How To Grow Healthy Organic Herbs
By Julie Williams
Herbs are such a wonderful gift from mother nature in so many ways. There uses are many, including culinary; medicinal; household; cosmetic and craft. Not to mention their uses in the garden as companion plants and many can be used as activators in the compost heap.
And there’s no better way to delight in their pungent aromatic qualities than to grow them right outside your kitchen door.
Once you have a herb garden you will fall in love with them. Most herbs are fairly easy to grow. They don’t have to take up much space, or much of your time.
Herbs don’t suffer much from insect attack and they are not prone to disease problems. Most will survive even if quite neglected – but we want our herbs to grow healthy and vigorously to best serve us. So let’s look at creating the best conditions for your herb garden.
Where To Grow Your Herbs
If you are lucky enough to have plenty of room for a plot dedicated to growing herbs, then that’s great. A great way to grow herbs together is in a spiral. I like to interplant herbs throughout my garden, taking advantage of their wonderful Companion Planting benefits, as well as having the ones I use most in the kitchen close by for easy access.
Many herbs originate from the Mediterranean and prefer conditions suited to that climate. Such as hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. Often the hotter the summer, the more aromatic the oils of the herb become.
Although most herbs will grow in partial shade, they will grow best if you choose a site with between 4 and 6 hours of sunlight per day.
The majority of herbs prefer a well-drained soil, but will cope with varying soil types. You can always improve your starting soil by adding organic matter, including compost and mulching. If your soil doesn’t drain well you might consider building raised beds or growing your herbs in containers.
Most herbs don’t require much in the way of fertilizers. Adding compost as a mulch with a layer of pea straw or similar over the top is enough to keep most herbs thriving.
Growing Your Herbs In Containers
Herbs are some of the easiest plants to grow in containers. With some thought to position of the sun, you can grow them quite successfully on patios, balconies, terraces and verandas. This way you can quite literally have them at your back door – or even in your window sill. Container growing is particularly useful if you live in a very cold winter climate, so that you can over-winter your herbs in containers indoors.
You can choose pretty much any container to grow herbs in. You could get pretty creative with your container as long as it has enough drainage and is not something that may have any toxic residue. But if you’re not all that creative there are custom planters, large shallow pots that allow several types of herbs to grow together, strawberry pots and window boxes – and I’m sure there are even more options to choose from.
Smaller herbs are going to be the best choice for container plants. You might be surprised at how many types of herbs would be happy growing together in the same pot. Choosing slow growing herbs will mean that you won’t have to keep them tidy. Snipping what you want for dinner will keep them compact and bushy. Always select healthy herbs to give them the best start. Remove any dead or diseased leaves to keep them healthy.
When potting them up into their container remember that they’ll be there for a while, so choose a good, well drained potting mix. Because most herbs don’t need a lot of fertilizer, choose a potting mix without added fertilizer. Container plants require more attention to watering needs as they will dry out much faster than plants in the ground. On hot, dry days you may need to water small containers twice a day.
Seasonal Care
Keeping weeds out of your herb garden and watering well during summer are the two main requirements to keeping your established herbs healthy. Mulching will be a big help with both of these tasks. It will also help keep your herb roots cool. Apply a thick layer of mulch – about 3 or 4 inches / 8-10 cm to be effective. If you live in an area with severe winters you will need to
over-winter some herbs or treat them as annuals and plant new plants in spring.
Your will benefit greatly by including herbs in your organic garden. They offer so much, yet ask so little. Some herbs are best treated as groundcovers, some make delightful edging plants, but I prefer to grow most of my herbs amongst other plants. They truly come into their own when their beauty and aromas can be experienced intimately and often.
Hi, I am an avid organic gardener and am known by my friends as the recycling queen. I live on a small country property in South Australia. It is my mission to encourage as many people as possible to start organic gardening. This will improve both our individual lives and the wellbeing of our personal and global environments. Please visit my website and get your free 3 part Composting Guide. For Companion Planting info click here.
Happy gardening, healthy living…
Julie Williams
http://www.1stoporganicgardening.com
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