Create a Low Maintenance Herb Garden

When things go right, you can’t beat it! Some herbs are just like that. What you need to do is plant them out and ensure that your herbs get sunlight and enough water and they will do the rest.

Here are a few of the best low-maintenance herb plants for your garden:

• Borage: The long, wooly and prickly leaves may be tough to swallow, but you can certainly dig in and taste the flavor of cucumber. If you plant your borage plant in dry, dark dirt and supply full sun, you’ll have blue or purple star-shaped blossoms in no time at all. You can begin with seeds in early summer and by mid-summer you’ll have all the borage you can handle.

• Caraway: Even though the leaves of the caraway can look like that of a carrot in its first growing season, don’t confuse it with a carrot. In its second season, it will have beautiful pink or white umbrella-shaped flower clusters on 1 to 3 feet tall stems. Caraway will take full sun if you plant it in well-drained soil. Because this is a biennial, you can sow seeds outside in spring or fall. Since your herb is a self-seeder, you can let the dead blooms fall to the earth and you won’t need to resow it for the next growing cycle.

• Dill: This fast-growing herb with thin, fern-like leaves likes well-drained sod and full sun. Do not let your dill get more than three feet high before you start using it in your entrees; you can start harvesting once the herb reaches one foot. The yellow buds on the umbrella-like heads will look beautiful in bouquets and can also be used as seasoning. Dill will grow great from seed and because this plant grow quickly you will not need to start the germination process in advance.

• Fennel: Don’t confuse your full-grown fennel herb with dill because the two are similar, but it tastes nothing like the licorice flavored fennel. If you sow your seeds in late spring, you’ll have a mature, four-foot-tall plant in just a few short weeks. Your herb will thrive if you set it out so that it will get full-sun with well-drained dirt. Don’t forget to collect the yummy seeds! You will want to harvest them before they go fully brown. Did you know that you can use your dried stems in all kinds of culinary creations, including soups, stews and breads?

• Lemon Balm: If you like the sweet, lemony aroma of lemon balm, you will be happy to know that this perennial likes light, shady, well-drained soil. I love its heart-shaped leaves. Seeds will take too long, instead start with a greenhouse-bought lemon balm and plant it in a pot or in your flower bed. Before long, you’ll divide your lemon balm plant and replant the divided section in another spot. As a self-sower, lemon balm will quickly spread so give your herbs plenty of room. Pinch off the dead flowers to prevent lemon balm from self-sowing.

• Sweet Cicely: This perennial likes light shade as long as you give it loose, rich sod. Be sure to plant it with mulch and organic compost. Buy your initial herbs and it will spread out from there through self-sowing.

If these are not enough to get you going, you should try German chamomile and chicory.

Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.

Here is more information on Home Herb Garden. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.