Growing a culinary herb garden needn’t be an complicated affair. Herbs may be grown in a container outdoors or even in small pots on your window ledge. So whether you’ve a big area available or just a small area on your balcony, there is no reason as to why you should not have a go at raising herbs.

 

What you decide to raise will depend upon what your like to eat and what conditions your plants will be exposed to. Locations facing south and west tend to be hot and sunny and suit plants that naturally grow in hotter environments such as bay, thyme, dill and lemon verbena.

 

Shade loving plants such as borage, parsley and mint will grow better in a north or east facing situation.

 

If you intend to cultivate your herbs in a raised bed vegetable garden or directly into the soil, be sure your site is as close to your home as possible. This will stop you from being put off picking them when it’s raining or chilly. This is a valuable tip should you choose to grow a vegetable garden too.

 

You can make the layout look more attractive by choosing herbs in a variety of hues and shades and with varying foliage such as that produced by mint, thyme and sage. The differing colors of greens, reds, purples and greys can be very striking however it’s a good idea to draw a colored sketch before you in fact plant anything, to get a good picture of how the culinary garden will actually look. It is a lot easier to reorganize on paper than once the plants are in the soil or pot!

 

Be conscious that some plants proliferate very rapidly and use up the water and block daylight from other plants. A popular case of this is the mint variety. If you fancy this sort of plant it’s better to grow them in an individual pot.

 

If you do raise them in the ground make sure to add barriers so your herbs can’t spread so effortlessly. An over ground instance of this would be a dwarf hedge of a plant similar to lavender. Or you could make use of stones, tiles, or make small channels from chippings. These have the extra benefit of generating a landscaped design and you will be able to pick your herbs without difficulty from the footpaths without disturbing other nearby plants.