Things to Know about Growing an Herb Garden

Once you choose to grow your own herb garden, the next step is choosing the kind of herbs you want. There are a lot of different herb plants and many of these herb plants have many varieties—for example, there are 100s of types of thyme to choose from.

The life cycles or growing periods vary with different herbs. Understanding your herb’s life cycle can help you make the best decisions. Before you purchase your herbs, you’ll want to be aware of their growing season, or life cycle. There are 3 main kinds:

• Annuals: This type of flower begins with a seed. They grow, flower and die all in the same growing season. There are several good annual herbs: cilantro, chervil, basil, borage and dill.

• Biennials: This variety of herb can grow for two years and will generally bear “fruit” after the first year. Some herb plants (like parsley) can produce leafage during both years but die early in the second growing season. Some biennials you should experiment with are angelica, Queen Anne’s lace and chicory.

• Perennials: These herb plants generally come back for more than 2 growing seasons. The climate where these herbs grow determines how many years they can come back, or if they will come back at all. Of the many perennials available, some you may love are lemon verbena, rosemary, scented geranium, mints, thyme, yarrow and lady’s mantle.

In my opinion the best herb plants are perennials because I only have to pick-up and plant them once, but I also have fun raising annuals and biennials. Too much cold can kill your perennials, so be cautious. Bringing your perennials in during winter months is a good way to lengthen their growing cycle.

Here are some good ways to extend the life of your herb plants:

• Some perennials will need for you to trim them back, dig up the bulb, roots or rhizome, and keep in your garage, basement or cellar over the winter.
• If you’re going to bring your herbs inside during winter months, try pots instead of growing them in the ground.  If you want to plant these herb plants in the ground, a good trick is to plant them pot and all. This makes it less a problem to keep them during the colder time of year—just unearth the pot at the end of the season.
• Plant your biennials in middle of the summer so that you can get plenty of flowers in the second season.
• Self-sowers are herbs that sow their own seeds for the next cycle. Mustard, borage and catnip are just a few of the herb plants that are self-sowers.
• A great way to boost a short-lived annual’s growing cycle is to remove any blossoms that have faded. Depending on your area’s climate; your annuals may self-seed if you clip the herb back near the end of the summer.
• The frost that can result from unexpected cold weather can harm your herb plants if you don’t protect them by covering them with a towel, sheet or blanket. If you have your herb plants in pots, you can always move them under a covered stoop.

My hope for you is that these tips can come in handy when you start your own herb garden planning. It will be difficult at times to get it just right. I’ve been doing this for years and I sometimes end up digging up what doesn’t work and redoing it!

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

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