Things to Know about Growing an Herb Garden
When you decide to create your own herb garden, the next step is selecting the assortment of herb plants you want. In addition to all the different herbs out there, each herb has several types to choose from—such as basil which has hundreds of varieties.
Each herb variety has its own growing period. Understanding your herb plant’s life cycle will help you make the best decisions. When you go shopping for your herbs, you’ll need to know their life cycle. There are three main types:
- Annuals: This kind of flower begins with a seed. They grow, flower and die all in the same growing season. There are a number of nice annual herb plants: cilantro, chervil, basil, borage and dill.
- Biennials: This variety of plant can grow for 2 years and can generally bear “fruit” after the first year. Others (like parsley) produce foliage in both years, but go to seed early in the second growing season. Some biennials you should use are angelica, Queen Anne’s lace and chicory.
- Perennials: Herbs that tend to persist for more than two growing seasons are called perennials. Whether or not they come back or for how many years they can come back depends on the zone where they grow. Of the many perennials available, some you might enjoy are lemon verbena, rosemary, scented geranium, mints, thyme, yarrow and lady’s mantle.
My favorite herbs are perennials because I only have to buy and plant them once, but I also have fun growing annuals and biennials. Too much cold can harm your perennials, so be cautious. Bringing your perennials in during winter months is a nice way to lengthen their growing cycle.
Here are some nice ways to lengthen the life of your herbs:
- A few perennials can 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.
- Using containers is a great option for those herb plants that you need to over-winter inside your house or garage. If you want to plant these herbs in the ground, a nice trick is to plant them container and all. This makes it a cinch to keep them during winter—just unearth the container at the end of the season.
- The best way to get an plenty of flowers from your biennials during the second growing season is to grow them midsummer.
- Self-sowers are herb plants that sow their own seeds for the next growing seaon. Some awesome self-sowers include: mustard, borage and catnip.
- Clip off faded flowers to lengthen the growing cycle of short-lived annuals. In the right location cutting your annuals back toward the end of summer could cause them to self-seed.
- The frost that will result from unexpected cold weather will harm your herbs if you do not protect them by covering them with a towel, sheet or blanket. Herbs that are in containers can be moved under a covered stoop for protection.
My hope for you is that these tips can come in handy when you begin your own herb garden planning. Creating it just as you imagine it can be a struggle. Even I make flubs after all these years, but just remember that you can take out what does not work and try try again!
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.
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