- If you have never planted a herb garden before, make sure you know what type of ground or soil you will be dealing with. The author of New Book of Herbs realized that her garden used to be a clay field, so she made sure to only buy herbs that would be able to deal with heavy soil.
- To find out what type of soil you have, take a look at the kinds of shrubs, weeds and trees that grow in your yard. And make sure you note how much sun your garden gets (is the land in shade only in the morning, or does it receive sun for the whole day?). These factors are important when choosing the types of herbs you buy.
- Remember that everyone’s land is different and can be influenced by a number of factors (how shady the area is, how much wind and sun it experiences, etc.). Your next-door neighbour could grow an entirely different garden based on these differing conditions.
- When it’s time to start planning a space for your herbs, you should first remove all the weeds, making sure to find the deep-rooted ones. If your soil is heavy, it is best to start doing this in the early winter. Once the site is clear, and you haven’t planted anything yet, cover it with some kind of sheeting or mulch so that new weed seeds, which require light to grow, won’t spring up.
- Early Spring is the best time to start working with the soil because the earth is beginning to warm and your herb seeds will start to grow. Make sure you keep the garden free of weeds – you can keep them from growing by laying down materials such as bark chippings, leaf mould, gravel, etc. Just make sure you leave some space around your plant roots so that the air can get to them.
- Before you buy any herbs, you should think about their purpose. Are you planting them for aesthetic, fragrance, medicinal or cooking purposes? Each herb you buy, just like a flower, has special requirements, such as how much sun it should receive, how long it will last for and how much of it will grow. This will tell you at what time you should plant them, as well as where you should place them in the herb bed. For ex. An Angelica herb grows 8 feet, so it would be best to place it at the back of the bed.
- When you have planted your herbs, make sure you don’t use a sprinkler or spray hose for watering. Instead, use leaky pipes or seep irrigation, because strong currents of water will help weed seeds spread. And make sure to constantly prune!
If you would like to try your hand at growing herbs to add to your own meals, Shop At Sullivan offers a number of interesting herb seeds, such as Green Tea, Herbs of Tuscany, Genovese Pesto, Spring Salad and a Crunchy Bean Mix. Click here to see them all!
Source: New Book of Herbs by Jekka McVicar
