In our guide below, you will find the 5 basic steps for planning, creating and maintaining a herb garden. Depending on the weather, you can start this exciting project as early as the end of February.

Would you like to have your own herb garden, but don’t know how to get started? Don’t worry! Creating a herb garden is one of the easiest gardening activities, and growing herbs is a particularly good choice for novice gardeners. The first steps to creating your own herb garden are listed below.

1. Choose the right place for the herb garden

Most herbs that can be grown in private gardens basically need two things: sunlight and well-draining soil. This means that when considering where to set up your herb garden, you need to take into account that the plants should receive at least 6 or more hours of sunlight per day and that the soil should have adequate drainage.

For many, an important consideration when choosing a place is whether the herb garden is conveniently accessible from the house or the kitchen, making it easier to harvest the plants.

2. Prepare the soil before planting herbs

After choosing the place for the herb garden, the next step is to prepare the soil. If the soil is very sandy or clayey, mix in a good amount of compost. If the soil is of the right texture, you can still add some compost to it, as this will provide additional nutrients to the developing herbs.

Do not use composted manure for growing herbs. These typically have a high nitrogen content, which accelerates the growth of herbs, but reduces the intensity of their flavor and aroma.

3. Choose the herbs to grow in the herb garden

Deciding which herbs to grow in your garden is primarily a matter of your own personal taste and preference. Almost all herbs live through at least one growing season in an herb garden. And many herbs come back year after year. Below is a list of some of the most common and popular herbs that even novice gardeners can’t go wrong with:

  • basil
  • chives
  • dill
  • lemon balm
  • mint
  • oregano
  • rosemary
  • sage
  • thyme

4. Planting and caring for the herbs

You can grow herbs from seed or buy pre-grown seedlings. The latter is simpler, but if your budget is tighter, you can also grow plants from seeds, it’s not complicated either. After planting the herbs, make sure they receive about 50 mm of rainwater per week.

Also make sure to harvest the leaves of the herbs often. Many novice gardeners are afraid to pinch off the leaves for fear of damaging the plants. However, this is not the case, the exact opposite is true. As a result of frequent harvesting, the herbs begin to produce more and more leaves, which increases the amount of leaves that can be harvested.

 

5. Preserve the herbs

At the end of the growing season, you can dry or freeze the picked leaves, so you can enjoy the taste of fresh herbs all year round. The time you spend creating and caring for your herb garden will pay off handsomely. Herbs add a nice splash of color to the garden, and with their great taste and aroma, they are also very useful in everyday cooking.