Start Herb Garden Planting the Right Way

Congratulations! You are here because you want to start herb garden planting. And I bet you realize there’s every healthy and beautiful reason that you should do just that. With this site as your guide, I am confident that you will not only start your home herb garden, but you will be miles ahead of everyone else in your neighborhood.

I’ll start by giving you a couple of things to consider before you plant.

  • Are you going to have an area devoted just to your herbs, or would you like to combine them with other shrubs, flowers or vegetables?
  • Are you interested in growing kitchen herbs or medicinal herbs or both?
  • Have you read our information on herb garden design tips in our free mini-course or eBook?

After you have a good idea what herbs you want to grow,  and where you want to grow them, that’s the time to consider how to grow herbs that are healthy and stuffed with nutrients, overflowing with beautiful scents and full of flavor. And with just a few simple, but very important steps, this is exactly what you can expect.

Simple Soil Recipe for All the Herbs in Your Garden

Although the variety and characteristics of herbs is vast, they all love a very simple recipe for the soil that will be their home. Start herb garden plants with the following simple soil recipe, and they will reward you time and time again.

  • 3 parts garden soil or top soil from the plant nursery
  • 1 part peat moss, compost, or aged horse, cow or sheep manure
  • 1 part sand. Make sure the sand is rinsed and desalinated (no salt) if it is from the beach.

Watering Your Herbs, But Be Careful

Like all plants, herbs need clean water to thrive. But herb garden plants must not have too much water. It is actually better to err on the side of too little water than it is to give herbs too much water. Whether your herbs are planted outside or inside in pots, the soil must be well drained. There is more information in our free mini-course regarding creating a well-drained environment for your herbs, but for now, it is important to remember not to keep the soil too moist.

Your Herbs Live for the Light

For your outdoor herb garden, plant your herbs facing a southern or western exposure. Make sure the herbs are not covered by the broad skirts of other shrubs. This can cause an overly shady and too moist an environment for the herbs to be truly happy.

Perhaps you don’t have a yard or a suitable outdoor spot to start a herb garden. That’s fine, because indoor herbs are just as happy with a sunny windowsill or certain types of man made light. Fluorescent light, grow lights or special high output lights will do the trick in not only starting your herbs, but helping them grow to maturity and vitality. I have much more information on herb garden lighting in my mini-course as well as my book, “Sun, Water, Earth & Herbs: A Guide to the Magic World of Herb Gardening.”

Contact Us With Your Herb Garden Pictures, Recipes and Tips

Our visitors love to see each others’ pictures and hear about each others’ experiences. Please click on the “Contact Us” link at the bottom of the page and we’ll tell you right away how you can share your pictures and stories and publish them right here.

Talk soon!

Melanie