Herbs in the Garden…
Design, Growing and Use
Design with Herbs…an herb garden is a wonderful element within any garden, but herbs can easily be integrated into
planting beds, mixed borders or container gardens.
 Place herbs where you can easily harvest them for use—near a grill or kitchen area.
 Herbs with strong fragrances are useful where they can be appreciated: near a front door, near a bench/seating area,
around a patio or along a path.
 Herbs can be integrated into existing beds and borders to create mixed borders.
 Inspired by a checkerboard, integrate square pavers (2’ by 2’) with blocks of herbs to create a garden with great access
for maintenance and harvest.
 Some herbs will seed themselves and meander through the garden to provide an informal or naturalistic look. These
herbs include: Dill, Holy Basil, Chives, Lemon Balm.
 Herbal Container Gardens can be used on patio/deck, near a front door or even
as a table centerpiece
– Integrate herbs with annuals and perennials in containers.
– Rosemary and Bay are best suited for container gardens, so they can easily
be brought indoors during cold.
– Mint has to be planted where it can be confined, and a container garden is a
good solution.
– Herb Troughs can be created using Thyme, Chives, Bush Basil, Lavender,
Dianthus, Dwarf Conifers…
Planting: Where, When and How
 Most herbs need 6-10 hours of sunlight, except mint, parsley….
 Herbs need good, well-drained soil that is not particularly rich or fertile; they even like sandy or gravelly soils. Avoid
areas where water stands or runs during heavy rains. To encourage drainage, use organic matter like mushroom
compost, shredded hardwood mulch or composted leaves.
 You can plant your herbs when the soil is loose, raked level, and you can plant using a hand trowel. Carefully place
each plant in the soil, firm the soil around the base and gently water each plant. If the roots seem root-bound, gently
loosen the roots before planting. It is best to use a starter fertilizer when planting.
 Give herbs room to grow…plant herbs 12-18” apart and at the same depth you find them growing in the pot.
 When planting herbs, it is best to plant purchased plants or seedlings, started indoors. You can plant most herbs two
weeks after the frost-free date, May 15th, because many like warmer temps. The only exception is parsley, which can
be planted two weeks prior to the frost-free date because it doesn’t mind cold.
 Herbs can be perennial (living two or more growing seasons), biennial (living two growing seasons) or annual (living
one growing season). Since they live two or more seasons, locate perennial and biennial herbs away from your annual
vegetables, where tilling will not be necessary (i.e. next to a fence or at the edge of a planting bed). Annual herbs,
planted each year, can be integrated with vegetables or near the other herbs to form an herb garden.
Care and Harvest
 Water herbs 1-2 times per week (1” per week).
 Using an organic mulch helps moderate soil temperatures, retain moisture, eliminate weeding and provide organic
matter as it decomposes.
 Compared to other crops, herbs can be very low maintenance. With proper watering and care, herbs have few insect
or disease problems.
 Herbs are light-feeders, so they need very little fertilizer, but it is best to use a starter fertilizer when planting. Heavy
applications of fertilizer, especially those containing large amounts of nitrogen, will decrease the concentration of
flavorful oils in the lush green foliage.
 When herbs begin to flower, it is time to start harvesting, because the flavor is at its peak. Generally, we use the
leaves, and it is best to prune-off flowers to encourage more foliar growth. Harvest herbs in the morning, after the
dew dries; when harvested in the afternoon, they can wilt in the sun and have less of the flavorful oils that you want.
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Once harvested, wash the herbs and thoroughly dry them using a towel or paper towel. Bundle the herbs with a
rubber band and hang them out of the sun, where it is dry and you have good air circulation. I like to use a rubber
band because it will contract as the stems dry and shrink. Also, a food dehydrator is a great tool for quickly drying
herbs. Your herbs are fully dried when they feel dry and crispy; at this point, strip the leaves from the stems and store
them in bottles, away from the sun. Refrain from grinding up the leaves and store whole leaves, because this will
better conserve the flavors/oils. When using the herbs, grind them up and incorporate them into your dish as needed.
When cooking with herbs, remember dried herbs are more concentrated than fresh green herbs, thus 1 part dried
herb = 3 parts fresh herb (i.e. 1 tsp. of dried parsley equals 3 tsp. of fresh parsley).
Herbs can also preserved by making pestos or herbal vinegars.
A Few Common Herbs for Your Garden
If you are just starting a garden or planting a few herbs, I would recommend limiting your palette to some of the easy
perennial herbs (chives, oregano, sage, mint, thyme and lemon balm), supplemented with parsley and basil.
Perennials
 Bay 4-5’ tall, full sun, is used for seafood, soups, sauces (not hardy, needs winter home)
 Chives (top right) 18” tall, full sun, are used in soups, salads, eggs, cheese; flowers are edible
garnishes
 French Tarragon 3’ tall, sun-partial shade
 Lemon Balm 18” tall, sun-partial shade, is used for tea, cakes cookies, baked goods,
fragrances
 Mint 4”-24” tall, sun-partial shade, invasive and should be restricted to containers or
restrained with edging; used in jelly, teas, fragrances
 Oregano 1’ tall, sun-light shade, is used in sauces, spaghetti, pizza, Italian foods
 Rosemary 3-4’ tall, full sun, is used for meat, potatoes, soups, fragrance (not hardy, needs
winter home)
 Sage 1’ tall, full sun, is used in cheese, sausage, stuffing, meat, fish, salad, casseroles
 Thyme 1’ tall, full sun, is used for soups, stuffing, meats
 Winter Savory 9”, full sun, is used for vinegars, herb butters, bean dishes, soups
Biennials and Annuals
 Basil 1-3’ tall, full sun, is an annual used to flavor sauces, eggs, spaghetti, pizza, salad/salad
dressing
 Dill (middle right) 3’ tall, full sun, is an annual that can often seed itself to provide next year’s crop. It is used for to
flavor pickles, fish, soups, salads, cheeses, eggs, dill pickle potato chips; you can eat the leaves and seeds (pickles and
rye bread)
 Nasturtium, full sun, is an annual with edible leaves and flowers that are spicy or peppery in taste. Both can be served
in salads, sandwiches or canapés. Nasturtium can often get aphids which are easily controlled with insecticidal soap or
the arrival of ladybugs.
 Parsley, Curled & Italian Flat-leaf (bottom right) 1’ tall, sun-partial shade, biennial and will often live for two growing
seasons. It is used for soup, salads, sauces; curled parsley is often used as a garnish
Further garden and horticulture information is available on the Luthy Botanical Garden website,
http://www.peoriaparks.org/resources-gardener/
More Herb Gardening Resources
Growing Herbs for the Home Gardener: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8110.html
Growing Herbs in the Home Garden: http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/hortcult/herbs/ne208hrb.htm:
Growing Herbs — Fresh, Fun, Food: http://www.growingherbs.org/
Herbs — Landscaping, HGTV: http://www.hgtv.com/topics/herbs/index.html
Growing Herbs, Purdue University: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/HO-28.pdf