There’s nothing that’s going to add more to your cooking than fresh herbs will, but getting your hands on plenty of fresh herbs when you need them most is almost always a more expensive proposition than most people think.
Thankfully though, when you create your own herb garden, you’re going to be able to effortlessly produce as many herbs as you could ever hope to use (and probably a lot more than you’ll ever get to be able to use) without any a headache, without any hassle, and without any extra expense.
Use these seven clever herb gardening tips below to make your life as an herb gardener a lot easier!
Start from potted plants
You can definitely grow herbs from seeds, but unless you want to take a very long time to produce and herb garden worth using your instead going to want to buy potted herbs and then transplant them into your garden going forward. This allows you to grow your herbs indoors as well as out, but it also gives you the opportunity to start using fresh herbs almost immediately without having to wait forever for your seeds to germinate and mature enough to harvest.
If you’re going to start with seeds, soak them overnight before you plant them
If, however, you really want to start your seeds off on the right foot when you go in this direction, you’re going to want to make sure that you soak all of your herb seeds in warm water overnight so that they can begin the germination process with a head start. This isn’t going to delay your planting by too much, but it’s going to help you rapidly produce the kinds of herbs that you are looking for in the first place.
Change out your herb garden every three years
While a properly planted and tended to herb garden is going to last quite a while, the truth of the matter is these plants are always a lot less hardy than most any other plant you’re going to establish in your garden. This is why they need grass protection, why they need so much care and attention, and why you have to make sure that you shelter them from harsher precipitation like sleet and pounding rain, for example.
At the same time, all herb plants are going to show signs of serious degradation around year three which is when you’re going to want to swap them out with new plants to refresh your garden.
Plant your herbs according to the season that they thrive in
Again, a little bit of foresight and planning when you’re getting ready to establish your herb garden is going to make a world of difference when it comes time to succeed with these types of plants. By thinking about the herbs that are going to thrive in early spring, the hot middle of summer, or the cool fall season you’re going to be able to have plenty of herbs to supply your kitchen all year round but you’re also going to have the highest quality herbs throughout the year as well.
Don’t go crazy with watering them
It’s real, really tempting to want to kind of flood your herb garden with as much water as possible, especially when your herbs are still in seed form, but you’ll want to shy away from that temptation as much as you can.
Overwatering is just as bad if not worse than underwater and your herbs, and if you flood them out to you run the risk of destroying their ability to grab root in the soil and that’s going to kill off your herbs faster than almost anything else.
Harvest your herbs right before the plants start to flower
This is going to take a little bit of tricky timing, but if you pay close attention to everything going on in your herb garden you’re going to learn when to best harvest your herbs to maximize their flavor. Right before these plants flower is when the herbs are going to be at their most potent levels, and this is when you’re going to want to harvest them for cooking. Herbs are good pretty much all year round as soon as they mature, but they really have something special just before they flower each season.
Make sure you get your soil right
The kind of soil that you plant your herbs in the is going to make a world of difference in their quality, their vibrancy, and their ability to take root throughout your garden. Make sure to test the pH levels of your soil, but also make sure that the actual soil composition is going to provide these orbs with all of the nutrients they need to succeed going forward. Nothing’s worse than eating bad herbs just because your soil couldn’t support their full maturation.
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Author Bio
About Fergus @MatsGrids
MatsGrids are suppliers of Ground reinforcement systems, grass reinforcement and protection mesh for domestic and commercial landscaping projects.Our business mission is to become the UK’s leading supplier of groundworks, civils and landscaping products. Over the last few years, our company has grown to become one of the UK’s most reputable suppliers to these sectors and today we supply our range of products to thousands of businesses and end users within the UK and overseas.
