Which Plants For Your Herb Garden? Culinary, Fragrant and Medicinal Herbs
Herbs are a wonderful, fragrant and attractive addition to your vegetable garden, but there is a huge range to choose from. So before you rush off to the garden center it pays to take a few minutes to think through the different types of herbs available, and what you want from your herb garden.
Herbs fall into three main categories: culinary, medicinal and fragrant. They can also be perennial or annual, small bushes or large trees. While your use of herbs is obviously the main consideration when choosing which herbs to grow, you may also want to consider the structure of your herb garden, the eventual height of your plants, and their requirements (soil, sun etc.)
Culinary herbs are probably the best known. Almost everyone has heard of rosemary, basil, mint and parsley, and these are readily available at garden centers. They have different growing requirements, however, which you need to be aware of to avoid frustration and disappointment.
Annual plants such as basil and cilantro (coriander) grow best in warm, dry, sunny spots (although need frequent watering) and will die away in winter, meaning you will need to replant each year if you live in a temperate area. They are small, bushy plants and can grow well in pots, allowing you to keep them on a sheltered, sunny veranda if you wish. Others, such as rosemary or bay, are perennials and frost resistant, so will provide you with herbs year round. They are also attractive plants and if you live in cooler parts of the country will give structure and color to your garden. If you have a more formal design then both plants can be trained into topiary or bushes, or used as hedging. Other popular perennial plants you may want to consider include sage, oregano and tarragon, which grow as small, shrubby bushes.
The most well-known fragrant herb is probably lavender. There are many different varieties and your garden center will know which variety best suits your growing conditions. Again they are a perennial plant that can grow as high as a meter, and can provide wonderful hedging or feature plantings. The trick with lavender however, is to prevent the plant from becoming too straggly and woody! This is never attractive. The trick is to trim your plants back twice a year – with the hardest trim being at the end of the flowering season when you can take the plants right back by a 3rd. This should keep your plants tight, and attractive. Lavender, of course, has many uses. It can be used as a culinary herb (although not one I particularly like!), or is more frequently used in its dried form to fragrance drawers, pot pourri, etc.
Of increasing interest are the medicinal properties of herbs (which of course should never be used to replace prescribed medication without the consent of your physician). Popular medicinal herbs include Aloe Vera, echinacea, ginger and evening primrose, and you may wish to include a few of these in your garden.
With so many options, a few minutes planning your options may well save you time (and money!) at the garden center!
Fi McMurray is an enthusiastic gardener and author who has been gardening organically since the birth of her children. She has been involved with two award-winning gardens at the prestigious Ellerslie International Flower Show in Auckland, New Zealand. Her latest eBooks are “An Introduction to Successful Organic Gardening”, “Successful Rose Gardening” and “Secrets to a Thriving Herb Garden”.
