Herbs and growing them is a very relaxing hobby. In fact research has shown that gardening has beneficial effects on both the mind and the body. Planting herbs and growing them burns about 125 calories per half an hour, and the same research has also found that outdoor activities such as gardening have helped people recover from serious illnesses such as cancer.

When planting herbs and growing them, it’s important to plan your herb garden well.  Depending upon the variety of herbs you are planting, your herbs could require very different growing conditions. Some herbs are low and bushy plants, like Rosemary, and some are tall and grass like, such as Dill or Cilantro. Some herbs will require a lot of sun, while others will need more shade. So planning your herbs and growing them in the proper environment will ensure that you have the best possible yield from your garden.

What kind of herbs will you be growing? This is an essential question when thinking about herbs and growing them. Will these be culinary herbs? Will you plant medicinal herbs? Since some herbs, like Lavender, are both culinary and medicinal herbs, they essentially do double duty. What you will grow is entirely up to you, but be sure to plan accordingly.

Next, when planting herbs and growing them, you’ll need to look at soil conditions. If you are planting herbs and growing them in the ground then you will likely need to use a fertilizer or compost to enrich the soil. Most soil doesn’t have all of the nutrients that plants need to grow well. If you are planting herbs and growing them in pots, then be sure to use a high quality potting soil. There are many varieties on the market that include plant food, fertilizer, and even special fibers that absorb water to keep plants watered more evenly and allowing you to water less.

Now that you know what you are going to grow and what soil you will plant them in, it’s important to make sure that the environment that you plant them in is ideal. Most herb plants do not like cold weather, so when the weather cools off, before the first frost or freeze, you will need to bring your herbs inside to keep them from being killed by extreme cold. For this, it’s always easier to move a container garden, but you can dig up herb plants that are planted in an outdoor planter as well, it just takes a little more work.

Herb gardening is both relaxing and rewarding. It can lower stress levels, provide a healthy dose of vitamin D from the brief sunlight expose that so many of us lack in our everyday lives, and provide some delicious herbs to add to your favorite recipes, adding flavor instead of unhealthy fat and sodium.

Fresh herbs really are the key to a healthy body and a healthy mind.

Since many herbs grow equally well in containers as in garden beds, they are ideal for indoor growing.  Some herbs which have great success indoors are chives, basil, sage, thyme and oregano. Make sure you are using containers which will allow for good drainage, as this is a key component of growing herbs.  Clay and plastic containers work well.  When placed near a sunny window, or under florescent lights, these plants can be started as seeds, or seedlings, and will grow throughout the winter.

If you are still a bit weary of starting a windowsill herb garden, you may want to look into buying a kit. These kits come with everything you need to get started.  All you need to provide is the light, and the care!  The kits will often have the containers, seeds or seedlings, and soil-less potting mix.  Your kit guide  or local nursery will be a great resource to help you know when to harvest your herbs. 

Whether you decide to use your herbs fresh from your ‘garden’, such as a sprinkling of chopped chives on a baked potato, or you choose to dry your herbs, like basil, for use as a seasoning, the step by step guide to harvesting your herbs will help you to make the most of your plants.  Freezing your herbs is a great way to preserve their flavor, and extend your own enjoyment of them.  Again, consult with a herb handbook to properly freeze the many different types of herbs.

What better way to make the best of those cold, winter months, than to fill your home with the aroma and flavor from your very own windowsill herb garden?  This easy method of growing may even inspire you to create a large bed of herbs when thoughts turn to spring.

There are a number of ways to construct an indoor herb garden and they are only limited by your budget, your space and your imagination. Many people are fortunate enough to have a plant window in their kitchens. If only we were all so fortunate. These windows operate in a similar way to a greenhouse and are the perfect environment for an indoor herb garden. If you don’t happen to have one of these windows or any windows at all in your kitchen for that matter, no need to worry. You can still grow your garden indoors.

All indoor herb gardens are potted herb gardens. You can use any type of container you would like as long as it has good drainage and a dish to sit in to catch water. What’s more important is where you set the pots. Ideally, you would like to put the pots on a sunny windowsill. But if that is not an option you can also put the pots on a counter that has a fluorescent light directly overhead in close proximity. For example, if you have a fluorescent light under your kitchen cabinet, then you could put your pots right under it and your herbs would be fine.

A very recent trend in indoor herb gardens is the hydroponic garden. Midnight infomercials have been selling expensive hydroponic units.  Although easy to use, the user has to continue buying new growing pods in order to have a consistent supply of herbs. If you are interested in hydroponic gardens, check with your local hydroponic garden store. They might have a kit or a system that will end up being less expensive or work better.

Building your garden is simple. Be sure to use an appropriate potting soil mix, since all mixes are not created equal. Topsoil, although cheaper, does not have the same nutrients as potting soil. Potting soil has a pH that is specifically made for plants in pots and it is enriched with fertilizer, plant food and in some cases, water absorbing fibers that keep plants evenly watered. Once your plants begin to grow and fill in, you will be able to start harvesting your herbs. Some herbs will grow for a long time if conditions are ideal, such as Basil, while others will grow for a brief time and then need to be replanted, such as Cilantro.

A culinary herb garden is simple to grow whether you’ve got a small space on your counter top or a large yard to plant every herb possible. It is important to understand exactly what a culinary herb garden is because it is not as straightforward as you might think. Not all herbs are created equal. Some herbs are for culinary use while others are for medicinal use and then there are some that shouldn’t be eaten because they are toxic.

Some of the plants that shouldn’t be included in a culinary herb garden are mistletoe, mandrake, lily of the valley, foxglove, belladonna, and arnica. Most of these are fine for external use like Arnica, which is excellent for many different muscle strains and sprains. Things like Foxglove, though, can be fatal if taken internally. Foxglove is a species of digitalis, which is used to treat cardiac problems. If you don’t have heart problems, or you take too much under the prescription of a doctor, it can certainly cause death.

So now that we know which plants to avoid, it is time to discuss the plants you want to include in your culinary herb garden. Some very popular herbs are things like Basil, Thyme, Parsley, and so on. However, other herbs such as Cilantro, which is a common ingredient in Mexican and Thai dishes, is easy to grow and does double duty. Once Cilantro starts to flower and begins to seed, you can pick the seeds, dry them and grind them and you’ll have cumin, another popular spice in Mexican dishes as well as in Indian Curries.

When growing your herbs, the first thing you must do is decide if you will have your garden inside or outside. The ideal place in a perfect world for your herb garden is in a solarium near your kitchen. However, unless you reside in an old Victorian mansion, the chances of that being the case are slim. So short of a big home renovation project, if you are going to grow your herbs inside, try and put them in a sunny location like a windowsill or plant window. Make sure you plant your herbs in containers that drain well in a high quality potting mix. This isn’t the time to skimp and buy the cheap stuff. It’s also imperative to know the amount of water your herbs need. Some herbs need to dry out completely before being watered again, while others like to stay moist.

A culinary herb garden is a great way to begin gardening and it is also a great way to add lots of flavor to your dishes without adding a bunch of unhealthy things like salt, sugar and fat.  You can become healthier while punching up the flavor factor in all your favorite meals.

One of the best reasons to start an herb garden is because herbs taste good. Herbs add a lot of flavor to dishes, without adding all of the things that are unhealthy for you, such as salt, sugar, cholesterol and fat. Adding a lot of fresh herbs to your dishes is probably the number one recommendation of nutritionists when they are designing menus to help people lose weight, just for that reason. Fresh herbs also add a fresh taste to things like canned stocks. Just add some fresh herbs to your chicken stock and it suddenly doesn’t taste like canned stock anymore.

Another great reason to start an herb garden is that cultivating an herb garden is good for your overall physical health. Spend a little bit of time lifting full watering cans, or pushing a wheelbarrow of top soil and you’ll get a decent work out. Of course, you should always be careful not to injure yourself, but what other workout is there that will help you become healthier and give you great tasting herbs at the same time?

Yet another good reason to start an herb garden is that growing an herb garden is good for your mental and emotional well being. Research has shown that those who garden have improved mental focus and hand-eye coordination.  This is one of the reasons why seniors find gardening so rewarding. It helps them stay sharp, while others in their age group would be declining.

Emotional well being is another reason to start an herb garden, but that is a relatively new discovery. For some time, society has thought of those who find emotional peace from plants as hippies or eccentric. However, research has found a correlation between those who spend time gardening and elevated mood.  Gardening usually requires you to spend time outdoors and being out in sunlight and fresh air does have the effect of lifting ones mood. In fact, some people suffer from a condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is similar to depression, but brought on by a seasonal lack of sunlight and time spent outdoors. It is also emotionally uplifting to have your hard work rewarded. Gardening is not an “instant gratification” type of hobby. It requires patience, and when your patience is rewarded with delicious herbs, it feels very good indeed.

As you can see, there are a lot of reasons to start an herb garden. It’s easy to do and doesn’t cost a lot of money. Even if you don’t have a yard to start an herb garden in, you can still grow a container herb garden and they have the added benefit of being easily moved and rearranged to give your patio or balcony a different look. Give it a try and you’ll see how rewarding it can be.

Once you have decided on the particular herbs you want to grow, you will want to determine the location of your garden.  Since many herbs can be grown successfully in containers, you have even more flexibility.  Herbs like basil, parsley and cilantro require rich soil, lots of sun and good drainage to thrive.  Oregano does well in dry, sandy soil, and rosemary prefers dry and rocky soil.

It makes sense to start out small, particularly if this is your first stab at gardening as you can always add plants when you begin to feel more confident.  As with any garden, plant taller growing items in the back of the bed with shorter herbs in the front. As you nurture your plants through their growing season, the point of harvesting will require some extra attention on your part. A good rule of thumb is that the leaves are the most flavorful just before they bloom. Harvesting your herbs a day or so after they have been watered will help to jump start the drying process. 

When harvesting seeds, it is important to catch your herbs before the seeds begin to dry out, but after they have ripened.  A great way to prevent losing any seeds during the harvesting is to cut the heads over a brown paper bag.  The seeds can remain in the open bag as they dry out.  Hanging your cut herbs is an ideal way to dry them.  When storing leaves from your culinary herb garden, freezing them will ensure the optimum preservation of their flavors.

Whether you have a small or large garden, or just a few containers with your favorite herbs, you will enjoy the satisfaction of having grown your own herbs, and you will savor the results of your hard work for weeks and months to come.

The first thing you need to decide is what you want to grow. The varieties of herbs that are available are enormous. You’ll also need to know if you want to grow herbs for cooking or herbs for medicinal purposes since they are very different. For argument sake, we’ll assume you are growing herbs in pots for cooking.

Once you decide on what you want to grow, you’ll need to select your pots. Pots can be anything from traditional pots to old coffee cans or olive oil cans, as is popular in Mediterranean herb gardens. Anything that you can put soil in and have adequate drainage in will work. If you do use coffee cans or something similar, use a drill or an awl to punch holes in the bottom to allow for drainage or your herbs could become water logged and die.

Next you’ll want to consider the soil you’ll need when growing herbs in pots.  You can’t use just any soil. Plain old nutrient deficient top soil won’t work. When you are growing herbs in pots you want to be sure that you get a high quality potting soil, and make no mistake, they are very different. Plain top soil is just like the same dirt you have in your back yard. But potting soil is a combination of soil, fertilizer, plant food and in some cases even special fibers that will absorb water to help keep your plants moist.

Growing herbs in pots will also require you to decide where exactly you want to set your pots, once they are planted. Different herbs will require different conditions. Should you decide that growing herbs in pots in your home is the way to go for you, you’ll likely need to supplement their sunlight with a halogen light bulb to be sure that they get all the light they need.

Once your herbs have begun to grow, wait until they have about 6-8 inches of growth and that they have become reasonably full before you start harvesting. Once you do start harvesting your herbs there are a number of things you can do with them. Of course, you can use them fresh in all your favorite dishes, but you can also hang bunches of them upside down to dry and then strip the leaves off and use them dried when your herbs are out of season. You can also use certain fragrant herbs such as lavender and mint to make things like scented sachets for drawers and closets or to make tea.

When you are growing herbs in pots, your possibilities are endless. So no matter what you grow, you can’t go wrong.

The idea behind a mini herb garden is that it will not require large and carefully prepared garden beds.  A mini herb garden will likely contain a few plants each of the herbs selected, but will be confined to a single, multi-tier container, or a small grouping.  If you are planning your own mini garden, select the plants which you most enjoy, either for their flavor, or for their aroma.

Since most herbs will grow nicely in containers, you can enjoy the flexibility of having your herbs in pots either inside or outdoors.  Start your plants from seed, or purchase seedlings from your local nursery, keep your plants growing strong by exposing them to lots of light, whether it be natural sunlight, or fluorescent lighting, and keep the soil well-drained. Before you know it, you will have wonderful herbs ready to harvest.

To harvest the plants from your mini herb garden, you will need to pay attention to what your plants are doing.  Leaves are most flavorful just before the plant blooms.  While seeds, on the other hand, must be harvested after they ripen but before they dry out.  Many herbs, like chives, can be used fresh while others, like basil, are more versatile and can be enjoyed either fresh or after drying. 

To store the harvests of your mini herb garden, you have many options. You can freeze your herbs, sealing in their flavors, or you can store them in an airtight container.  In any case, trying your hand at herb gardening will be a rewarding experience.

Deciding on the herbs to plant can be a challenge. If space is not an issue then start a list of all herbs that are used in the home. For a culinary herb garden the herbs will be for cooking. Some people prefer to plant herbs in pots instead of in the ground. Either way is fine while proper drainage is provided. Preparing the pot or ground is essential for healthy herb growth. Soil pH levels may need to be tested to determine if the soil is conducive to healthy growth. The use of compost can bring soil to the correct pH level.

Compost may serve best for starting herb plants. Work into the soil and keep the soil loose. If the soil tends to stick like clay or crumble like sand then there is a pH issue. Until this balance is perfected, herbs will not grow well. Healthy soil will provide the air and water balance for a successful culinary herb garden. Compost or mulch makes a nutritious ground cover to help growth without the use of chemicals. Be sure to plant herbs with similar growth needs close together. This makes the care easier. 

Before purchasing herb plants, consider using seeds. Some herbs do best with planting directly in the culinary herb garden. Others do well with starting indoors and transplanting. Due to the delicate nature of seeds, it is best to spray them with water. Saturating the soil may cause the seeds to come up. Some herbs such as lavender grow from cuttings. Pest control is not a big problem with herbs. Some herbs are natural repellents. Garlic is sometimes planted by roses, to repel pests. Aphids and red spider mites are the worse culprits. Spraying with a mixture of Castile soap and water prevent this problem.

Growing a culinary herb garden  offers beauty, fragrance and functional use. Enjoying the taste difference keeps many herb gardeners motivated.