Growing Herbs for Beginners

You can start your own herb garden by going over to your local greenhouse, nursery or home improvement store to purchase them. Another way to get started with your herb garden would be to germinate your plants from seeds. Those are all good and well, but a third method, called propagation is less costly than purchasing your plants or growing them from seeds.

The process of propagation is uncomplicated; the only thing you need to do is find a person who has that plant (a friend, neighbor or family member) and then take part of that herb by dividing it or by cutting part of it off.

Division is just like it sounds: you take an existing herb and divide it into smaller herb plants.. You can quickly do this with a clump of chives or thyme. Cut all the way through the herb with your shovel and the roots, which will completely separate the plant into multiple herbs. If you are dividing a creeping plant like English chamomile, it will be much simpler.

For small plants, you can use a couple of forks instead of a trowel when separating. One thing you will need to do is water the plant you will be dividing the day before, the soft, moist soil will be ready for you. Next, all you need to do is replant the part you divided just like an herb that you would buy at the nursery.

One thing that is different is that you are going to want to fertilize the new little plant when you put it into its new home. above and beyond the fertilizer, I’d recommend that you use a root stimulator to help those recently cut off roots to grow back.

Making a cutting is even simpler than division because you won’t have to dig anything up. The bad part is that you may have to be patient until you have an herb you can plant in the ground or in a pot. Not all plants respond very well to cuttings, so do your research before you get out your garden scissors.

New, young herbs are better to get cuttings from than the older, woodier herbs .  But like I always hear; work with what you have. When taking a cutting, follow these guidelines:

• Simply cut off a branch of the plant that includes at least three leaves and then trim off the leaves

• Now here’s where I differ from other people: take your branch and soak it for about 8 hours in a diluted mixture of both root stimulator and water.

• When you take out the stems from the root stimulator, put it into a small pot of rich and moistened earth. You’ll need to bury the stem so that no bare part (where you scraped off the leaves) is seen.

• After a few days, add a little more water. This will keep the stem moist. But you do not want to drench it. Be sure to give your cutting 4 weeks to start growing its new leaves.

If you do choose to begin with cuttings, some of the best herbs to grow from cuttings include artemisia, basil, beebalm, lemon verbena and all of the mints..

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

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