Home Herb Garden - How to Have a Beautiful Herb Garden at Home

The location of your garden depends on a couple of things. 1) How much space to you have available and 2) How much time do you have to dedicate to your herb garden? 3) Sun!

This lens is geared towards the beginning herb gardener, so I'm going to discuss options for smaller spaces.

One of my favorite is the kitchen window sill. As long as you have the space and your window gets a good amount of sun, this is the perfect place! Again, image the smell of fresh herbs as you walk into your kitchen and seeing your beautiful garden in the window! It's almost magical.

If your garden is outside, the ideal spot is a sunny location near your backdoor or kitchen area. The idea is to make harvesting your herbs as convenient as possible. Also, out of sight is quite often out of mind, especially when we are in a hurry to prepare a meal. It would be a shame to have fresh herbs in your garden, but you forget to use them simply because you forget about them until after you meal..

So you know which herbs you want to grow and when you're going to grow them. Next is gathering supplies and setting up your garden.

Supplies are simple: dirt, a containter and seeds or pants. You'll want to use a well-drained, peat-based potting soil mix for your plants. The garden can be as simple as a paper egg carton to germinate the seeds, pots with transplanted herbs purchased from a nursery or an indoor herb garden kit. Whenever you choose, follow the instructions on the package for seeds or ask at the nursey for details about planting your herbs.

Keep the soil moist, but not wet and remember, herbs like lots of sun. Do keep an eye on the smaller, new plants as they do need a little transition time in their new environment and too much sun will bake them!

So now you have your herb plants growing and your garden is healthy. You keep the soil moist and you've found the right balance of sun. The last step is to harvest and enjoy your herbs!

The main thing to remember when harvesting herbs is to take just want you need. Taking too many leaves from one plant is not heathly for the plant. Also, be sure to use sharp pruning clippers or scissors, because you don't want to tear the stems.