Gardening Site

Herbs make for excellent choices when you are just starting out in gardening, since they require very little in the way of soils, maintenance, and are able to contribute in the way of natural alternative treatments for you and your family’s health - if you would rather grow your own herbs the old fashioned way, rather than buy them from a pharmacy.

In general, most herbs are found naturally occurring in hardy conditions and poor soil; the combination of these factors encourages them to produce potent buildups of natural chemical substances which humans have long found out, make great natural medicines and health boosters by inducing positive effects on the human body.

These natural chemicals are meant for increasing the particular herb’s resistance to diseases, insects, other pests and prolonging the plants overall lifespan and health. Likewise, humans have found out that many herbs are good for the body, and to date we have in our knowledge, thousands of herbs worldwide with beneficial health effects.

A small shovel, spade or trowel will be adequate for most tasks to do with herb gardening. Herbs don’t require a large hole when planted from cuttings, and seeds are sown very near the surface. A spike or fork will be helpful for aerating compacted soil, especially for new seeds. A good drainage system is always helpful to herbs, because their small root systems usually do not thrive well in waterlogged conditions, unless those are herbs naturally occurring in swampy areas.

Though they require it only rarely, if you want to optimize your herbs, than occasional pruning is helpful. That means a pair of pruning shears is a must. Ordinary scissors have their uses in the garden - cutting twine, snipping small stems and so forth. But, a pair of sharp pruning shears is essential for trimming those thicker stems and other tasks.

A good quality watering is handy for herbs grown in small pots or containers. For larger gardens such as raised beds, you’ll want some kind of watering system. Unless you have lots of time on your hands, an automatic system will be best. Fortunately, a simple drip or soaker hose system is easy to set up and inexpensive. Some will require replacement every couple of years depending on your climate.

Unless you pull them up before winter and re-lay the following spring, winter is hard on those hoses. A couple of years of snow and low temperatures will rot and plug them. But even a 20 ft x 30 ft garden can be completely covered with soaker hose in less than an hour. All that’s required is to make a pattern close to the plants and shove down a few plastic or metal spikes to keep it in place.

You’ll find a wheelbarrow handy for carting herbs grown from starter containers or bags into their prepared beds in your outdoor garden. Weeds can also be plucked and removed from the herb beds and tossed aside at another different spot, using a wheelbarrow.

But why not prevent weeds from sprouting up in the first place? How about laying down a 3-4 inch layer of mulch after you plant? Besides minimizing the need for weeding later on, this also has an affect on the soil composition. Mulch can be made from wood chips, bark, gravel or even shredded newspapers - or all of them combined. Just leave about an inch in diameter of space around the base of the plant when you mulch order to avoid any excess buildup of moisture and heat.

Herbs are not really demanding or fussy, which is why if you want to start gardening, then herbs make good choices. Growing herbs is basically just about nurturing small plants into somewhat bigger versions of themselves, which also has the bonus of medicine, and nutrition rolled into one; that is, if you prefer not to buy vitamin pills off the shelf.