Any way that you look at it, herbs are a win-win for the gardener. In the kitchen, they’re indispensable; in the garden they’re beautiful, textural, and attract beneficial insects. Plus, herbs are one of the easiest plant groups to grow. In fact, when a would-be-vegetable-gardener asks me what crop they should grow first, I always steer them towards herbs because it’s an easy garden success story.
Another thing that’s wonderful about them is that they’re as adaptable as they come. You can plant herbs in literally anything. As long as the item has good drainage, they’ll make themselves at home. From the traditional such as Terra Cotta pots, wooden boxes, hanging baskets, tired planters, and window boxes. To the creative planting containers such as the shoe bag hanger, old colanders, kitchen sinks, and boots. We even have an articles about Creative Planting Containers and How to Plant a Kitchen Colander.
Herbs are surprisingly flexible when it comes to the sun. Many of them, including rosemary, sage, and basil, thrive in full sun. But they’ll tolerate light shade without a problem. Herbs such as mint, parsley, lemon balm, and chives do very well in part shade. If you’re growing them specifically for culinary purposes it pays to have a few potted up near the kitchen door so that you can easily step out and harvest fresh leaves.
Herbs fit into formal gardens as well as they do in cottage types. An old-fashioned knot garden that consist of herbs clipped into formal, geometrical shapes and intertwined hedges shows off herbs with elegance. A more relaxed version that offers light structure is an herb wheel, or simply intersperse them into a perennial bed or an official kitchen garden.
In the gardening column at The Untrained Housewife we’ve got some fabulous articles on successful gardening with one of the most easy-going groups in the plant world. We have articles about tending individual herbs such as The Benefits of Growing Parsley in Your Kitchen Garden, Growing Sage in Your Kitchen Herb Garden, and Growing Rosemary in Your Kitchen Herb Garden.
We’ve got articles about blending them into your traditional garden beds like Chris Eirschele’s Bronze Fennel Mixes with Flower Gardens. How to use them in the kitchen such as Angela’s How to Make Pesto: Preserving Your Basil. Plus how herbs can be used medicinally like in SatuR’s Culinary Herbs as Home Remedies: Mint, Culinary Herbs as Home Remedies: Basil, and Home Remedies for Indigestion. We promise to keep them coming.
Photo of chives by Crystl
Photo of container garden by WordRidden
Photo of knot garden by EveMBH
Photo of barrel container by Kate Monkey
This really makes me want to grow a herb garden again!