Basil, thyme, rosemary, cinnamon! Lovely plants aren't they? Lush green and look excellent when kept in potted plants. And so useful! Just imagine...you're cooking and suddenly you run out of curry leaves. Instead of running to the nearest grocery shop, just hop into your own herb garden and pluck out a few leaves and there you go! A lifetime's supply of taste-giving, medicinal herbs and oxygen too! The pride of your yard indeed.
Of course, growing a wide array of such herbs, native of their own climates and soil compositions is not going to be easy. Each herb is used to its own ecosystem and creating herb garden designs in one-size-fits-all is not very easy.
Planning Your Garden
The Preliminaries
Firstly, you have to decide which herbs you want in your garden. Herbs are plenty and will vary with your needs. For example, if you have a particular chronic health problem, it will make sense to grow a herb that will help alleviate the illness. Similarly, it is no good growing parsley if you are not going to use it in any of your dishes! So first decide on the use and utility of each herb that you're planning to grow. Also consider your local climatic conditions. Herbs are pretty delicate plants so plant them only if you think that the necessary weather conditions are suitable for them.
Herb Garden Designs
You can choose one or a combination of the below given design plans based on the herbs you are planning to plant. Each of these types has its own advantages and disadvantages. So try to maximize the advantages based on the herbs you use.
Container Planting
Simply put, container plantings are where you are growing herbs in pots. The easiest way to do this is to club together all the herbs that need similar soils and sun exposure. Conversely, you could also pot each herb into individual small pots. I prefer the latter idea as it avoids the possibility of overcrowding. Most folks make the mistake of planting herbs too close to each other. This will create a competition between the herbs for space and the weaker ones will get a beating. So make sure that the plants are well spaced out.
Standard Outdoor Planting
Alternatively, you could plant the herbs outdoors. Instead of keeping the plants inside the house, you could demarcate some space outside your 4 walls and design a herb garden there. Again the same care needs to be taken. The sun and soil combinations for plants should be taken care of while planting the herbs. Usually it is a good idea to plant outdoors. Most herbs are not averse to the sun and in fact thrive in good sunlight. Also make sure that you space the plants well so that they grow properly.
Decorative Planting
And if these seem too mundane for you and you wish to go all the way with your garden, go for decorative planting. Now some may say that it is too old-fashioned now, but they are just jealous! Decorative plantings look beautiful and give your home that 'rolling-parkland' kind of feel. It's a grandiose project, ideal for big homes and big budgets. It requires lots of planning and creativity. Firstly, you have to plan the whole project in advance. If you are planning to make a garden like that, why not do a bit of research as well? Look at other homes for cues. Search the Internet and you will find some of the loveliest herb garden designs for your home. Chart out your garden first, before you go about the design. See how best you can place the plants. Plan which ones will complement each other in color and size. Again, the main consideration to design a herb garden...spacing, spacing, spacing.
So whatever design plans may be, there are some generic things that you need to follow. Things to keep in mind while you design a herb garden are soil combination, sun exposure and spacing.
