A herb garden in your own garden for 12 months of spice on your plate

What could be more fun than pimping your dishes with fresh, aromatic herbs and spices from your herb garden? Not much! What makes growing herbs even more special is the fact that herbs are easy to grow and harvest. In fact, some herbs that you grow grow too well. After sowing, you often have to restrain them or even put them in a pot right away. In this article, you can read why herbs are so easy to grow. Pimp it up!

Which herbs are worth growing yourself in a herb garden?

You can grow almost all herbs, and this can even be done anywhere in your garden, herb garden, balcony or terrace: from the neat, neat vegetable garden beds to your borders. From square meter vegetable gardens to flower pots . We make a distinction in growing herbs in:

• annual kitchen and garden herbs (last only 1 growing season): basil, coriander, dill
• biennial herbs (last 2 growing seasons, set seeds and die): chervil, parsley
• perennial herbs (survive for several years with good care): mint, sage, thyme, chives, fennel,marjoram , tarragon

When and where are herbs at their best

Product in the spotlight: Herbs like to be in a sunny and light place, with their feet in a well-drained, moisture-retaining soil. This soil may contain a lot of organic fertilizers. If you still have to start a vegetable garden when reading this article, think about how you can work compost into your soil. You can buy compost in bags at garden centers. You can also get larger quantities from compost companies. You can often have large quantities delivered. You can also work with organic fertilizer granules if you do not have compost at hand.

Tips for a long harvest

• Sow herbs that germinate quickly. Coriander and dill only need 2 weeks to grow in spring and summer.
• Choose different types of herbs, with a variation in growing times. This way there is a constant growth and supply of fresh herbs.
• Plant herbs in pots (chives, mint, parsley, tarragon ) and place them outside in the summer. Bring the pots inside in the winter and place them on a windowsill where there is plenty of sunlight.
• Don't plant your herbs too far from your home. Make it easy for yourself when you want to harvest herbs.
• Plant the stronger herbs (such as sage, mint, rosemary) in larger pots .
• Start sowing in early spring. You do this best in the greenhouse or under glass.
• Grow some plants by sowing in trays ( greenhouse , your sunny kitchen windowsill...). As the plants grow, the soil outside will warm up.

Sow herbs all year round

Sowing herbs in January and February

Pre-sowing herbs indoors in February is best done with a propagator in combination with one or more grow lights to provide sufficient light after germination. Without these latter aids, it is better to wait until April. An extremely sunny March can still help you on the windowsill, but if you do not want to do wasted work, postpone your plans until April. Sow parsley indoors from January to February in trays with 73 modules. The complete procedure can be found in this article about growing parsley all year round .

Sowing herbs in March

In March, another tray of herbs can be sown: chives, chervil, mint, coriander, parsley (again), rosemary, sage and thyme are next. I sow all types for indoors because of the frost that is still common at night in March. Some herbs can already be pre-sown in the greenhouse or conservatory . Look in the vegetable garden calendar for March to see which ones (there is a logo of a greenhouse or conservatory ).

Sowing herbs in April

In April, basil, dill and tarragon will be added. We sow them directly in the greenhouse or in the garden house , parsley can also be sown directly outside. You can find a nice overview in the vegetable garden calendar of April.

Herbs later in the year

You can do a follow-up cultivation of your herbs later in the year, then you can sow them directly in the garden from May. Consult the vegetable garden calendars on this site for more information. Do you want to enjoy your garden from May like me, practice other hobbies or have you had enough of pre-sowing? Then you can always buy young plants in a garden center, the local BIO market or our webshop . Carefully remove them from their packaging and plant them temporarily in P9 pots so that the roots can grow a bit stronger. Place them in a warm and sunny place. Plant them out after the Ice Saints .

kitchen herbs plants

Do not plant out young plants until they have had time to get used to the outside temperature (harden off).

• Make the soil sufficiently moist before planting.
• Rake your soil and remove large clods of earth or stones, using a pitchfork .
• Carefully loosen the plants from their tray by gently pressing on the bottom. Remove plants from pots by giving a quick tap on the bottom with your hand or shovel.
• Be careful with the plant stems, they are still very fragile. Therefore, hold your plants by the roots or leaves.
• The top of the root ball should be just below the soil surface when you plant out.
• Earth up your herbs or use a layer of mulch. That way they never stand with their feet in the mud.
• When you have finished planting, give the plant some more water.
• Plants with shallow root systems dry out quickly so it is important to keep them well watered, especially if they are growing quickly.

Harvesting

Some herbs and even salads (coriander, rocket, cress) are often ready to harvest within a few days. Other herbs need a few weeks before they can be harvested. You can easily harvest herbs by pinching off what you need. If you want lush plants, it is best to prune the herbs before they flower.

Herbal guide

The links below will provide you with a wealth of information on how to grow commonly used kitchen herbs.

• sowing basil
• sowing parsley
• sowing thyme
• sowing coin
• sowing chervil
• sowing chives
• sowing dill
• sowing tarragon
• sowing sage
• sowing coriander
• sowing rosemary

Possible problems

Coriander, dill , basil, wild rocket can grow very quickly in dry, compact soil. Prune (read harvest) the plants regularly and water regularly. If your herbs are in a greenhouse , make sure there is sufficient ventilation. This will prevent fungal diseases from developing on the plants. Downy mildew can affect your herbs. Mint rust can also negatively affect yourMarjoram and savory , but other mint varieties are also sensitive to this. The rosemary beetle also likes lavender, sage and thyme. Protect your young plants from birds and snails with bird nets or snail pellets .