Samantha's Guide to Growing an Herb Garden
May 02, 2012 at 9:26 AM
By Samantha Grose, Designer, JP&CO: A residential construction firm dedicated to delivering a personalized home through a truly enjoyable process, done at a remarkable pace.
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Every meal tastes ten times better with fresh herbs, but they’re expensive to buy every week at the grocery store. The easy solution (and I do mean easy): grow them yourself! Stop making excuses and give your own herb garden a try this summer—I promise you won’t regret it.
When planning your herb garden, you can do as much or as little as you like. If you’re interested in something super easy and less time consuming (or yard space is out of the question), consider planting a container garden on a porch, patio, or veranda.
When shopping for herbs, there are special regional factors to consider. Because we live in the Twin Cities area, we are considered to be part of the “Zone 4a” planting zone. When you visit a local gardening center, make sure to read all nursery tags carefully to select herbs that can weather Minnesota’s hearty climate. To make the most of the limited growing season, plant small bedding plants instead of seeds after the last frost of the spring (usually around mid-May in Minnesota).
Choose a spot for your herb garden that is sunny, breezy, and with good drainage. Consider an elevated bed to ensure that moisture can escape. Spade or till your soil about a foot and half deep, and enrich the soil with manure or compost. Dig this organic material into the top 8”-10” of the soil. Water your herbs in the morning and give the soil the day to dry out.
One last tip about herbs: Be sure to harvest often! The more you pluck, the more you get. Don’t let basil or cilantro flower, otherwise the plants will stop growing new leaves.
Grose Samantha
Associate AIA, Allied ASID Designer for JP&CO.
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