Green Thumb Basics: Growing an Herb Garden

• Posted on July 28, 2017

One great way to make the most out of your lawn, even if it’s small, is to plant an herb garden. Herb gardens are very low-maintenance compared to typical vegetable gardens, and they’re perfect for the arid climate of Utah. If you’ve been interested in starting an herb garden but aren’t sure where to begin, here are a few tips on the types of herbs to that are easiest to raise and how to keep them healthy.

Great Herbs for Beginners

An important step in starting an herb garden is choosing the herbs you want. The most important consideration is which herbs you think you’ll be most interested in cooking with, but here are a few that are easy-to-grow “starter” herbs:

 

• Sage: grows best in a lot of sun and well-drained soil.
• Parsley: soak seeds in water overnight, then plant in rich soil with partial shade.
• Oregano: plant in light soil with plenty of sun. Once they’re over 10cm tall, pinch off the vertical growing tip so it’ll grow out to the sides more. You could even plant these in a flowerbed, as they grow pretty little pink flowers!
• Basil: grows well in potting compost and full sunlight. For bushier basil plants, remove the growing tip after it gets 15cm tall.
• Coriander: grows in a variety of soils, but keep well watered to encourage leafy growth rather than shoots and flowers. Coriander has a short life cycle, so harvest and replant on a regular basis.
• Mint: buy young plants rather than seeds, and keep it in pots so it won’t spread. Pinch out flower buds to encourage more leaf growth.
• Rosemary: probably the easiest herb of all, because it’ll grow in sun or shade and in just about any type of soil. Just don’t water it too much.
• Chives: it’s a little late in the year now for chives (if you’re growing them outdoors), but chives like rich soil and lots of sun and water, and they produce pink and purple flowers!

Gardening in Pots

Because each individual herb plant is fairly small and you probably don’t need many plants of any one herb for cooking, you could easily get away with doing all of your herb gardening directly in pots.

 

This has the advantages of keeping different soil types the different species prefer separate and not letting the plants spread in places you don’t want them to. Watering, pruning, and weeding are also easier this way because the pots are mobile and accessible. Whether you keep the pots on your patio, your kitchen windowsill, or along the side of your house, pots are a great way to manage your little garden of herbs.

Harvest and Enjoy!

Any kind of gardening requires time and effort, but soon you’ll be enjoying the fruits of your labor. We at Perry Homes hope you and your family get the most out of your home and your property, and herb gardening is just one way to do it!