Great Herbs And Growing Tips

More and more people are discovering the delightful rewards of growing fresh herbs in home gardens. Today gardening in general is growing by leaps and bounds because of several factors. The economic situation is encouraging the use of gardening to save money. Many people are gardening to help the efforts to combat global warming. Others are seeking a source of organically grown healthy fruits and vegetables. Almost 84% of Americans live in urban areas and have lost touch with where fresh food comes from and many would like to reconnect with those sources.

Many new gardeners are choosing to grow herbs. Herbs are easier to grow and require much less space than traditional garden plants. These aspects of herb gardening are encouraging many urban dwellers to consider joining the herb gardening trend. And why not? Mankind and herbs go back a long way. Ever since man started cooking food herbs have been utilized to make the food taste better. There are indications that every civilization used herbs not only for flavoring their food but for many other additional purposes.

A fair question at this point is what exactly is a herb. It is defined as any plant that does not form woody tissue. In real life the term herb is ascribed to any plant with fruits, stems, roots,leaves or flowers that manifest any of the qualities attributed to herbs. These plants can include shrubs, trees, vines and even more Primitive plants like ferns, mosses, lichens, fungi, and algae.

Generally herb plants are grouped into use categories. Culinary herbs are the most well known and include such luminaries as garlic, rosemary, basil, fennel, sage and many others. Other categories include ornamental, medicinal, beverages, aromatic and industrial. It is obvious that the classification of herb plants is widely varied and offer the gardener a gold mine of exciting possibilities.

Herbs are suitable for both indoor and outside locations. They can be grown in garden plots outdoors and they can also prosper in pots and other containers in or out doors. In pots they are mobile so they can be easily moved for whatever reason. A row of flowering herb plants in pots is a very nice addition to the edge of a drive or walk way. Where ever they are placed One of their primary requirements is light. They need a good ten to twelve hours of light each day. Sunlight is preferred but grow lights are an acceptable substitute for indoor growing. The availability of light and which direction it is coming from are very important considerations in selecting a location for the garden.

Herb plants are also particular about another thing and that is they do not like wet feet. If they are planted in soil that does not drain well they will do poorly and eventually die. This is not a tremendous hurdle for the herb gardener to overcome. In an outdoor garden remove eighteen inches of top soil where the herbs are to be planted and put down a three inch layer of something like septic tank gravel then mix the removed soil with one part coarse sand and replace the mixture over the gravel. This should provide plenty of drainage for the plants which will keep them happy and productive.

The two basic factors of proper lighting and good drainage will get the new herb gardener off to a good start so join the crowd and start your herb garden today.

By: Sonny Chenoweth

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SONNY CHENOWETH is a herb expert. For more information on herbs and growing tips, visit www.herbgardenreport.com