice, and it's got thyme in it, so I think I can try to make my own too. It's just cayenne pepper and thyme, and a few other seasonings, so I can try to make it on my own. There's dill seed, basil leaves, parsley, oregano, so I know I want to put those plants in my garden. A few of my other favorites are basil. I love them in all my pestos, and with a tomato, and some cheese on it. Thyme of course, we talked about that, and spearmint. Spearmint is such a nice plant in the garden, because you can just take a little piece and put it in your mouth, and it's just like chewing gum almost. It makes you feel fresh. It's a nice scent, and a little bit with some lemonade, is really nice, so first thing when you're designing your garden, decide which plants you use everyday, or which plants you use in your kitchen, and so once you've decided that, then you need to find a place to plant it. Whether it's just the window sill inside the house, or a nice sunny location, outside of the house, they will grow almost anywhere. You can plant them on a deck. You can plant them on a patio. Just remember, you need at least a half a day of sun, because herbs really like a lot of sun. Now, you can plant them in containers, or you can put them in nice raised beds, too. You can plant them almost anywhere, so even if you have an area of your garden that you're not using, just throw some compost on top of it, and plant a few herbs, and you've got a nice herb garden. Now, once you've decided that you do want an herb garden, and which plants you want in it,and where you're going to put it, then you need to figure out what kind of layout. When you're deciding where to plant them, always decide based on the height and the size of the plants. Let me show you, so the larger herbs that grow bigger, you should put to the back of the bed, or at least the middle, so this is rosemary, and it can grow kind of big and more into a bush, and then another plant that you've got to almost be careful with, is the mint, because mints kind of take over, because they really do multiply quickly, and they'll push the other plants out, if you let them, so when you plant them, keep them either contained in a container in the bed, or plant them on the edges where they're not really going to take over, and that you can control them a little bit more, so oregano is a great plant too, and it stays a little bit smaller, so make sure and put that towards the sides of the beds, so that they don't get kind of covered up by the other types, and tarragon is a great plant. It gets a little more bushier, not quite as big as my rosemary, so it will be more of a plant that I put in front of my rosemary, but before my mint, or before my cilantro even, that gets a little bit shorter, and thyme too is a beautiful plant, that makes almost a ground cover. It never gets really big, so it's a great plant to put on the edges, so when you're designing an herb garden, you can keep it very formal, or keep them very separated, or you can throw them in all together. It's up to you, so go out and start your own herb garden, and enjoy the benefits."