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Herb Gardens for Beginners
Nothing could be easier or more rewarding than starting a small herb garden just outside your back door, whether it be a home with a yard or the balcony of a high-rise apartment.
Herbs like thyme, chives, parsley, marjoram, rosemary sage, basil and mints make good choices for the beginner's herb garden. These herbs aren't fussy when it comes to sunlight, fertile soil or water.
If there isn't a plot of ground available, herbs planted in a group of pots and containers clustered together near the back door are a good start for beginning gardeners.
To simplify garden care for specific herbs, plant annual herbs (those that need to be replanted every year) and perennial herbs (those that grow back on their own each year) separately.
It's important to till the soil to a depth of about 16 inches using a spade or a fork so that newly planted herbs have lots of room to spread their roots.
Spacing between herbs plants such as chives, parsley and dill should be at least a foot. Rosemary, sage, thyme and basil need 2 to 4 feet between each plant.
Mary Osborne has been an educational quiz writer for over eight years and a short-fiction writer for over 20 years. She also reads and scores essays for several standardized tests, and has written and illustrated two children's books. Her short stories have appeared in literary journals such as "The Minnesota Review" and in the "Orlando Sentinel" newspaper.
Photo by: Herb garden (Stevenmattern/Wikimedia Commons)
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