Like other types of plans, herb garden plants are annuals, perennials, or biennials. There are many different varieties of herbs and each one is different. This article will provide a general understanding of the different types of herb plants and what they are used for. If you have an interest in a specific herb, more research will be needed to understand how to best care and use that particular herb.

Basil, cilantro and summer savory, for example, are annuals. They will not survive a frost and must be planted from a seed or seedling every year.

Sage and winter savory are perennials, meaning they return year after year, and can survive colder temperatures.

Herbs that form leaves in their first year of growth and flowers and seeds in their second year, before dying, are called biennial plants. Parsley, angelica and caraway are examples of biennial herbs and they should be sown directly in the garden in late spring. The soil should be prepared first, and be a fine texture and slightly wet. After planting the seeds in shallow rows, firm the soil on top of them. To keep the soil moist during germination, you can cover the bed with wet burlap or paper. For fine seeds, use a mixture of sand, to allow them to spread more evenly.

Another way to categorize herbs is by their use. Culinary herbs are probably the most popular, with a wide range of uses in cooking. Strong flavored herbs like thyme, chives, basil, sage, marjoram, and savory are generally used in small quantities and to add flavor to foods. Parsley, an extremely popular herb, is used in cooking and as a garnish.

Pleasant smelling flowers and foliage, such as mint and rosemary, are categorized as aromatic herbs. Their oils are used in making perfumes, eau-de-toilette, and other scents. Other aromatic herbs can be used intact in the home to scent linens and clothing, such as lavender. To retain the aroma of such herds for a long period of time, they can be dried and made into potpourri. Two great herbs used in potpourri are lavender and lemon verbena.

For centuries, medicinal herbs have been thought to have properties that can cure the body. For example, Japanese honeysuckle has been used as an alternative medicine for thousands of years in Asia. Present medical knowledge recognizes that some herbs are beneficial to our health while others are quite overrated. Using herbs for medicinal purposes should be done with great care. While some herbs are harmless, others can be dangerous if eaten.

Ornamental herbs are used for their beauty, with brightly colored foliage and flowers. For example, valerian has crimson blossoms, while chicory and borage have beautiful blue flowers. Silver thyme is an evergreen with small lavender-pink blossoms.

Some herbs fall into multiple categories and have multiple purposes. Mint, for example, is a great culinary and medicinal herb.

Understanding herb garden plants categories is helpful in selecting the herbs that interest and can benefit you the most.

Starting an herb garden, for beginners, can be as simple as starting with a windowsill planter. Growing an indoor herb garden away from the harsher outside elements can provide you with easy access herbs year round. Whether growing medicinal herbs, herbs for tea or a cooking herb garden, it’s an economic way to benefit from herbs. Aesthetically, herb garden designs can also add beauty to your everyday surroundings, making this a worthwhile hobby to pursue. Following an herb garden for beginners plan can be a great way to learn the easy steps on how to get started with your very own herb garden.

First, decide which herbs you would like to grow. Would you like to have many different varieties of herbs or would you like to use the herbs you grow more for cooking, making tea, medicinal purposes, or making crafts? While herb garden ideas are endless, determining which herbs you will likely use will make it easier on you while you plan and take care of your garden. If you’ve decided an indoor herb garden is for you, the next step is to decide on the actual herbs you’ll be planting. For cooking, there are many to choose from depending on your culinary preferences: tarragon, fennel, parsley, chives, basil, marjoram, thyme, dill, coriander, rosemary, sage, and oregano, are just some of the ones you might like to plant. Within these major category names there are many specialties, for example, there are several types of basil, including purple basil, Italian basil, sweet basil, Thai basil, lemon or lime basil, Greek basil, and the list goes on. If this seems a little overwhelming, don’t worry, your local home and garden center will provide the most commonly used herb seeds for those just starting out.

Starting an herb garden in a windowsill is ideal because there is usually plenty of light and sun to grow healthy plants, however, if you have other rooms or nooks in your home where you can place a potted plant here and there, consider what a beautiful addition a plant in those spots could make. For example, you could choose aromatic plants such as lavender, lemon verbena, mint, or rosemary to place throughout your home.

Also think about how the plants you’ve chosen will grow. For example, nasturtium can grow as a vine, in which case, it can grow up to six feet. In contrast, thyme grows as a little shrub with many little branches. Bay leaves, often used in cooking soups and stews, can grow up to five feet in a pot.

After you make a list of the herbs you’d like to grow and find out about their growing needs, for example, how much space, light, and other growing conditions they need to have, plan the design of your herb garden. Some plants need to have their own containers, while others can be combined in the same pot. Keep in mind how tall and wide they will grow and which containers will be best for them as well as enhance your décor.

While the seed packets will inform you of the type of soil your plants will need, you may wish to further learn more specific details for each plant. Some need well drained more alkaline soil, whereas others do better with gritty or moist soil. To fully reap all the benefits of your hard work, you’ll have to find out what the best time for harvesting your plants is, and when to collect the seeds the plant produces to use as your next crop, as well as the best way of preserving the bounty you’ve helped grow.

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.

For those small spaces or by preference, a potted herb garden is an excellent alternative to the outdoor herb garden. A windowsill herb garden, a hanging basket, and of course pots can be used for your potted herb garden. Since growing an indoor herb garden has the same growing requirements as outdoor plants, it shouldn’t be any more difficult planning, planting, and caring for your potted herb garden.

The basic needs of all plants are: soil, water, and sunlight. This holds true for herbs as well. Soil and water are straight forward and easy to accommodate. Sunlight is key, however, and orienting your indoor herb garden to take advantage of natural sunlight should be an important consideration when locating your plants in your indoor space. To get the best and most sunlight, using your south or west facing windows will be the most appropriate setup.

Another thing to consider for your potted herb garden is that different types of herbs will have different light requirements, but most will love a sunny spot. If you don’t have a good, sunny window, there are ways to supplement natural light, with fluorescent or “grow” lamps.

To provide the best growing soil for your herbs, you will need rich but well drained soil. For the potted herb garden, use two parts sterilized potting soil to one part coarse sand or perlite. For good drainage, before placing the soil in the growing pots, add an inch of gravel to the bottom of each pot. To improve the sweetness of the soil, be sure to also add one teaspoon of lime for each 5-inch container.

Watering your indoor herb garden with care is an important factor of growing healthy herbs. Add plenty of water, since your potted herb garden will need more water than plants growing outside, but be sure not to overwater or drench the roots. Also use a spray bottle to mist the plants.

During the summer, indoor plants can be taken outside for that natural light – maybe on a balcony or in the garden. Annuals can be kept inside even during the summer; for perennials, spending some time outdoors during the summer is an added bonus, if feasible for your location. Having the plants in containers allows one to easily move them around as needed. By the time of the first frost of the fall, your potted herb garden should be brought back inside.

Think how much fun it would be to walk over to your windowsill herb garden and pick fresh mint, for instance. A lot of plants are suited for growing in containers, but some, like mint, do really well in an indoor herb garden, since it needs to be contained or it can take over a garden. To keep your plants healthy, use some light feeding periodically. Repotting your herbs yearly will also help ensure they stay health.

Keeping an indoor herb garden will allow you to enjoy fresh herbs any time, plus have the convenience of having them handy for your cooking. Be sure to harvest them as needed, use them in your cooking, and share them with friends. With a little care, having a potted herb garden is fun and easy!

As any tea lover would tell you, making tea from fresh herbs can be so flavorful that it’s a wonder more people don’t try it. It doesn’t get any fresher than growing tea herbs and harvesting them for use in your own kitchen. Your tea herb garden design isn’t hard to start, it can be easily learned, and you can start in just a few easy steps. Throughout the ages people have cultivated herbs for their own private use, either for medicinal purposes or simply to enjoy a good cup of tea. Some herbs used for tea you’ve undoubtedly heard of and tried before, while others are more obscure and harder to come by. Here are some that others have grown in their private tea herb gardens that you might want to try for yourself.

Chamomile is probably one of the best known herbs used for centuries to aid in an assortment of ailments. There are a few varieties of chamomile, wild, German, English, Roman (Chamaemelum nobile, Matricaria recutita, Matricaria chamomille). Depending on whom you talk with, they will tell you which one they consider to be the true chamomile. This herb is known for being aromatic; some saying it smells a little bit like apples. It produces small featherlike leaves with white flowers and a yellow round center. Chamomile likes a lot of sun, and depending on which variety you choose, the soil may be somewhat dry, or moist. It is said that the best time to harvest chamomile is while the sun is shining, allowing the natural oils in the chamomile flowers to come out. The flowers may be used fresh or dried to prepare tea.

Spearmint (Mentha Spicata) is similar to peppermint. It is a variety of mint that grows well in most climates growing anywhere from 11 to 40 inches tall. Its beautiful dark green foliage makes this perennial a perfect herb to grow in a container or pot, thus having it handy if the mood for brewing a cup of tea should strike. Spearmint likes partial shade and can be harvested around the time its flowers start to open. This herb can be enjoyed fresh as well as dried. Many have touted it as having the ability to treat stomach aches while others simply savor the refreshing aroma as a nice after dinner tea.

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is a hairy perennial which needs a lot of sun, moist soil, and some shade to thrive. It can grow up to three feet tall with yellow-green leaves that smell like lemon. In late summer towards fall, it produces tiny flowers which serve as your signal that the leaves can be harvested around that time. While lemon balm can be used in many ways, from decorative to cosmetic and medicinal uses, many like to use the leaves to make tea. An English tea known as Melissa tea is made with lemon balm and mint. Take some lemon balm leaves, add a small amount of mint leaves, and steep in boiling water for five minutes then strain the tea. Melissa tea can be consumed either chilled with ice or hot and sweetened to taste.

With so many herbal plants to choose from, having your very own personal tea herb garden you’ll be able to come up with many flavor combinations. However, please note that while many herbs are considered safe, some do have drug interactions and precautions. Please take into account these concerns for safety.

Is it worth the effort to grow your own fresh herb garden? Are fresh herbs really that much better? There’s only one way to find out: try them for yourself. One way to do that is to grow them yourself. Fresh herb gardens have become even more popular in recent times. Either to save money, grow and consume organic produce or to simply have fun digging in the dirt, fresh herb gardening has been catching on.

Some herbs that give you a good return on your investment are some of the popular culinary ones such as basil, cilantro, rosemary, and thyme. Let’s take a closer look at what each one has to offer.

Basil

Basil (Ocimum basilicum) grows low to the ground producing luscious dark green leaves. These leaves can grow two or three inches long and are very aromatic. This herb grows into a bushy like appearance and can be anywhere from one or two feet high. Due to the many varieties of basil, the flowers and leaves it produces can vary in color. The leaves can be different shades of green from a gray-green, lime green, to a purple or brownish red, while the flowers are mostly white yet they can also be lavender. Basil is regularly used in Italian and Asian cuisines such as Thai. It is often cooked but may also be eaten raw, for example, julienned on top of a fresh tomato salad. The flavor varies slightly depending on the type of basil used; however it most often has a peppery and spicy flavor that can enhance an assortment of dishes.

Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) is a soft and feathery plant similar in appearance to parsley. It can grow up to 20 inches high and it produces seeds or fruit which is known as coriander, a spice used in many cuisines both in seed form or ground. Cilantro leaves have a distinct taste with some citrus nuances. They are often used in Asian cooking such as Chinese and Thai, and regularly used in Mexican dishes like salsas. Some freshly chopped cilantro added to a Thai coconut soup or a spicy Mexican salsa can make the difference between a so-so meal and a mouthwatering one.

Rosemary

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a larger, bush like plant that grows sharp needle type leaves and can grow up to six feet tall outside or up to four feet high inside. One of the endearing qualities of rosemary is that the leaves are considered evergreen, staying green year long. This can make for a pretty plant to gaze upon in the wintertime. In addition rosemary also produces exquisite tiny flowers ranging in color from white to a pretty lavender shade. Abundant in Mediterranean cooking, it has a scent similar to pine. This flavor combines beautifully with many meats and vegetables, particularly in roasted dishes such as lamb.

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) is a fragrant shrub which grows about one foot high. This perennial has many tiny branches and flowers in the summertime. Known best in French cuisine, it is an essential ingredient in the famous mixture of dried herbs knows as Herbes de Provence. Fresh thyme can be used as an elegant garnish or added to many dishes ranging from soups and stews to different meats such as veal, beef, and poultry.

There are many more fresh herbs commonly used in cooking, and if you’ve already discovered what a big difference fresh herbs can make in your dishes, be assured a fresh herb garden is not only worth the time and effort but it can also be easy to learn with minimal startup cost.