Designing an Herb Garden
Designing an herb garden is fun and easy, after you decide on a few basics. Once you know that you’d like your own herb garden and you’ve selected the space you’d like to use for it, which design style would most appeal to you and make the best use of your chosen spot?
Designing an herb garden can be done in many ways. Your own herb garden planting design could have a formal or casual style, add raised beds, or include some sort of living wall, fence, or hedge to give your spot a little more privacy and protection from the wind. You could group plants by color, in geometric patterns, curves or shapes. For easy access, you might also want to add a walking path, or add some simple or ornate stepping stones. These stones or pavers can be bought already made in a variety of colors, shapes, styles, and price ranges, or they can be easily made by purchasing a stepping stone kit or a plastic mold at your local home and garden store. Most stepping stones and stepping stone kits are around $20-$30. With a reusable plastic mold, you can mix your own concrete, add color to the mix, and make as many stepping stones as you’d like and personalize them any way you wish. If your herb garden plan will include a few stepping stones, the do it yourself method will most likely be the lower cost option than pre-made stones, not to mention you can have fun making them yourself or with your loved ones.
While you may choose to have a small all purpose herb garden or a few specialized mini herb gardens, a neat way of designing an herb garden is to choose a theme. Themed gardens are a wonderful way for the novice as well as the proficient gardener to add some panache to the garden but also to focus and streamline the sometimes overwhelming choices that a gardener must make. Ideas for garden themes are endless. Some herb garden ideas to spur your creativity are described below.
Herb Garden Idea #1: Designing an herb garden based on a country kitchen theme is a great option and you can later utilize the herbs in your culinary pursuits. This not only adds visual appeal to your backyard, patio, or chosen garden site, but is also a practical way to have fresh herbs nearby anytime you cook, ready to add flavor to your recipes.
Herb Garden Idea #2: If you dream of walking by your own garden and breathing in the earthy scents, then designing an herb garden to provide you with aromatherapy herbs might appeal to you. Plants such as lemon verbena, jasmine, and lavender can offer up a pleasing bouquet of fragrance. These plants could later be harvested to create aromatherapy scented oils and other crafts.
Herb Garden Idea #3: Designing an herb garden with Chinese medicinal herbs at its center is another great garden theme idea. Some plants to consider are ginseng and tea chrysanthemum. A few varieties of bamboo plants can also be used for medicinal purposes and add a nice visual component to the garden. Adding appropriate garden art, statues, and benches can unify your theme.
Calendula
Herb Garden Idea #4: If you’re a tea lover, wouldn’t it be wonderful to have your own tea herb garden? Designing an herb garden so that you could enjoy a fresh cup of tea? Plants such as chamomile, peppermint and spearmint, calendula, and cinnamon basil are just some of the herbs you could use in your very own tea herb garden.
Many desire a quiet place of contemplation, meditation, or spiritual significance in their garden. You don’t need a big space to create such a sanctuary. An herbal garden is a great way to produce your desired atmosphere. For a spiritual retreat, some have chosen to select plants referenced in the Bible or other significant sources, or simply plants that represented an idea or thought that would be healing, therapeutic, peaceful or sacred.
Whichever herb garden design style you finally choose, designing an herb garden is an enjoyable activity and the result can be an enchanting place you can take pleasure in, not only due to the harvest it produces but also because of the rewards it provides in the process of cultivating it.