Fresh herbs round off every dish. If you always want to have fresh herbs in the house, just create a herb garden.
If you can harvest fresh herbs from your own garden, you're way ahead in the kitchen. In our step-by-step instructions, we will show you how to create and maintain a herb garden with simple tips.
Step 1 - Site Selection
» Many herbs prefer direct sunlight
The creation of a herb garden and thus its choice of location should be well thought out. Because most types of herbs prefer direct sunlight. But some also need a little shade, which can be achieved with a perennial plant or a small tree in the immediate vicinity. On top of that, it should be taken into account during the planning stage that only herbs that will ultimately be consumed or used as medicinal plants should be planted in your own herb garden!
» Annual, biennial and perennial herbs
It is also part of herb garden knowledge that there are annual, biennial and perennial herb plants and that these individual herbs require very different amounts of water, especially when watering - chives, for example, require a lot of water, lemon balm much less, etc.
» Create a herb garden near the house
In addition, the herb garden should always be in the immediate vicinity of the house so that the herbs can be freshly harvested at any time during cooking. An area of approx. 2 to 5 square meters is perfectly sufficient for a herb garden.
» Tip: Of course, creating a raised bed is ideal for herbs, where they can later be harvested very easily. A combination in the form of a herb rock garden or the creation of a herb spiral is also visually pretty to look at.
Step 2 - Herb selection
The choice of herbs for your own herb garden is extremely varied these days. The reason for this is that the garden trade is offering more and more varieties that easily adapt to the prevailing climatic conditions on site. Very popular annual herbs are e.g. cress, dill (cucumber spice),Chervil, coriander or marjoram. Biennials and perennials include parsley, chives, oregano, mint, basil, lavender, sage, lemon balm, lovage (also called Maggi herb), thyme, caraway, rosemary, etc.
Step 3 - Sow/plant herbs
» Annual herbs:
Annual herbs are sown as seeds in the herb garden. The best time for this is usually mid-May, when there is little fear of ground frost - take note of the package inserts. During the first few days, the freshly sown herb seeds can be covered with some garden fleece so that the herb plants can develop (germinate) optimally in the soil.
» Biennial and perennial herbs:
Biennial and perennial herbs, on the other hand, are either sown in September or planted as perennial plants in the herb garden in spring or autumn.
» Tip: When it comes to herbs, chemical fertilizers should be largely avoided, as these can often strongly influence the taste of individual herbs. A one-time compost fertilization of the herb plants in spring and/or autumn is usually completely sufficient, if the weeds in the herb garden are removed at the same time.
Step 4 - Care of the herbs
» Water herbs
The best time to water the herbs is either in the early morning, when the sun's rays have not yet reached their full power, otherwise the water could burn the herbs, or in the evening hours when the sun slowly disappears again. Most herbs don't need too much water anyway, except e.g. parsley, chives and cumin, etc.
» Loosen the soil regularly
In connection with the watering, the gardener must ensure that the soil surface of a herb garden always remains evenly loose, because encrusted surfaces no longer allow enough water to penetrate to the herb roots - always use a small garden rake to clean the soil surface slightly loosen up.
Conclusion
So it's not that difficult to create your own herb garden. And if you don't have your own garden, you can work according to the principle that a mini herb garden can find space even in the smallest of spaces. Because herbs can even be grown in the kitchen window, on the balcony or in a small front garden.