Know how

Herbs are generally easy to grow, requiring minimal inputs, provided one knows their needs (sun, shade, etc). Most herbs can be grow successfully in the ground or in containers, making them ideal for any yard situation- even an apartment balcony can have a couple pots of your favorite culinary herbs. While some herbs require full sun to thrive, many are tolerant of partial shade, opening up wider areas of a yard for food growing. 

What herbs should I grow? 

Start by thinking about your cooking habits. Do you use a lot of basil and oregano? Or do you prefer lighter sage, tarragon and thyme? Choose herbs that you use the most in your regular cooking, rather than planting exotics that may languish. New and interesting options can be exciting, but for a new herb garden, the most used herbs will also be your most useful herbs.

Also consider how much light the area you would like to grow your herbs gets. All herbs are good in full sun- but what if the spot you want to grow in only gets a couple hours? Few herbs grow in deep shade, but many of the above herbs are tolerant of part shade, and will still produce nicely for you. Shoot for at least three hours of direct sun however, because even these tolerant herbs still need some sun to give you great flavor. 

More shade than sun: Chives or Garlic Chives, Cilantro/Coriander, Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Mints, Oregano, Parsley

I have my herbs. Now what?

So you've picked out a trio of Basil, Parsley and Oregano for your Italian nights. Or you have lavender, thyme and savory for that French Stew you like to make. Hopefully, you have chosen a few different herbs that complement your cooking style, and have already decided where you are going to plant them.

In the Ground - Most herbs thrive in any variety of soil conditions, provided that they are neither completely boggy and constantly wet, nor a desiccated desert. If you have nice soil, dark and crumbly with a lot of organic matter, you don’t have to do anything special. But if your soil is very sandy and doesn’t hold moisture well, or very clay and holds moisture too well, you may want to add compost to the soil, as it will help solve both issues, by retaining moisture in sandy soils or improving drainage in clay soils. All purpose stuff that compost! You can purchase a bag of compost or use your own or a neighbors. The herbs aren’t picky. 

Dig the area a few inches down, working in the compost if needed. Making the soil soft and workable makes it easy for the herbs to put out new roots to take up moisture and nutrients. A small amount of a slow release fertilizer can be worked in just around the roots of the plants. If the area is in full blazing sun, a light top dressing of wood chips or other mulch can help the ground from drying out too fast and help keep down weed competition, but it isn’t necessary if you are going to check more frequently if your herbs need water or weeding. 

In Pots - Pick a pot! Keep it simple and inexpensive, or get as fancy as you like! There is a certain joy in beautiful plants growing in beautiful pots. Small pots can easily hold even a perennial herb plant, though larger pots may be useful for several plants or larger types of herbs, like rosemary and lavender that need a little extra room to stretch their roots. If planting several herbs in a single pot, give the herbs at least a six inch clearance between the next closest herb, so that each plant has room to grow. The more crowded they are, the less each will grow individually. 

For your potted herbs, you will need potting soil. Regular dirt from the garden is generally too heavy and offers the wrong kind of drainage when it’s dug up and put in to a pot. Regular and organic potting mixes are available. Many potting mixes include fertilizer already, so be sure to check your bag. If no fertilizer is included, make sure to mix in a small handful of a slow release fertilizer in to the top few inches of the soil. 

Perennial herbs grown in pots will benefit from being repotted every three years, or if they get too cramped and pot bound. Most are easy to repot, just by removing from the pot, trimming off the outer layer of roots, and returning to the pot with some fresh soil. They can also be moved to larger pots if desired, to allow them to grow larger. 

Watering - Herbs in general prefer to be kept slightly on the dry side. This doesn’t mean they like to dry out completely, just that they do not prefer to be wet all of the time. There is no set timing for watering herbs, although for newly planted herbs, you will want to check on them every day at first until you have a better idea of how quickly they dry out. In general, herbs in pots will dry out faster than herbs growing in the ground. When the soil is mostly dry, but not bone dry, water the herbs deeply. In general, these plants prefer less frequent, but deep waterings. Once established, herbs growing in the ground may need watering as much as once a week, or as little as once a month, depending on the weather. 

Many herbs growing in the ground are very tolerant of slightly dry conditions, and may only need supplemental watering during the hottest, driest months of July and August. Lavender, Rosemary, Thyme, Sage and Chives are all very drought tolerant. More tender herbs like basil, tarragon, summer savory and dill have much less tolerance for dry conditions, and will need to be monitored more closely. Herbs in pots, no matter the type, cannot go for long without water. Most potted herbs will need to be watered every couple of days, but rarely daily if the pot is large enough for them. 

Fertilizing - Those of you who planted your herbs in the ground are in luck – you can get away with fertilizing once a year in the spring at most. If you regularly mulch or add compost to the bed each year, you may be able to fertilize every other year instead, as those products slowly rot, adding nutrients back in to the soil. Herbs in pots are less lucky. They should be fertilized every year at least, and more likely twice a season; once in spring and again in early to midsummer for best production. Choose slow release fertilizers, like Plant-Tone (for organic gardening) or Osmocote. Avoid quick powders that mix with water, these are too strong and we don’t recommend them for most herbs. While they will work, it can stress the plant and force it to grow too much, weakening the plant as well as its flavor in your kitchen. 

Using - Use those herbs! Most herb plants grow best, staying full and bushy, when harvested regularly. Don’t be shy. Clip off the top, new growth, as that is usually the most flavorful. In addition to tasting the best, clipping off the newest growth will encourage more new growth. All of the herbs here can be used fresh, clipped and added straight to your recipe. Generally, a recipe calling for a teaspoon of a dried herb will require a tablespoon of fresh, as dried herbs are more concentrated than fresh. But nothing tastes like fresh herbs. Herbs taste best when harvested in the morning, before the heat of the day- but they are still extremely tasty and useful when harvested five minutes before dinner! 

Annual herbs like basil and dill can be harvested until frost kills them. But most perennial herbs should be left alone by around mid-August, so they can set up their stores of energy for winter. Healthy, strong growing plants can have as much as 75% of their growth for the season harvested at once, and toward the end of the season, this may be appealing, to preserve some of their flavor for the off season. Many of the above herbs can easily be stored by either drying or freezing. 

Drying - Snip off several springs and tie them loosely in a bunch. Hang them somewhere out of direct light, but with good air movement. They will dry over the course of several days, to several weeks, depending on the herb. Herbs are fully dried when they are brittle and crumble between your fingers. Store dried herbs in glass jars in a dark place. A dehydrator, set at a low temperature, can also be used to dry herbs. Dried and stored properly, herbs keep their flavor for six months to a year. Herbs that dry well and keep their flavor with this method include: oregano, thyme, rosemary, lavender, parsley, mint, lemon balm, catnip, marjoram, summer and winter savory, and sage. 

Freezing - Herbs can be frozen easily. Rinse them quickly in cold water, shake off the extra and chop them coarsely. Spread them out on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer. Once they are completely frozen, put them in to a small freezer bag and keep in the freezer to use all winter. Or take a large amount and puree them in a food processor with a little water or olive oil. Freeze these in ice cube trays. When frozen, pop them out and store them in a container or freezer bag, removing one or two cubes as needed. Some herbs that work well frozen include; basil, cilantro, chives, garlic chives, summer savory, tarragon, parsley, tarragon, dill, nasturtium, and thyme.