An Introduction to “Herb Gardening for Beginners”
Whether you’re an experienced gardener or just a beginner, this article on herb gardening for beginners will help you make a start with your herb gardening. If you decide to start a home herb garden you’ll be embarking on a journey that you’ll find both enjoyable and rewarding. Herb gardens aren’t difficult to create but if you are thinking about setting up a herb gardening there are a a few things (some less obvious than others) you need to know to get the best out of your herb garden.
This article on herb gardening for beginners will provide you with lots of tips and some “insider” information that will help make your journey from herb gardening beginner to herb gardening expert as painless as possible.
Use this website often. It’s full of useful, free information, much of it (but not all) on herb gardening for beginners. If this is your first attempt at growing a herb garden, don’t forget to sign up for my free Herb Gardening Minicourse which provides an excellent introduction to herb gardening for beginners and other useful information to those who are not totally new to herb gardening.
Go to the end of this article now and complete the sign-up form.
Herb Gardening in Pots
You can start growing herbs at home using something as simple as a plastic ice-cream box as a container for your herb plants. Alternatively if you have a patio or balcony area, with a bit of imagination and the right choice of herbs, you can create a herb garden that’s as beautiful as it is useful.
Another option for those who already have a garden with plants and vegetables is to create a themed herb garden.
Popular themes are – Italian Herb Garden; Chinese Herb Garden; Culinary Herb garden; Medicinal Herb Garden.
As your experience grows you will be able to branch out and grow herbs that are more unusual, perhaps even raising some of them from seed. In my digital book “The Secrets of Successful Herb Gardening” I have provided a suggested list of ten herbs that you should consider growing in your herb garden. I’ve also provided a range of suggestions on how to use herbs in your cooking and for treating some common health ailments.
History of Herb Growing
In this article on herb gardening for beginners I think it’s important to provide you with a little bit about the history of herbs. An understanding of the history of herbs and how they have been used over thousands of years will deepen your interest in your herb garden. Also you’ll be able to impress your friends with your knowledge when they are admiring the delightful taste of the meal you have just prepared for them (using your own home-grown herbs of course!)
Herbs are some of the oldest of garden plants. They can be traced back to the times of the ancient Egyptians and the ancient Chinese. There are lots of references to herbs in the Bible (some of them in parts written several centuries before the birth of Christ) and many medieval documents reveal that herbs were in frequent use by both rich and poor families.
You can find lots of additional information on the history of herbs elsewhere on my website, “sprinkled in” amongst articles on herb gardening for beginners and other more in-depth articles on herb gardening.
How Herbs are Used Today
The reason why herbs have such a long record of popularity is because they are so beneficial and adaptable. They can be used to flavor food, to make a room smell better (with potpourri), to make invigorating and healthy drinks and even to control pests in the garden.
Today, the most popular use of herbs are in cooking (where they are known as culinary herbs), but they are also grown for their aromatic foliage and (in some cases) for the beauty of their flowers. Up until the early 1900’s they were also used extensively to heal ailments and improve health. This is not a common practice in the 21st Century, but even today herbs are grown commercially for use in a wide variety of medicines, toothpastes and creams.
Conditions for Growing a Herb Garden
Herb Growing in Patio Pots
Here are a few facts and tips on herb gardening for beginners.
- Most herbs prefer a sunny location, although a few prefer full shade or afternoon shade. If your herb garden is going to be on your patio, observe how the sun and shade vary throughout the day to make sure you choose an ideal spot.
- Amazingly, very few diseases or insects attack herbs. Sometimes in dry, hot weather red spider mites can be found on low-growing plants and aphids may attach themselves to dill, caraway, anise, or fennel.
A fungal infection called mint rust can also affect your mint, but there are well-proven methods of dealing with it. Find out more about how to deal with diseases in my digital book “The Secrets of Successful Herb Gardening”
Seeds or Plants?
You can grow your herbs from seed or buy herb plants. If you decide to use plants you’ll be able to purchase a wide selection of herb plants from your local garden center or nursery. If you can’t find herb plants locally there are a number of excellent on-line suppliers of herb plants.
But don’t be afraid to have a go at growing your herbs from seed. Although we are running through the basics of herb gardening for beginners in this article, there are lots of herbs that are easy for beginners to grow from seed. In fact, many herb gardening beginners start their herb gardens in this way. It can be quite exciting to watch the seeds you plant germinate and grow. If you decide to grow from seed you should be able to purchase lots of different types of herb seeds locally. Or, once again, you can shop online.
To grow herbs from seed you should plant your herbs seeds in a shallow pot or box in the late winter or early spring using a light, well-drained soil. Be careful not to cover the seeds with too much soil. Follow the gardeners rule “the finer the seed, the shallower it should be sown“.
By the spring your herb seedlings will have grown strong and healthy and can be planted outdoors. There are some herbs (dill, fennel, anise, coriander) which don’t transplant well, and so if you decide to grow these herbs from seed sow them directly into your garden or into a pot or container.
Sign-up for My Mini-course on Herb Gardening for Beginners!
You’ve now got enough information to make a start with your home herb garden. However, there’s quite a lot more you need to learn if you want to become really proficient and produce good quality herbs. Before you do anything else, make sure you sign up for my Herb Gardening Minicourse. It will provide lots of information on herb gardening and is an excellent starter course on herb gardening for beginners. If you use this course together with the other learning resources on my website (my digital book “The Secrets of Successful Herb Gardening” contains lots of useful information on herb gardening for beginners) you’ll soon build up all the knowledge you need to turn your interest in herbs into an exciting and satisfying pastime.
Happy herb gardening!
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