Gardening Herbs: Indoor, outdoor, wild or mild; these 6 topics will start you off down the path of natural freedom

luggage within sat my precious freshest spice-ateria. Protected when traveling, it was safely stored in the underbelly of the RV. Upon reaching my nightly or weekly destination, it was unpacked and placed within close proximity of the outdoor cooking area. Perfect money saving garden without having to buy dried spices constantly….but we’ll cover that as well.

Humble Herbal Beginnings:

First timers often find the first steps of anything an uphill climb that will be strewn with pitfalls, roadblocks and landslides. The biggest challenge with gardening of ANY kind is deciding how to about start. Face it, once that stone starts rolling, it gathers no moss, unless you want to transfer some into the rocky cracks and crevasses of your other gardens….your plants will be able to get an extra boost of hydration and will take a lichen to you….herb garden ideas spring out of imaginative thoughts from a window herb garden that compliments a big bay window or perhaps a simplified, succinct and structured herb garden design, how to start an herb garden really is within your own planting terrarium dream.

How do I make my own herb garden?

• Location, location, location! Finding that perfect space that gives plenty of sunlight access and also promotes well drained soil, and within an easy access to the kitchen if indoor planting or near the house if choosing the great outdoors.
• Next comes the soil. This will make you a blue-ribbon success or a completely foil your attempt. If, for example, your dirt is sandy or clay-like, it needs a deep humectant long term feed of compost to make it soft, spreadable, and loamy without becoming to soggy boggy in the opposite spectrum of soil. Stay away from as much fertilized earth as possible as the nitrogen factor is just too caustic for the delicate taste buds of herbs and spices.

How do you start an herb garden for beginners?

There are dozens of available choices to fit your budget, time, space, and taste by either seed or pre-sprouted plant. Perhaps the greatest thing about an herb garden is it’s prolific nature. You can always be replenishing your stock while still having fresh snippets right at hand. Seeds are by far the least expensive to start with but also as simple to grow as a snap of your fingers. A sprinkling of the buds, a light cover bed of your pre-tempered soil, a delicate shower when needed and voila. Very soon, they will strengthen enough to be added to the ranks of fully bloomed bliss. Take a look at boxed herb garden kits or all in one starter trays at a local discount store. They usually provide you with everything you need, including the most popular choices of herbs grown for daily use.

What should I put in my herb garden?

• This is a choice of preferential utility and how frequently you use one herb over another. Some herbs will greet you the next year while others are just stay-cationers that move on at the end of a season, but the go-to odds on favorites are chives, rosemary, thyme, parsley, sage, dill, oregano and mint. My own personal favorites that really add a distinct flavor are marjoram and cilantro while I boost my ample supply of basil by co-planting with tomatoes as both benefit each other.
• ~~mint hint: mint, when left to its own free space, will quickly take over and expand so be aware of that if you are planting the sweet fragrant low leaf herb. It attracts bees, wasps and hornets so best left away from entry doors.~~

Back to the Land:

No matter where you plant them, a DIY herb garden is suitable for both interior and exterior planting and growth. The best-case scenario is having access to fresh herbs and seasonings through all four seasons, so if have room inside, keep that in mind. As long as you’ve got access to 6 to 8 hours of ample light daily, you CAN enjoy an outdoor herb garden INDOORS all year round.

How do I make an outdoor herb garden?

Herbs are tiny. Even when in full bloom, the harvesting plant is quite low to the ground so keep this in mind when growing an outdoor herb patch. You may wish to have a mounded raised bed or a tabletop planters box or, if you don’t mind taking a basket out with you to sit or kneel while you snip harvest your home grown, that option remains open as well. The key to making an herb garden is in the soil. Delicate flavors will take on the flavor of stronger ones so a NON fertilized, natural compost rich loamy earth is best. If your land soil is sandy or silty by nature or breaks away into dusty clay clods when crumbled, get some compost and natural dark soil in there, water and aerate asap. Planting the seeds requires nothing more than a sprinkling of each herb in its designated plot with room on boundaries to keep them separate from their neighbors. Keep the flavor profile of each in mind when planting as you don’t want the chives next to a delicate parsley for example and you’ll soon taste why parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme are reminiscent of Scarborough Faire and wild poultry. Thank you, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

Do herb gardens like sun or shade?

A majority of herbs thrive in 6 to 8 hours of sun light daily, while a decent handful will be just as content to enjoy some shade every now and then. The herbs with a more earthy connection like the Scarborough foursome, basil, chives and tarragon and even some varietals of mint, grow exceedingly well in both.

Can you grow an herb garden outside and what herbs can you grow outside?

Tricky questions which always brings up a bit of a kerfuffle combination answer. While pretty much every herb lives for outdoor growing, there are a few which should be kept indoors. There are many answers to what herbs grow best indoors so to start off; lemon grass, chervil, bay laurel, marjoram, tarragon and coriander. To bring it one step further and include lesser known herbs used in traditional apothecary style medicinal use or herbal blends for different curries and herbes du provence or teas can also remain strictly indoors. I hope this helps you get a grasp of what herbs grow best indoors and what can stay outside.

Kitchen Bewitchery:

A kitchen with enough space, light and decorative touches often brings to mind a huge butcher block table, copper pots hanging from a ceiling rack, diffused oils in colored bottles and dried bunches of once bright hued flowers, stems and herbs hanging from corners while ropes of garlic bulbs tempt you away on a Mediterranean meander. A kitchen herb garden is simple, efficient and needn’t take up as much space as my imagination just did. A simple windowsill herb garden can be accomplished with a few empty tin cans, a piece or two of mix matched Tupperware™ or an actual window herb garden planter box.

How do I make an herb garden in my kitchen?

Find the perfect 6 to 8 hour light source, your potting containers of choice, the rich humectant non fertilized soil and the seeds or pre-planted herbs of your choice, budget and space limitations. How easy was that? ~~indoor planting tip: remember that some nosy pets can get access to anything they set their minds to so herbs like chives, onions, thyme, basil and oregano should be kept away from curious critters~~

What herbs can you grow in your kitchen?

What is your style of cooking? How much space do you have? Are you adventurous?  Are you interested in branching out into homeopathic medicines or even thinking about Pagan style religions? For each cut of meat, poultry, fish, vegetable and seafood, there are distinct herbs that just POP the meal into a whole new culinary level. Even if you are going to preserve and dry your harvest, you must consider that it takes 1 Tablespoon of fresh herbs to make 1 teaspoon of dried. My suggestion is to start small with the simple spices and grow outward once you get a feel for the timing and adjustment of fresh herbs in your cooking. Seriously, you can’t go wrong with dill, chives, parsley, basil, rosemary, sage and thyme.

Self Contained:

Do herb containers need drainage?

Most assuredly, yes. Most pre ready and oven fired or manufactured terra cotta style or porcelain/clay pots already have drainage holes drilled in and are sold with a drainage base but you can achieve the same thing by poking a few holes in whatever you’ll be using as well. As long as you remember to provide a lid or tray to contain the drainage, you’re good to go.

What is the best planter for herbs?

Planting pots can be exceedingly pricey, so for starters, keep your eyes peeled around the neighborhood or even a local garden center. A chipped or cracked pot can be repaired with a dab of sealing caulk for far less $$ than they are to buy brand new. Planting baskets, tables, benches, boxes, crates, window ledge boxes….consider the space you have and have at it! As long as you’ve left plenty of room for your herbs to spread and grow, you’ve got the upper hand. You also want them compact enough so you can relocate your container herb garden to another location to either catch a few more rays or get out of a rain or storm deluge. The same goes for indoors when a window sill herb garden needs to be moved around for dusting, repotting, etc.

How deep should a container be for herbs?

A healthy bare minimum is at LEAST 10 inches in diameter and 6 to 8 inches deep to sustain sturdy root structure and also give space for occasional maintenance like soil aeration or re-topping with 3 parts potting soil to 1 part compost for your herb garden planter.

Which herbs can be planted together?

• Perhaps one of the greatest things about herbs, or any other garden vegetable and flower, is the advantage of success by companion planting. Since herbs are so tender, they will absorb the slightest flavor of something remotely overpowering so follow that golden rule what herbs can be grown together in a container and by keeping even stevens, your companion planting will be successful. Here is a list of a few groupings to start off with when it comes to which herbs can be potted together:
• In the warm basil category, you can group chili plants, oregano, rosemary and parsley. Superb concoction that adds that perfect pungent heat for chili, Italian sauces and salsas with a kick.
• With the cooler herbs, consider cilantro blended with dill and mint for a quick cooling sour cream dip.
• The dry arid type, sage lives in harmony with rosemary and adds that autumn robust rootiness to roasted meats and fowl.
• Try thyme with marjoram and tarragon and get your game on. Venison, lamb, pork or even salmon and trout thrive for these and they also mix well with mustards to create a crispy sear coating in marinades.
• Chives, Chervil, and lemongrass make the perfect mix in with soft chilled cheeses and white sauces.
• Lavender, mint and oregano are making headway in the herbes de provence style of cuisine and baking.

Parlez-vous Pallet?

It wasn’t too long ago, people were scrounging around flea markets and yard sales for empty industrial cable spools to make the perfect coffee table out of. Now, the market for garden marketeers is out masquerading and marauding to pillage a plethora of wood pallets. The pallet herb garden must have started in someone’s back yard when it was inadvertently left empty leaning against a fence after a delivery of sod or stone bricks. Eventually, the few weeds sprouted upward and used the pallet as a vine support, filling in each open vertical “shelf” as a planting base for it’s offspring. Maybe not. Who truly knows? But now, people want them.

How do you make a herb garden out of a pallet?

Start with a thought-out shape, style and location. Do you want a stand up, leaning, box, ground, steppe, raised or hanging garden and connect your dots….but not before giving each pallet a good spray cleaning and deciding which side is the better side. You’re going to want to then cover and staple the NOT SO good side with garden fabric to deter weeds from filtering in. Then connect your puzzle with whatever hardware you choose, hinges, nails, wood screws, sisal rope….as long as it is secure and pleasing to you. Fill with the properly ratioed potting soil ( 3 parts soil to 1 part compost) , check for proper drainage and then drop in your plantings or seeds. Top up with some more soil, water gently and provide a lot of initial daylight with 6 to 8 hours of sunlight. Such are a few ideas for pallet beginning planters for herb gardens or even cherry tomatoes, small flowers and decorative greens.

What grows well in a pallet garden?

Because of their sturdiness, the best herbs to grow in a pallet are rosemary, basil, oregano, parsley, sage, thyme, mint, dill, fennel, lemongrass, bay leaves and cilantro.(® Pinterest)

Vertical Vertigo: A Virtual Windup on a Fresh Note.

Much like the pallet planter, a vertical herb garden makes use of anything free-standing that appeals to your space, eye, and budget.  It can be something as simple as an old ladder secured open with wooden shelves for your plants or something more like a hanging herb garden with plots and boxes hung with decorative chains, ropes etc. So, how do you make a hanging herb garden is as diverse for any adventurous DIY’er as it is for seasoned landscapers. Nailing tin buckets, using old light sconces, drilled in sturdy plastic flowerpots or any funky notion like an old unused clothesline to “string” ‘em up.  There isn’t much around you can’t convert as long as you keep the lines simple and not overly congested, you will have a show piece of cooking accouterment to rival the chicest of café’s.  AS always, keep notes and seed packets handy and don’t mistake your chives for lemongrass.