Herb gardening is undeniably a great way for a beginning gardener to enjoy success while reaping delicious culinary benefits.
All of the five senses are fully engaged when growing edible herbs. There is a serene beauty of a garden composed mostly of evergreen and silver-grey herbs. Herb gardeners are treated to a daily miniature cantata as visiting bees contentedly work their pollination magic among the flowers. The tantalizing fragrance exudes from sun-warmed culinary herbs and is absolutely intoxicating. This is also the perfect lure to prompt a passerby to brush their fingertips across the soft foliage, tear a nearby leaf to greedily sniff, then gratifyingly sample.
Surprisingly, edible herbs are really easy to grow. Provide them with a few simple essentials, and they will reward you with both their vigor and flavor.
First, be sure to site your potential herb garden where it will receive 6 hours or more of full, direct sunlight. When you remember that the majority of our culinary herbs were native to the Mediterranean region of the Old World, you appreciate how they would thrive in so much heat and light.
The second most important element to successful herb gardening is excellent drainage. Herbs hate wet feet, so there are a couple of ways to approach this challenge.
One is to prepare an herb bed by incorporating the site with a porous soil amendment to increase good tilth. Black Gold Natural & Organic Soil Builder is the perfect balanced addition when your soil has been overworked and needs a special pick-me-up. If your future herb bed is in pretty good shape, try Black Gold Garden Compost Blend, which can be used in-ground to improve your soil’s natural structure or top dress your plants with it as a beneficial mulch. For sites comprised mostly of sandy soil, Black Gold Peat Moss Plus will help hold moisture and slow down drainage.
Since good drainage can make or break an herb garden, many gardeners choose to create raised herb beds with stonework, concrete block, or other non-toxic boarders. Lifting up the soil level makes gardening around raised herb beds a bit easier, too.
After building the borders for your herb garden, infill the new space with Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Soil. This specially-blended organic mix is safe for all edibles, uses worm castings as fertilizer, and won’t pack down with time, so excellent drainage is assured. In an extremely low spot, or over challenging soil, Black Gold Hy-porosity Natural & Organic Potting Soil is super lightweight, but includes coarse Canadian Sphagnum peat moss for moisture retention. Both of these soilless mediums are perfect for potting herbs in smaller decorative containers, too.
After preparing your herb bed or container, the choice of what herbs to grow is completely up to you and your cooking preferences. Here are a few of the easiest.
The most familiar herbs, and the ones that were also popularized by Simon and Garfunkel, are parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. These work well together in a garden due to their complimentary leaf shapes, colors, and textures. Of the four, only parsley would have to be replanted as the others are perennial herbs which you should enjoy for years.
Basil is a favorite for pesto and Italian cooking, but is a warm season annual herb, so wait to sow it into your garden until after all chance of frost has passed.
Mints spread rapidly and can be extremely cantankerous to remove, so consider growing them in isolated containers, understanding that they will sneak out of the bottom of pots or leap over the sides in an attempt to take over your garden.
The flavor and fragrance of herbs connect us deeply to memories of traditional family gatherings from holidays past and inspire future recipes. Since the variety of herbs you can grow is endless, your greatest challenge will be to decide where to place even more herb beds and containers.