Gardening can be a pastime that rewards you all your life, in a number of ways. If you grow crops that you will use in your day to day life, though, those rewards will be even more plentiful. An herb garden is one of the easier types to maintain, and it can cut down on your grocery bill if you choose the herbs that you use when you are cooking.
Figure out what you want out of your herb garden. Are you a big proponent of basil? Are you always running out of oregano or wheat-grass? You can grow these in your herb garden. Herbs are not as fickle as other crops when it comes to the climate of cultivation, and so choosing herbs that you like is more important than knowing the climatic zone.
Where do you want your garden? Herb gardens can do well even in a planter box just off your patio, so you have a lot of flexibility. Talk to a nursery professional near where you live to find out the best place to put an herb garden if you are thinking about a place in your yard, as the combination of exposure to sunlight, soil mixture, and exposure to rain water will all be important elements of the decision making process. Nursery professionals will be happy to spend time with you discussing all of the elements of this.
Different herbs should be planted at different times of year; again, this is something that you will want to discuss at the nursery. There are also a number of websites that will help you choose the right time of year to grow particular herbs, but make sure to read websites that are written either by professionals or by people who have spent enough time in the hobby to have some expertise. Remember, anyone can start a website or post content online, so you will need to do some careful gleaning here.
Seed or seedling? Obviously, the seedlings are more expensive, but they are also further down the road to maturity, and you will not have as much risk of failure as you do when you plant a seed in the ground. Consider the amount of time you have to spend watering and nurturing the seed, and the amount of money you want to spend on your garden. Once you know these items, then you can make an informed decision.
A part of planting your garden includes losing some of your crops. It just happens. Not everything that gets planted, even on the commercial farms, ends up in a produce aisle at a supermarket. Don’t get bummed, though. Figure out what went wrong with the ones that don’t make it, so that you can rectify the problem the next time you plant. Over time, you’ll find that you lose very little of what you plant.
Patience and optimism are the keys to a successful herb garden. Within no time, you’ll have a growing spice rack on your patio.