Organic Herb Gardening for Beginners

If you want to get started with organic gardening but feel a little overwhelmed, why not start by growing an organic herb garden. As you will discover in this type of gardening is very easy once you understand the basics. Organic herb gardening for beginners starts with gaining knowledge about different types of herbs and then deciding if you want an indoor or outdoor garden.

One of the benefits of starting with an organic herb garden is that the amount of space needed is very small yet the results are huge. If you have space outside, you can plant an herb garden on its own or add herb plants and seeds to existing vegetable gardens. If you want to grow a variety of herbs indoors, then you simply need to choose the appropriate number of pots and containers and find a place where the plants can grow near a window in that they need sunlight.

For beginners, after deciding if the garden would be inside or outside, the next step would be choosing the herbs to grow. Keep in mind that herbs are grown for many reasons. Most often, herbs are grown to add to foods for flavor but herbs are also used for their fragrance, for crafts, medicinal purposes and so on. Therefore, in choosing herbs to grow, you would choose varieties that meet your specific use.

While all herbs need lots of sunlight, rich soil, and good watering, each type of herb has slightly different needs. As with any plant, herbs come in both annual and perennial species. The annual herbs would grow to maturity and then die, needing to be replaced each year. With perennials, the plants would mature and continue growing or go into a dormant state and then grow again.

You will also find that some species of herbs need a little more sunlight. In this case, growing an indoor herb garden would work great in that you could simply move the pots and containers needing more sunlight to the window and moving the other herbs into a shaded area. The size of the container would also vary from one type of herb to another so you need to do a little bit of online research so you know which herbs need more space for root growth.

Now, when growing herbs, you have two choices. First, you can plant seeds and second, you can grow baby plants. Seeds are typically less expensive but they may not all grow whereas small starter plants do quite well. If you decide to plant seeds, all you need to do is pay attention to the planting and care information on the package. If you go with starter plants, typically the nursery or gardening center can provide whatever growing information you need or it could be found online.

Herbs need humidity so when growing herbs inside you want to use a water bottle, spraying around the seeds, not the plant directly. For outside orgganic herb gardening, be sure you use a spray on the hose in that spraying the seeds would cause damage. As far as planting herbs, it is important that you account for the size of the plant when mature in that you do not want leaves to touch, causing them to turn black and die.

If you purchase small plants to start your herb garden, it is imperative that you prepare them first. Most herbs will not transport well if they are moved from one temperature to another. If you are going to grow herbs outside, do not remove the plants from their original pot but allow the pot to rest outdoors for about three to four days prior to putting it into the ground. For indoor growing, simply let the herb plant rest for a day or two and then plant into the new container.

One of the nice things about organic herb gardening is that most herbs have little problem with insects. Just remember, using quality soil, providing your plants with lots of sunshine or artificial light, and watering well will product healthy plants that provide you with healthy, delicious flavors for all your favorite dishes.