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Now more popular than ever, it's no surprise that herbs have a well earned place in American gardens today. Whether fresh or dried, freshly harvested herbs are more aromatic and pungent than those commercially
obtained. When learning how to dry and store herbs, you can learn to enjoy herbs year round. Dried herbs can be used to make herbal wreaths, sachets, and fragrant potpurris, even after the growing season is over. Herbs can also be grown indoors in pots or in a sunny windowsill, and use the herbs you grow for culinary use, whether fresh, dried or frozen. If you have a 'Green Thumb', you can even try to grow your herbs from seeds! Herbs are enjoyable to grow because they require little care and space, have few insect or disease problems, and can be grown with only moderate fertility needs - all adding up to an enjoyable hobby for you or your whole family! And your fresh herbs can be used in the formulas you've been introduced to on this site. Choosing a Site Herbs have similar needs to your regular flower or vegetable garden. Though most herbs will happily grow in partial shade, it's preferable if the herb garden is allowed between 4 to 6 hours of sunlight per day. Most herbs will grow well under a variety of soil conditions, except in situations where the soil is extremely wet and poorly drained. The exceptions to this are sage, rosemary, and thyme which actually require a well-drained but moderately moist soil. It is possible to work with poorly drained soil if you perform some simple steps to modify and amend it. Even better, however, would be to plant your herbs in raised beds in areas with poor soil drainage. If the quality of your soil is poor and of a low fertility, you can add several bushels of compost per 100 square feet of soil before planting your herbs. After spreading the compost over your soil, use a spade to mix the compost into the soil thoroughly. You will also want to consider how your herbs will fare in the wintertime in your selected location. (See Winter Gardening) In most cases, herbs will do fine in soils that are of low to medium fertility, so adding additional fertilizer is not necessary. In fact, low to medium fertility soil may actually enhance the flavor of your herbs as herbs grown in high fertility soils tend to produce a great deal of foliage that is low in flavor. You can prepare your herb garden site as you would a vegetable garden, spading the soil to a depth of 6 to 12 inches. You will then want to level and rake the soil to remove debris and large clods. Determining the Size of Your Garden The size of your garden will be dependent on the quantity of herbs you desire to grow. Generally, a dozen or so annual and/or perennial herbs will provide with a good variety of herbs. (See Herb Garden Layout) If you don't have the space in your yard, or you don't have a yard at all, you can consider planting an indoor herb garden instead. Or alternatively, why not create a windowsill herb garden if you need to conserve space! |
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Fitting Herbs Into Your Landscape
The first step in planning your garden is to decide what type of garden you want. Do you want a formal garden? Or would you prefer an informally planned herb garden that might be interspersed among flowers, trees, and shrubs. Or, you may want to try a "theme" garden such as an Italian herb garden or a french Provence herb garden. Formal herb gardens are generally composed of a series of beds that, though not necessarily identical, create a balanced, symmetrical appearance. The herbs can be arranged in rows by height, color of their foliage, and herb type. Wide walkways between the herb beds is a feature typical of formal herb gardens that give a sense of spaciousness. Formal gardens of the sixteenth century were of a "knot" design. The knot style of formal garden arranges the plants in intricate, geometric designs, within either a square or rectangle. Low growing hedges such as lavender and boxwood were often used in these intricate designs. For a herbal version of the knot garden style, choose those herbs that are compact, low growing, and easily managed. Some good herbs to choose that fit this category include thyme, germander, rue, hyssop, rosemary, and santolina. Invasive, fast growing herbs such as mint should be avoided. An important and stylistic addition to any formal herb garden would be to include statuary, topiaries, and container grown herbs to enhance the formality of your garden. Although you may want to plant the herbs all by themselves, keep in mind that most herbs will look great in May and June and then look scraggy and unattractive by mid-summer. Many gardeners often informally combine their herb plants with other annual and perennial flowers, trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and vegetables, taking advantage of the various colors, textures, sizes, and shapes that these other plants can offer. You can also choose a variety of containers to plant a container herb garden to supplement you design.
In planning your herb garden, don't be limited to using herbs only in specific situations. Herbs can be used to enhance virtually any garden. Some grow better as groundcovers, others as edging plants, and still others look better when blended together with other plants in a mixed border. Most can be best appreciated, however, where their aroma and beauty can be appreciated up close.
When planning your herb garden layout, it's useful to put your ideas down on paper. You can make a rough sketch or drawing of your garden idea once you have decided on the type of garden you want. This will help you to visualize what your garden will look like and help you to plan out how many plants you'll need, foliage color combinations, and their proximity to one another. Consider staging (shorter plants in front and taller plants toward the back) as well as the succession of flowering for each herb or plant. Be sure to keep in mind the specific growing requirement of each herb - sun vs. shade, moist vs. dry soil). Consider as well color schemes and combinations. Color is perhaps the most noticeable feature of a plant. By choosing a single color scheme, you can alter the sense of space, openness, and brightness of your garden. Vary the height, shape, texture, and size of the flowers and blend the color tones together. A silver-foliaged plant such as horehound can be greatly enhanced by red or pastel foliage or flowers. Yellow and blue are good combinations as are orange and blue, yellow and violet, and red and green. Another way to create a visual impact in your herb garden is to use contrast. Contrast is using opposing elements in close proximity to each other to produce an intriguing effect. Experiment with contrast by varying your garden by darks and lights, colors, shapes, lines, flower form, or flower height. Rounded plant forms, for instance, often create an intriguing look next to plants that are upright. Similarly, a plant with round flowers can be enhanced by a plant with spiky flowers. It is important to keep your plants together in a manner that defines your garden. Plants kept together have greater visual impact than those that are scattered haphazardly throughout the yard. This can best be accomplished by edging your garden. Edging defines the planting area and makes it look as though it blends with the surrounding landscape. If your plants are near a sidewalk, wall, or pathway, you can use them as a natural boundary area. In the lawn, a permanent brick or wood edging can work well. A defined area will look more "complete" and will be easier to maintain. |