Choosing your Herbs

Herb gardens have strong roots in American gardening, and with increased interest in natural foods and alternative medicines, are growing in popularity. Cultivating your own herbs can save you lots of money, and store-bought herbs can't compare with the taste and aroma of freshly harvested herbs. Extracts and dried herbs can be dried and used long after the growing season is over for cooking, health, fragrance and decorative items such as wreaths.

Easy to grow, herbs are seldom attacked by insects and diseases. While most herbs are small, non-woody plants, some herbs, such as rosemary and lavender, may grow to small shrub-like plants.

Historically, people have used herbs to flavor food, heal, and create magical charms. Many of the charms can be connected to what we now know to be medicinal properties. Early settlers brought to the new land the herbs they used for health, flavoring, storing linens, fabric dyes and home fragrance. Immigrants from European, Asian and other lands contributed their herbs to the ongoing exchange of slips, seeds, and plants. Of course, American Indians had already been using many of these herbs, in their cooking, healing and leather dying.

With so many herbs today, it can be difficult to choose which ones to grow.

Just as with any plant, you should select herbs that will grow well in your location zone (unless growing indoors of course). The USDA hardiness zones serve as a rough guide, and your local university extension can also help. Remember, microclimates can exist within these zones, and plus shady spots provide cooler temperatures and sunny spots provide warmer temperatures.

Other things to consider:

How do you want to use the herbs?
If using for culinary purposes, which flavors do you like?
What type of visual impact do you want? (herb garden design will be discussed
in Part 2)
Which herbs have the fragrances that you will enjoy when visiting your garden
or using in the home?

For example, a few of the herbs commonly used by chefs include rosemary, oregano, dill and mint. Herbs with medicinal properties include oregano (respiratory), comfrey (arthritic or rheumatoid dogs), rosemary (headaches), and many more. Herbs treasured for this fragrance include lemon balm, mint, sage and well, just about any herb! Some herbs, such as the mints, are quite invasive, but there are solutions for this we'll discuss in Part 3.

Don't worry about making all of your selections right away. Space can be left in your garden for not only propagating the herbs you enjoy but for adding herbs
as your interest and needs increase.

Finally, here are a few examples of commonly used herbs:

Annuals (bloom one season and die): anise, basil, chervil, coriander, dill and summer savory.

Biennials (live two seasons, blooming second season only): caraway and parsley.

Perennials: (overwinter; bloom each season once established): chives, fennel, lovage, marjoram, mint, tarragon, thyme and winter savory.

To learn about the qualities and growing habits of individual herbs, consult a good, garden catalog, your library, and/or your local nursery.