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Are you planning on growing a culinary herb in your garden you might be wondering what it will take as well as how best to grow these plants? If that’s your fear, then we got you covered
There are numerous necessary steps that you must take before you can commence your planting season such as selecting the best seedlings or herb, inspecting the soil texture & level, cross-checking your gardening tools and many others.
To know more about each of them, do well to keep scrolling and reading as we unravel the tips that will guide you.
Culinary Herb Garden: 4 Growing Tips
There are a lot of ways that you can grow your herb plants, but we will be enlightening you on the basic tips that you ought to know. They include:
1. Select Suitable Site
When you finally decide to start a new species planting adventure, the first thing that you must consider is where your garden will be located.
This is necessary as all plants can’t grow efficiently in the same location. The perfect site where you can grow your culinary herbs is in a sunny area. Most of the plants include scent leaves, rosemary, thyme, curry leaves, and many others.
Planting them in a sunny area will help your plant to have a much better flavour as the sun will expose the oils of the plant onto the surface of the leaf irrespective of the plant.
Also, you need to place the plant along the edge of a pathway or even a pot outside the door.
Most importantly, you need to ensure that land is pest infestation free as most times, pests tend to hide beneath the soil waiting for the next planting season to damage the plant.
To get rid of them, you should get an insect-killing chemical or you can opt for a safer method which is the use of natural mixtures such as soda etc.
2. Soil Requirements
The next thing that you must consider is the type of soil on which the particular herb plant grows better on. Preferably, I will recommend the use of loamy soil though clay soil will require compost and a grip which will be added to help if loosen up while using it.
Plants such as the Mediterranean Perennials (Rosemary and Lavender), tend to grow better when planted on fertile soil, well-drained soil while plants such as Annual (Basil) tend to grow better on fertile soil that is free from drainage. Coriander and parsley grow healthy on fertile soil that can retain moisture.
Bear in mind that you can plant these herbs either in a container or on the ground. If you choose to plant on the ground, you must make sure that you have free and easy access especially when the need to cut off any ill growth, weeds and others off the plant and soil as well.
Furthermore, you should look for the best fertiliser that can suit the herb plant that you are planning to grow as every plant has its preferred sites.
Read Also: 15 Herbs with Purple Flowers (With Pictures)
3. Choose Your Herb Garden Designs
Every garden does have a specific design or lay so if you are new to gardening or you want to try something new for the season, you can change the way that you structure your gardening.
You can do so by dividing the herbs into different beds while arranging them in a symmetric way around the central point.
You can try out this simplest style of designing your garden in a square yard in size, around a sundial or small room which contains a tall herb. Such plants with these features include a Rosemary bush Bay tree permanent feature, or Fennel, which would grow up every year and offer sculptural stems in winter.
Furthermore, you can divide the herbs into beds, especially those that require special attention. They include the annuals which need good soil and regular watering which will help to protect the plant from colder nights.
Also, robust herbs such as Sage and Rosemary require little watering and sharply drained soil.
More Gardening:
4. Root Out Your Herbs Plants
It is important that as you are growing your herb plants, you should make provisions for new gardening tools especially if your own has been damaged or rotten.
Afterwards, ensure that you sharpen them with the basic sharpening tools that suit them.
Always use a sharp knife, sharp scissors or secateurs to cut off the whole stems at lengths of 5-8 cm from the tip of the branch, this being the new, soft growth. Do not cut into any of the older, woody growth. Cut from all over the plant, leaving it looking shapely.
Do well to harvest all the culinary herb plants in your garden that have overgrown and need to store them or take them to the market for sale.
There are many needs for any herb plant such as Chives which you can pick some of the flowers to use in salads especially if the plant is cut back to within 4cm of the ground, which might seem a bit extreme, and given a good feed of liquid fertiliser, it will produce another crop of succulent leaves within a month.
Bear in mind that herbs can be picked from very early in their growing season, it helps to encourage the plant to produce vigorous new growth.
Though, most herbs tend to pick their peak of flavour just before they flower. Snip off stems early in the day before the sun is fully up, or, even better, on a cloudy day.
FAQs
1. What Makes Herbs Grow Faster?
The basic thing that helps to make herbs grow faster is by pruning the plants as and when necessary. If you do not prune, the plant might grow taller on only a few stems and afterwards, the leaves will start ageing, drying, and falling off.
2. Which Is The Most Common Method In The Preparation Of Herbal Plants?
The commonly used method in the extraction of medicinal plants is Maceration. This is an extraction procedure that coarsely powdered drug materials.
3. Which Is The Fastest-Growing Herb?
The fastest growing herb among others is the Basil herb plant. It is sensitive to cold weather and requires a temperature rate above 50 F (10 C).
Conclusion
If you have read through this article to this point, we hope that it helped to enlighten you on the basic tips that you need to know and follow to achieve your planting goal as you decide to venture into growing culinary herb gardening.
We will love to get feedback on how we have impacted you through the tips. So do well to leave your comments in the comment section below.
