In keeping with the “easy to maintain” concept, container-planting is the way to go. You’ll need potting soil, pots with drain holes, and organic fertilizer. With the exception of what you plant to reflect your theme, that’s about it.

If you love to barbeque, a barbeque theme garden might be just the thing to support your passion. Since decks and patios are where outdoor cooking happens, locate your barbeque theme close by. You can fit all the herbs mentioned in three containers all about 24 inches diameter in size. In one container, plant tomato with a cage or trellis, with basil, thyme, dill and parsley. In a second, plant peppers (red and habanera) and another tomato plant close together so both can use the cage, and add mint and some more basil. In a third container plant rosemary, chives and oregano. To add a final touch, have the artist in your family decorate the containers to reflect your theme.

Tea drinkers love to experiment with different tastes, and having fresh herbs to make their favorite brews makes the taste even better. A tea garden not only supports this passion, but it can be a place to entertain or to spend quiet time. Chamomile would look great in a fancy tea kettle, and you can add large cups and saucers to continue the theme. Make sure you drill holes in anything you’re going to plant in so you will have adequate drainage. “”Easy to grow herbs” in your tea garden are any of the mints, lemon or lime balm, scented geraniums, and-of-course chamomile. Many other herbs make great teas as well, so have fun, experiment, and enjoy a variety of brews.

Another theme that creates an interesting fragrance is a citrus theme garden. You might consider a Meyer lemon tree as a focal point or a dwarf navel orange tree. Now add herbs that will continue the citrus theme like lemon or lime balm, and orange mint will work too but it’s a bit invasive. To complete this theme, add citrus colored flowers such as marigolds, zinnias, calendula, chrysanthemums, and (although not a flower) margarita sweet potato vine. 

If you’re into home remedies, a medicinal theme garden can be functional as well as beautiful. There are so many choices in this category that you would need a farm to grow them all. Some of the more common medicinal herbs are aloe vera, chamomile, tea tree, summer savory, dandelion, feverfew, saw palmetto, passionflower, and avocado.

Create an herb garden theme that resonates with your particular interest. If that’s Shakespearian, for example, plant herbs mentioned in his writings. A formal herb garden can transport you back to another time in old England; or try a biblical theme with herbs mentioned in the bible. And if you’re an Italian food lover, create a pizza herb garden in the shape of a pie.

Creating a theme garden that reflects your passion invites conversation, provides fragrance and flavors you like, and best of all it’s just plain fun to do.        

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Our names are John Schepper and Maggie Guscott and we’ve been herb garden enthusiasts for many years. For more information on herb garden plants and more, please visit http://www.herbgarden4beginners.com and be sure to sign up for our free 10-lesson mini eCourse, Herb Garden 4 Beginners.

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Culinary herb gardening’s purpose is to add spice and flavor to your cooking. Culinary herbs are the herbs that use fresh or dried leaves in cooking. Some of the classic culinary herbs are parsley, oregano, rosemary and basil. You may even want to plant some sage and thyme. There is a difference between herbs and spices. Spices are seeds, roots, fruits, flowers, and bark while, as mentioned above, culinary herbs are fresh or dried leaves.

When considering your culinary herb garden your most important decision is the location. You will need a sunny spot with at least six hours of sun. The more sun the herb garden gets the more flavor will develop in the herbs. Try to place your culinary herb garden as close to the kitchen door as possible. This will ensure that the herbs will be used daily.

A simple and delicious way to use basil is to slice some juicy ripe tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. Overlap them on a plate, sprinkle on some extra virgin olive oil and chopped basil. It is also good with a squeeze of fresh lemon. Anyone that has grown a culinary herb garden and used the fresh herbs will tell you that the fresh herbs are superior over the dried herbs.

Ornamental herb gardening can make your gardens not only practical but beautiful too. By “ornamental” we mean that the primary current usage is purely decorative. Some of these ornamental herbs have a long history of medicinal or culinary usage. Pots of ornamental herbs add color and texture to balconies or patios. They are perfect for lining your flower beds.

A good example of an ornamental herb is Dittany of Crete, a favorite oregano herb of many herb gardeners. It will form a low mound and produce leaves with fine silvery hairs. You would never want to use this in cooking, it is strictly for show.

Rue is another good choice for garden borders. Its unusual blue green color offers contrast to bright showy blooms. The rue leaves can be used as a garnish but because of its bitter flavor does not work in cooking.

Ornamental herbs are just what they say, ornaments for your gardens. Ornamental herb gardening will add texture and interest to your flower beds.

Now we come to medicinal herbs. Before the 1900′s medicinal herbs were used widely in the United States. Somewhere in the 1960′s herbs used as medicine dwindled. Now, many doctors are prescribing medicinal herbs as well as mainstream medicine.

There are three ways that the medicinal herbs work on the body. Medicinal herbs have been known to strengthen an organ so that it can heal itself. Some medicinal herbs purge the body of toxins and illness, while others build up the immune system which will help in retarding illness.

There are many ways to use medicinal herbs. A few are infusions, herb vinegars, ointments, teas and tinctures. For example, to make a healing herbal tea, boil water and pour over the fresh herbs in a cup. Let it steep for 5 minutes but no longer then 10 for it will get bitter.

The medicinal herb stevia can be used as a natural sweetener and is easy to grow in an herbal garden. It also decrease tooth decay and gum disease if used as a mouth wash.

Before starting any course of medicinal herbs, be sure to notify your Doctor to see if they will interact with any medicines you are currently taking.

These are some of the basics of the three herb groups. Plan your herb garden, pick a bright sunny place and plant your herbs. Remember you can plant an herb garden in the ground, as a container garden or an indoor herb garden.

Happy Gardening!

Copyright © Mary Hanna, All Rights Reserved.

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To select herbs, look in the kitchen cabinet where you keep all those store-bought herbs. If these are the ones you use all the time, make them part of your starter list. Also, consider the length of the growing season in your area as a general guide in your decision process.

In addition to your starter list, there are hundreds more you can choose from to plant. An easy way to sort it out is to consider them in four categories — culinary, medicinal, ornamental, and aromatic.

Three culinary herbs that should be on your list are basil, chives and thyme because they are the most delicious and versatile. And, they are easy to take care of.

Three medicinal herbs most herbalists agree should be in any garden are chamomile, which is great as a tea, and has a calming effect on the body – Echinacea, a powerful booster for the immune system – and lavender which can relieve pain and anxiety, and works as a cure for insomnia.

There is a wide range of aromatic herbs to choose from, but take a good sniff before you buy. Everybody’s sense of smell is different and you want to make sure that what you end up putting in your herb garden is an aroma you like.

Some herbs are considered ornamental but have medicinal and culinary value as well. Herbs that double as ornamentals are Echinacea, lavender, fennel, bee balm, blue cohosh, confrey, yarrow, and chicory. Of course, this is just a sampling of herbs that can be used as ornamentals but do consider them for your starter list.

Before you put on your overalls and grab your garden tools, we suggest you plan before you plant and keep it small the first year. A twenty-five to thirty square foot area will be enough space to allow a good first harvest and test your skill.

Look at your first year adventure in herb gardening as a live classroom where the learning process is what you take away from the experience. You will find out what herbs you like to grow and what works best in your part of the world.
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Our names are John Schepper and Maggie Guscott and we’ve been herb garden enthusiasts for many years. To learn more about herb garden plants as well as other great tips on how to create a beautiful herb garden, please visit http://www.herbgarden4beginners.com and be sure to sign up for our free 10-lesson eCourse, Herb Gardening 4 beginners.

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Many kits are like complete frozen dinners you buy at the supermarket. Everything is in there to borrow a line from a TV ad — everything except water that is. Others may only supply seeds, and yet others are somewhere in between. But generally, most kits supply either soil or pellets to grow the seeds in. So depending on your level of knowledge, expertise, and energy, there are lots of choices.

A good place to start is to decide what herbs you want to grow, and where to grow them.

The first decision is easy. Just look at all the little bottles of herbs in your kitchen cabinet. These will give you a clue as to what herbs you use all the time.

The second decision is probably not a problem either. Indoors you have the ability to create the right environment for the plants you choose to grow which means you can grow them almost anywhere. Outdoors you may be a little more restricted.

Kits are available from any local garden supply or garden center, but if you don’t see what you want, search the WEB. You will find a variety of kits that fit a theme such as — Italian Herb Garden, Culinary Garden, Herbal Tea Garden, Salsa Garden, Salad Garden, and more. Simply look at what seed types come in each kit, compare that with the list of herbs you use all the time, compare price, the guarantee a supplier offers, and make your decision. There you are an instant herb garden without the muss or fuss, or the work.

The real decisions from my experience, however, are not the kits themselves but where you are going to put them. Questions to ask before buying a kit are will they crowd my living space? If I don’t have 6 hours of natural light available can I install man-made lighting somewhere? And will my pets leave the plants alone?  

Herb garden kits remove most of the challenges a beginner faces when starting an indoor herb garden. In several weeks when your plants start to sprout, and you’re enjoying the fragrance and the look of your plants, you will begin to look, and feel, like an expert.

Our names are John Schepper and Maggie Guscott and we’ve been herb garden enthusiasts for many years. For more information on herb garden plants and more, please visit http://www.herbgarden4beginners.com and be sure to sign up for our free 10-lesson mini eCourse, Herb Garden 4 Beginners.

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Here are some helpful tips to get the most out of fresh herb gardening.

1.    Garlic: A big favorite in the culinary world, garlic also hold a very high note in medicinal circles. Growing garlic as a companion plant among roses is an opportunity to witness how nature works wonderfully well. Insects and pests attracted to the roses delicate scent and tempting flowers are quickly turned away by pungent aroma of the nearby garlic plants.

2.    Basil: We all agree that basil has a strong flavorful scent and adds so much to the food we enjoy. This ”Herbal Hero” also plays a guardian role in the garden to surrounding vegetables for it is a strong natural repellent to mosquitos and white flies.

3.    Parsley: This herb is well known for the role it plays in many delicious recipes. There is another virtue associated with parsley that is the ability to remove bad breath when chewed after a hefty meal. This Italian tradition of serving a small plate of chopped parsley to guests after a meal has a long history and is still practiced to this day.

4.    Mint: Mint is an extremely easy herb to grow… easier than trying to prevent it from overrunning your garden. To keep control of this herb, plant mint inside of a pot with the bottom removed. Doing so will force the roots to grow downwards and keep the plants from spreading across your garden.

5.    Oregano: This extremely popular culinary herb but did you know that it is also a wonderful ornamental addition in your garden? The oregano plant has miniature purple flowers that are quite lovely and are very decorative.

6.    Rosemary: This herb is well-known for the particular grayish-green color of its needle-like leaves. Rosemary also blooms lovely blue flowers that attracts bees that contribute at seeding the surrounding herbs and other vegetation which is very useful to your herb gardening.

7.    Thyme is pronounced ”Time”. It is believed that the name comes from the word ”Thumos” or ”Courage” in Greek. This herb has been a symbol representing courage for a very long time and references can be found in Greek, Roman, Medieval knights and the Scottish Highlanders history.

8.    Dill: Many gardeners enjoy the pleasure of starting their herbs from seed s and there is a popular belief that growing herbs from seeds is better when grown in pots and transplanted later. Though it is applicable for a many herbs, dill is certainly an exception and doesn’t like to be transplanted. Simply sow the seeds directly to your garden for them to grow.

Another important point that is not to be taken lightly is the economy that a fresh herb gardens provides. Growing your own herbs not only provide a higher degree of flavor and taste to all your meals as to the mass produced quality often found in stores bought product. There are so many different uses you can make of your harvested crop that if you were to add their collective worth you will be surprised at how much money you can save.

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Before you drive to the local nursery, you may want to set out your garden on paper. Graph paper works well. Knot gardens are traditionally confined within a square or rectangle. Consult Celtic knot information on the Internet or in books for ideas. If you are just starting out, the Irish trinity knot makes a good first knot garden. Make sure you measure your space carefully so that you can work in scale.

Once you have your design mapped out, your next step is to figure out which herbs to include in the garden. You may already have your favorites, but consider whether they can withstand your area’s climate and grow happily in the soil. Consider designing your knot garden to accommodate herb pots that can be taken inside when the weather is too harsh. You can use the pots to form the border, leaving hardier plants to form the lines of the knot.

Since some areas will be bigger than others, it’s a good idea to decide which plants you will use the most. You can use these to form the loops of the knot and along the sides. See http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/Designing-an-Herb-Garden.id-1838.html for a good picture of a triquetra, or trinity knot, garden. Keep the garden under 5 feet across or you won’t be able to get at some of your carefully planted herbs!

Most herbs grow contentedly in knot gardens. Borage, sage, rosemary, fennel, thyme, parsley, oregano, hyssop, catnip, chives, cilantro/coriander, lavender and peppermint are all herbs touted as “hardy” which will likely thrive in well drained soil with plenty of sun.

Keep an eye on some of the more enthusiastic growers, as they might try to take over neighboring herbs. Some judicious trimming can keep the lines of your knot clean and distinct. You can also pot the entire garden, if you want to, or put decorative tiles/gravel in thin lines around each herb bed.

Knot gardens aren’t just for herbs; you can also plant flowers or vegetables in the same way. Keep in mind that some plants do better together than others and plan your garden accordingly. Some plants may require that you allow for pathways inside the knot to access each bed conveniently.

Happy knotwork!

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Herb plants are easy to grow and maintain and a herb garden will provide many months of more kinds of pleasure than any other type of garden.  For instance aromatic herbs begin giving its pleasing scents immediately without waiting on a bloom.  Herbal plants have a tradition of use that touches all societies and histories.  They are highly practical and offer a wide range of uses including culinary, medicinal, aromatic, ornamental and industrial.  Using herbs for their different purposes often will lead to a desire to grow them.  Here are some factors to consider.

Herbs share a common genus with other plants so general gardening principles apply but a few specific concerns should be addressed to assist in the gardening success.

The herb garden should first be planned out. The size and type of garden will depend on available space, family needs, personal interest and time. It is recommended to begin small and expand the gardening pursuits along with the gardener’s growth in experience and confidence.   Herb plants can be integrated with other vegetable and flower plants in a starter garden.  There are two factors to be mindful of when planning a herb garden and they are sunlight and drainage.

Most all herb plants need plenty of sunshine. It is recommended that they receive from ten to twelve hours per day but as long as they get at least four to six hours per day they should be able to perform adequately.  If your garden will be located in a southern clime a little shade in the afternoon will be helpful to the plants.  If your garden location is in the shade there are herbs suited for those type areas.  With this in mind the first thing to consider in planning a  herb garden is to determine the amount of sunlight that the proposed garden spot receives.

Drainage is another important planning consideration. Herbs do not like wet feet so it is important to make sure that the garden location will drain.  The best way to determine this is to put a layer of water on the surface of the proposed location and note how long it takes for it to soak into the ground.  If the water does not immediately disappear into the ground it has poor drainage and either a new location must be selected or the drainage on the selected must improved.  This can be accomplished by either raising the site or installing a drainage media about eithteen inches below the soil.    

This information is what the beginning herb garden should know to begin a successful and exciting project.  The time to start is now.

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Product Description
“From garden design to cultivation, tips and details abound in this book of picture-perfect herb gardens.”–Country Almanac. Grow herbs for food, to use medicinally, to make under-used areas of the backyard pretty and fragrant–with the help of award-winning gardener and photographer Derek Fell. Any beginner will have a green thumb just following his foolproof instructions on:
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