We cover many of the factors that affect your herb garden, such as climate and soil, (click here for more information), and will only refer to those things that specifically affect herbs in this article.

After you decide where to put your new herb garden and have developed a plan, you’ll need to clear the site if it’s never been a garden or if it hasn’t been a garden in a long time. Clearing means removing everything, every last plant. Think scorched earth.

After you clear your site, you need to ready the soil for planting, which you can read about by clicking here

Digging a small garden by hand is altogether manageable, even for rookies, the out-of-shape, and the over-50 crowd. A spading fork is the best tool for this work, but a shovel or spade is nearly as good.

Unless your soil is extremely heavy (clay) or extremely light (sand), you need to cultivate only one spit deep to grow herbs. (A spit is gardenese for the length of your fork or shovel’s blade, about 1 foot (30 cm).) Work facing out so that when you move backward you don’t tramp on the soil that you’ve just turned. If you’re adding herbs to an existing bed or border, then single-digging a small area or just making a hole to slip in a clump of lavender or parsley may be all you need to do.

Every time you dig, you also have an opportunity to add more organic matter to your soil. Don’t pass it up!

If the soil in your garden lies at either end of the sand-clay soil continuum (click here to find out), if it drains poorly, or if it’s badly compacted (that otherwise perfect site where your kids used to play basketball or your overweight St. Bernard once paced), single digging won’t be enough. You need to double dig. (Click here for instructions on double digging)

Deciding What To Grow And How To Grow It

We’re fans of starting plants from seed. The process is fun, interesting, and satisfying, and it’s cheap. Moreover, you can get your hands on dozens and dozens of unusual herbs and herb cultivars only if you’re willing to sow seeds.

Starting from seed isn’t required, however. Don’t feel like a second-class gardener if you decide to begin with plants grown by someone else. Most garden centers offer the basic culinary herbs — basil, thyme, cilantro, chive, oregano, parsley, dill, mint, rosemary, sage, and tarragon — and perhaps a modest selection of less popular plants. We can’t debate the fact that buying plants is simpler, and it saves you time.

Whether you’re ordering packets of seeds or purchasing plants, let us sow one idea now: Start small.

Remember that the work doesn’t stop after you plant your garden — you have to take care of these herbs! You probably don’t need four 20-foot rows of cilantro or 50 horseradish plants or a 20 x 20-foot bed of fenugreek In fact, you may not need any of these herbs. Grow only what you’ll enjoy and use, and only as much as you’ll use and have time to care for. A weedy, out-of-control garden is more depressing than no garden at all.

Beginning seeds indoors takes lots of room. If you don’t plant enough, there’s always next year (with some herbs, there’s even time for a second crop this year).  ....read more