Here’s The Proper Way To Create A Herb Garden
Fresh herbs from the planting bed are simply a must in a garden. We can help you to plan and create your herb garden.
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Fragrant herbs for the kitchen - they are simply most delicious when you grow your own
Herbs and spices are a pleasure to behold with their variety of colors, a delight for the senses with their fragrances, and they alleviate some physical ailments with their beneficial active ingredients. As a spice or decoration in delicate meals they add a finishing touch to the most delicious dishes. No wonder that the trend of cultivating these healthy herbs directly in your own herb garden is becoming more and more popular. This can be done successfully even in the middle of the city, as fresh herbs also thrive on balconies. But there are some rules to follow when planning and creating a herb garden.
- Do not mix annual and perennial herbs. Group together herbs that work well together
- Combine kitchen herbs as a mixed culture with vegetables and other plants
- Herbs can be grown in limited spaces using a herb spiral
- Do not spray herbs and only use organic fertilizer or compost
Wenn Sie einen Kräutergarten anlegen, spielen einige Faktoren bei der Planung eine Rolle. Die erste Frage, die Sie sich stellen müssen, ist: Welche Kräuter möchte ich pflanzen, und welche Bedürfnisse haben sie? Denn es macht durchaus einen Unterschied, ob Sie wärmeliebenden Rosmarin oder wasserdurstige Brunnenkresse anbauen wollen. Salbei und Oregano brauchen einen Platz an der Sonne und eher trockenen Boden, während Petersilie, Borretsch und Schnittlauch reichlich Wasser benötigen. Koriander und Pimpinelle bevorzugen wiederrum kalkreiche Böden. Und nicht alle Kräuter stehen gerne nebeneinander. So vertragen sich Pfefferminze und Kamille zum Beispiel nicht besonders gut. Auch Dill und Estragon sowie Majoran und Thymian stehen im Beet nicht gerne Seite an Seite.
Als Faustregel gilt: Mischen Sie nicht einjährige und mehrjährige Kräuter, sondern bilden Sie jeweils Grüppchen. Machen Sie also am besten eine Liste Ihrer Lieblingskräuter und deren Anforderungen an Substrat, Platz und Sonnenausbeute. Dann gruppieren Sie alle Kräuter, die gut zusammen passen (zum Beispiel Oregano, Thymian und Bohnenkraut oder Ysop mit Lavendel) und wählen anhand Ihrer Überlegungen schließlich den richtigen Standort für Ihr Kräuterbeet.
Next, you should think about what you want your herb garden to look like and where it should be. If you don’t want to plan your herb garden yourself, you can go for tried and tested types of bed. For example, elegant herb spirals with herbs cultivated in a helical shape are popular. You can easily construct a yourself. In a herb wheel, plants are spread out in a circular shaped bed, similarly to in between the spokes of a wheel. Kitchen and medicinal herbs can also be readily combined in mixed cultivation with vegetables and other plants, organized strictly according to a in rectangles or arranged according to the style of the Far Eastern harmonious teachings of "Feng Shui".
If you want to handle the planning yourself, you can design the shape of your herb garden completely individually, depending on your personal preferences and the space available. You can also create your herb garden intuitively, for example by taking inspiration from the various herb colors and then combining these with one another according to visual aspects. However, you should observe the intolerances of some plants to one another, so as not to get an unwelcome surprise.
Only plan a herb bed that is manageable in size both from a gardening and culinary perspective and not so that at the end half of the spoils end up unused in the compost. Small name plates help to keep an overview of the individual varieties, particularly during the sowing period. Also be aware that many herb plants, such as sage and chives, are particularly appealing to bees during flowering. If you are afraid of the buzzing insects then you should not plant these herbs directly next to seating areas on the patio or balcony.
A herb spiral is a real eye-catcher in the garden and a good opportunity to cultivate different herbs. However, you need to plan plenty of space and some labor time for this type of herb garden. A properly laid, walled herb spiral stands out because a single herb bed can simultaneously fulfil various location requirements with different moisture zones - from humus-rich, moist soil to dry warm substrates: Each level of the spiral provides its own micro-landscape. This means every herb has its perfect planting space and the plant selection is not only restricted to like-minded plants.
When laying a herb bed, in addition to low cottage and vegetable garden beds, you can also consider a herb spiral or raised bed. Raised beds are particularly suitable for Mediterranean species, as the soil there is drier and warmer than in a normal bed. A raised bed has the further positive feature that you can harvest comfortably without bending over, and that the delicious fragrances waft directly into the nose when strolling by. And best of all: Snails have no chance with a raised bed! Hanging plants such as nasturtium also enjoy a raised planting position from which they can let their long tendrils hand down. If the raised bed is intended for planting exclusively with herbs, you can make it particularly narrow, for example along a patio, and design it as a decorative and fragrant visual screen element.
A herb garden in itself is already a diverse, creative garden component. And herbs do not always need the classic garden shape. The half-height, clump-forming herbs are perfect for decorative planting, so, for example, you can use time to create a living bed border. Or you can use herbs which like dry conditions for adding greenery to dry stone walls. Be creative and plant your herb pots in wooden boxes, old containers or a discarded wheelbarrow (don’t forget the drainage holes!). Small name plates made from enamel, wood or slate are not only practical, they also look pretty.
A herb garden doesn’t need much space. You can even create smart herb pot arrangements by skillfully positioning boxes and pots on the balcony or patio. Determine the proper corner for your herb garden based on the amount of sunlight and create a flower step or easel to populate with several pots or boxes. Hanging baskets perfectly showcase the creeping types of rosemary and thyme. The advantage of a pot garden when planning a herb garden is that every plant has its space. So the individual substrate, watering, and space requirements can be met perfectly, and the various herbs will not grow into one another. If a plant dies back or is fully harvested, simply swap the pot for a new one - easy peasy.
Herbs are delicious and particularly effective due to their concentrated ingredients. So don’t only plan the planting when cultivating herbs, but also the care for these precious ingredients. The herb garden should be as far away from traffic as possible so that the harmful exhaust fumes are not absorbed by the plants. Moreover, you should not use synthetic herbicides, insecticides or fungicides and only use organic fertilizer or compost. It is best to water the herbs with fresh, lime-deficient water. Water from a water butt is not suitable for herbs and vegetables due to the lime content that will be consumed raw.
