Creating your own herb garden
The Roanoke Times’ gardening columnist, Karen Hager, recently wrote a column about growing herbs. It was timely and informative, so I would highly encourage you to check it out if you have not already.
I agree wholeheartedly with Karen when she says herbs are the best way to branch out from growing flowers to gardening for food or medicinal purposes. Before I started growing vegetables, I created a small herb garden just outside my side door, so anytime I need fresh herbs I can dart down the steps from the kitchen and pick some.
I currently have rosemary, thyme, oregano, and garlic chives. Although Karen suggests treating rosemary as an annual or bringing it indoors, my rosemary has done so well outdoors that it’s about to devour the house. In fact, I’d still have sage if that doggone rosemary bush had not choked it out. Of course, this lazy gardener probably could have cut it back and prevented that from happening, but I’d also suggest leaving plenty of room around your rosemary in case it goes crazy.
All of the herbs I grow have been extremely easy to care for, and I plan to add more this year. I will replace my sage, plus add annuals in the form of basil, cilantro and mint. I think I’m the only person in the world who managed to accidentally kill a mint plant. It generally grows like a weed, but mine was not happy with a transplanting.
So as you can see, I’m no gardening expert. But Karen’s column includes information and growing advice for the herbs I mentioned, as well as several others. I have not decided exactly what I will grow in terms of vegetables this year, but I need to get on it. My other project this year will be to create a long overdue compost pile. I’m going to blog about that when I get going.
If you have an herb garden, what advice can you share with aspiring gardeners?
If you plan to grow herbs for the first time this year, what will you plant and how do you plan to use them?
March 7, 2012 - 5:21 AM
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My herb garden is the best thing I ever planted. Considering the price of fresh herbs in the produce section, I get probably a couple hundred dollars out of it every year. Mostly because I now put herbs in literally everything I cook…lavender is a great accent for lots of desserts.
I so miss the Buffalo Springs Herb Farm up in Raphine….they had such great classes and it was such a lovely place to spend a couple hours walking around. It was there I learned which herbs to put in my advent wreath, which I do every year now.
My only advice…plant it as close to your kitchen as you can, and when you plant give them some room….I have an entire oregano plant that got completely consumed by the parsley and sage.
In the past I have planted mine in individual pots and left them on the porch. (very convenient) This year I am thinking about getting some of those boxes you hang from deck railing and planting in those. I would also recommend planting thai basil. Very different than what we are used to eating and very good.
Fresh herbs add an extra dimension to a dish, plus by drying/freezing your own herbs, you can save a lot of money. Fresh oregano is very strong, so a small amount goes a long way. I’ve discovered that I prefer bush basil (also known as boxwood basil) over Genovese. Bush basil has tiny leaves that do not require chopping, therefore, no bruising. It’s also quite attractive sprinkled over a caprese salad. Follow the advice about planting the mint in a container because it will definitely take over the entire herb garden! Last summer I added stevia to my herb garden and I intend to increase the number of plants this year. The sweetening power of the leaves is unbelievable – one or two leaves will sweeten a pitcher of tea. Having an herb garden can be not only beneficial, but satisfying as well and it doesn’t require a great deal of work.
We’ve grown herbs pretty much every year since we built our house…though mostly in containers on our back deck. We use big clay pots with high-quality potting soil, and check them daily for watering needs, since containers dry out rapidly. Since they’re portable, we can move them against the house during the really hot days, since it stays shaded most of the day in the summer, or put them further out to get nearly all-day sun if it’s not blazing hot. We’ve grown rosemary, sage, chives (not too successfuly), parsley, basil, catnip, and mint…and aside from the chives, done pretty well with it all. We’ll clip and wash some for fresh herbs in dishes, but more often we’ll trim them up and dry the clippings, then either store them whole, or chop them up and store them for easier use later.
The key thing I’ve found is monitoring the water. I track rainfall so I have a 3+ year record of our rain/snow history and I make sure to do supplemental watering if natural rainfall is lower than normal, or the daytime temps have been hotter than normal. It has seemed to work well. The other thing is don’t get discouraged if something fails to thrive. I tried growing broccoli and onions last year and neither took well. The squash plant? I was giving those things away…tomatoes and lettuce too, and peppers. Gardening, and herb gardening, can be easy and fun…and as long as you keep a close eye on things to make sure the plants are in optimal growing conditions and harvested at their proper times, you’ll have bountiful yields of high-quality, home-grown food.
Vickie,
thanks for the excellent post… I didn’t know either about Bush Basil or Stevia. Where can you get Stevia?
Thanks for the great comments. Sharon, I think I will try to grow Thai basil this year now that you mention it. You are right – it is quite different from standard basil and so many great dishes call for it.
I’m fascinated by the mention of stevia, Vickie. I’ve never thought about growing that. Where did you find that?
OJ, you are so right about monitoring water when you plant in clay pots. Clay pots dry out so much more quickly, especially if they are in the sun. I’m sure you know this, but it does help to have a tray under them that you can also fill with water.
Saving money is really one of the top reasons to grow herbs, Kristen. You are so right. It kills me to pay for a package of herbs from the grocery store – they are so expensive and I never seem able to use them all before they start to go bad.
Drying or freezing herbs (freezing with water in ice cube trays is great for cooking later) can add even more value.
Do you guys usually start your herbs from seed or buy established plants?
I planted oregano, dill, and cilantro last year in my barrel planter. It all grew pretty quickly, and because I did not use that much of them, the cilantto and dill went to seed. I dropped a few cilantro seeds in the dirt and have had little plants all winter. I also have a small pot of chives that have been the deck for a long time. I used to have a rosemary bush but winter 2010-11 did it in.
Lindsey, I’ve done both…but for cost-savings, i tend to like starting from seed more. But, it takes more work. Like, do I start them indoors before the last frost of the season? Or, do I wait to start them after the last frost and not have anything to harvest until later in the summer? The established plants eliminate that debate, but run 2-3x more than a pack of seeds, so generally I don’t do that route often.
But yet, the clay pots do dry out since the clay will wick the moisture out of the soil. I’ve tried the trays beneath them, but the cats just drink it then! I’m not a fan of the plastic pots though, because I have concerns about chemical leachings, especially since the plastic degrades due to UV exposure from the sun. Plus, I generally only get 1 season out of a plastic pot, because they become very brittle and shatter when I try to move or empty them. The clay pots I’ve employed for 3-4 seasons now. If they are grouped together to limit air flow and sun exposure on the pots themselves, it does seem to help a bit. Plus, it’s very hard to over-water with clay…while often the plastic pots will hold water in the bottom, if drain plugs are left in or drain holes become clogged…that leads to root rot and plant death.
We do save money on the watering though, by collecting the condensation water from our air conditioner in watering cans, and using that to water things from time to time. But, care must be taken with this route, because the water is almost completely devoid of minerals…being condensation from the air, it’s almost like distilled water. We nearly killed our tomato plant in the Topsy-Turvey hanger that way…tomatoes need calcium.
I start my herbs from seed–10 in all, then transplant to pots on the deck. I just bought railboxes this week to give them more space and an ease of picking. I highly recommend an herb mill for mincing as it makes it so much easier.
I give all of my plants “manure tea” 3 times a week and they love it–simply fill a large plastic bucket 2/3 full with fresh cow or horse manure and fill to the top with water. I refill the bucket to the top to keep it full or let the rain do it for me. The smell is not bad and you will love the results. I keep 3 buckets in my garden and use it the entire growing season.
I’ve seen Stevia at my favorite local nursery (Crow’s Nest in Blacksburg) and, believe it or not, at Lowe’s. It’s not as hard to find as you might think.
Lindsey, I’m jealous of your rosemary. Must be better protected than mine. My lemon balm plant (now a small shrub) is the one that’s gotten completely out of control.
I have another tip to pass on. For those of you who grow lavender, it makes a great insect repellent. When you work in your garden, rub your hands over the leaves, then rub them over your exposed skin. Bugs don’t like the scent and leave you alone, and you’ll enjoy the smell much more than insect repellent.
I’ve also been keeping pots of citrus thyme and strong mint on my patio, and those do a good job of keeping insects away, too.
Those are great tips, Karen. Thank you! I love any ideas for repelling bugs without using chemicals. My grandfather put Sevin dust on EVERYTHING, and sprayed Raid on himself. He died of Parkinson’s Disease. Connection? I’m no doctor, but I try not to use any of that stuff, ever.
My herb garden is planted in a raised bed up against the house on the eastward-facing side. Maybe the eaves offers the rosemary some protection and the morning sun helps? I don’t know, sometimes I think plants just have a mind of their own
Tracy, I like the idea of your manure tea for plants. I will definitely try that!
OJ, I could not help but chuckle when you wrote that the cats drink the water out of the trays. Hee hee. Those beasties are foiling your efforts.
I have a scrubby little hill at the bottom of my driveway that was a pain to mow, so I planted it completely with lavender and thyme. When it rains, it smells wonderful and it grows without any effort on my part at all.
Walters nursery out on Windy Gap has an absolutely amazing selection of herbs. If I don’t use seeds, I get my herbs there.
Kathy, I’ve never had any luck at all with cilantro…I’ve given up on it.
Sorry that I didn’t see the posts asking about the stevia earlier. Believe it or not, I got mine at Walmart on Wards Road in Lynchburg. Three plants to a pot and I think it was about $3.00 for the pot. That’s also where I got the bush basil. I had gone to several nurseries trying to find it (I had it the year before, but couldn’t remember where I got it) and all of them said it sold out as fast as they could get it in from suppliers. This year I purchased seeds online from D. Landreth Seed Co. I also purchased some heirloom tomatoes from them in unusual varieties, such as pineapple, white and Russian. Both the basil and the stevia are well worth trying, in my opinion!
Kristen, I used to think that I had no luck with cilantro either. Then I found out that it doesn’t grow more leaves after you cut them, and to get a constant supply through the summer, you need to sow seeds every 2-3 weeks.
Anyone who has found stevia this year, can you post where you bought it? Thanks
I have some herb update…the tarragon that I put in last summer and thought had died over the summer and needed replacing is coming back beautifully.