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How To Plan Your Herb Garden
By Mary Hanna
This article is dedicated to
planning a successful herb garden. If you have planted herb
gardens in previous years this will help to revamp and refresh
one already have.
Go to your Garden Center and see what herbs are available and
suitable for your area. This is important if you are planning an
outside herb garden. If you are planning an inside herb garden,
since you control the atmosphere, you can choose whatever you
like.
My suggestion here would be to select a theme for your herb
garden. You can plant them for cooking herbs, cosmetic herbs,
medicinal herbs or fragrance herbs use. Be realistic about your
plants. Check your whole property to find the right spot. Look
for sun or shade, type of soil, and how well the spot drains.
These are all very import for picking the best place for your
herb garden.
Once you have accomplished the above, pick your sunniest spot
because herbs need a lot of sun (a good four top six hours
daily). Be sure that the herb garden site is level and sheltered
from wind. If your soil is a bit heavy ad lots of compost when
preparing your site which will make the soil looser and help with
drainage and texture.
Try to keep the herb garden close to the house to facilitate in
picking the harvest and checking for troubles. If you can’t
find a suitable sunny spot plant them in a garden container that
you can move around to follow the sun. (This movement is a bit
time consuming but it pay off in the end).
Look at the rest of your gardens. Are they formal or informal?
You will want your herb garden to complement your house and
garden. Look in books or magazine to get some inspiration. If you
are creating a formal herb garden you will need to plant in
straight lines and geometric shapes framing them with low hedges
and paths. A fountain, bench or topiary shrubs are almost always
used as the main focal point. Arrange the layout around a central
axis. Then plant one kind of herb in each block, go for bold
color and texture. Be warned a formal garden is labor intensive
and will be expensive.
In an informal herb garden you can plant more flowing, curved
beds and walkways. Add flowers and shrubs for a really exciting
look. This type of herb garden requires less initial work and
will be easier and cheaper to maintain.
Now it’s time to decide on which herbs to plant. The easy way
is to make a list of the ones that follow your theme. Make up
your wish list in three columns. Column one is the absolutely
must have plants, Column two will be the ones that would be nice
to have and Column three is oh well, not necessary. If you’re
just starting out do between 5-10 herbs, (depending on your
space). This makes the herb gardening more manageable.
Know which herb plants or annual or perennial, and make a note of
them so you won’t forget. A small spiral notebook is a good
place to make comments on the care of each of your herbs. Situate
each plant according to height for maximum enjoyment of your herb
garden.
Lastly keep them well fed and give them lots of love and you will
a beautiful herb garden that is multi-purpose. You get to plant
the herb garden, watch it flourish, and then you get to harvest
it for whatever your purpose was: Culinary, Medicinal, Fragrance
or Cosmetic.
Happy Planting!
Copyright © 2006 Mary Hanna All Rights Reserved.
About the Author Mary Hanna is an aspiring herbalist who lives in
Central Florida. This allows her to grow gardens inside and
outside year round. She has published other articles on Cruising,
Gardening and Cooking. Visit her websites at www.CruiseTravelDirectory.com,
www.ContainerGardeningSecrets.com,
and www.GardeningHerb.com
or contact her at mary@webmarketingreviews.com
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