Herb Gardens Are Easy

Herb gardening is a nearly perfect hobby! You get to grow your own healthy fresh herbs, save money, and enjoy the fruits of your labor everyday. It’s easy to get started and doesn’t require a lot of room, or a lot of money. You can do container gardening on your apartment porch, there are also kits for growing herbs inside.

Starting Your Herb Garden

Anybody who cooks, either as a hobby or professionally, known that there is nothing quite like fresh herbs. Fresh herbs taste so much better than dried herbs any day of the week. Buying fresh herbs can be kind of expensive, but it’s not hard to create a summer herb garden so you can have ready access to the herbs you use all the time.

Starting your herb garden is simple. It doesn’t take a lot of money or require a lot of room. A garden is cost efficient and fresh herbs can provide health benefits too. Think about making a fresh garden salad with the fresh herbs you grew yourself, how wonderful it will taste. Kind of makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

There are a variety of different herbs to choose from when selecting the variety you are going to plant. With each herb planted, there are endless possibilities to use them in food and cooking. Make a list of the kinds of herbs you want or currently use all the time. This will aid with the designing of the garden. Most edible herbs need a good supply of sunlight, so a location facing south is preferred. You’ll also want to choose a location that offers easy access, picking and gathering your herbs should not be a chore.

After selecting the location, prepare the area. For garden boxes, purchase soil for plants with the proper nutrients to allow for maximum growth. Make sure there is adequate drainage. Avoid getting any soil that recommends adding a fertilizer since overuse of fertilizer can harm the plants. For the garden, remove any weeds, or other plants from the area, creating a clean surface for the plants to thrive once planted. An herb garden can be small and simple, or large and complex, it’s all about whatever you feel comfortable with.

Some standard herbs used by gardeners are basil, tarragon, rosemary, mint, thyme, chives, and Italian herbs, such as parsley, oregano, and sage. Each has its own distinctive flavor and a different health benefit.
Basil, tarragon, rosemary, thyme, chives, parsley, oregano, and sage all require well-drained soil and a lot of direct sun. They also need to be watered often. Taking care to keep the herbs well watered, but not soaked, plus a lot of sunshine will help the herbs to thrive.  

Some of the popular herbs planted in gardens are not only for cooking or eating. Rosemary and sage have aromas used in potpourri or in dried floral arrangements. Along with benefit of cooking with your fresh herbs, you can also use certain ones for crafts.

Making the decision to create an herb garden will give you pleasure and provide big savings vs. buying them from the grocery store, which can be quite costly. You will also have easy access to the herbs whenever you need them for any recipe.