When building a garden, planting herbs is one of the most important things you can do in it. Besides offering immense flavor and medicinal uses, many herbs are pollinator-friendly. If you want a higher production rate of produce in your garden, you must encourage pollinators to visit. Growing herb plants for the flowers is a dual-purpose crop. Add shallow containers of water (pot saucers filled with rocks) under the herb plants will have them coming and staying all day. Encourage wild and domesticated bees, butterflies, and more to visit.
Harvesting fresh lavender is a real treat.
It builds a legacy garden (that often lasts for many years with doing little work).
It also can build a rain-wise garden that only needs a bit of water a year, and often minimal upkeep, such as once-a-year pruning (and harvesting can be the pruning).
You can design your herb garden to be a focal point or in a raised bed or make it the outside of the garden, as a living fence/bed marker. There are so many possibilities.
Homegrown, air-dried herbs tucked away for winter use.
The Herb Garden Planning:
- Make a list of what herbs you want/need.
- Decide if you will grow from seed this winter or buy starts in spring.
- Know what needs to be grown inside or in a greenhouse in your grow zone.
- What will be an annual in your zone, and what will come back year after year, as a perennial.
- Make a plan, on paper or using an app, to fugre out your design.
- Keep yearly notes on what grows well, what dies over winter and what you liked.
There are many varieties to plant, though I tend to break them down into distinct planting types (some are interchangeable of course). It depends on what you want most out of your herbal garden: edible, medicinal, for tea or pretty flowers for the pollinators. And you can have all!
Not all herbs are small either, some are bushes and trees, so planning is essential when planting so it doesn’t take over the area.
If it says to contain, know that plant will spread and potentially take over if not controlled. Anything in the mint family is one to watch. Use pots instead of in ground, and make sure the drainage hole has a saucer under it, so roots can’t go wandering through it, into the ground.
Culinary Herbs:
- Basil (sweet)
- Bay (is a tree)
- Catnip
- Chilies (not quite an herb, it’s a pepper, for the seeds)
- Chives
- Coriander/Cilantro
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Lavender
- Lemon balm
- Lemongrass
- Lovage
- Marjoram
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Thyme
- Oregano
- Dill
- Savory
- Stevia
- Tarragon
Pollinator Flower Herbs:
- Basil (all types)
- Bee Balm
- Bergamot
- Borage
- Chamomile
- Calendula
- Catnip
- Chives
- Comfrey
- Echinacea
- Helichrysum
- Lavender
- Marjoram
- Marshmallow
- Sage
Tea Herbs:
- Bee Balm
- Catnip
- Chamomile
- Elderberry (a tree)
- Ginger
- Horehound
- Lavender
- Lemon Verbena
- Marshmallow (needs wetter soil)
- Mint (all types)
- Pineapple Sage
- Wild roses, for rosehips and leaves
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Stevia
- Stinging Nettles
Medicinal Herbs:
- Aloe (indoors in most areas)
- Basil (hardy types)
- Bee Balm
- Chamomile
- Calendula
- Comfrey (must be contained)
- Dandelion (the roots) (must be contained/dead-headed promptly to avoid seeds)
- Dill
- Echinacea
- Feverfew
- Helichrysum
- Horehound
- Ginger
- Lavender
- Lemon Balm (must be contained)
- Marshmallow (needs wetter soil)
- Mint (all types) (needs water and must be contained)
- Oregano
- Patchouli
- Wild roses, such as Nooksack and Sitka
- Red Dock
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Stevia
- Stinging Nettles (must be contained)
- Thyme
- White Sage (Hard to grow from seed, plants are best)
~Sarah
If you are seeking seeds, I highly suggest Sow Right Seeds (Use code “SARAHK10” for 10% off) They carry many herb seeds, and offer bundles of seeds aimed at both culinary, tea and medicinal herb gardens.
