Are you wanting to grow an herb garden outdoors for your family filled with herbal plants you will actually use? This post will help you decide what to plant and what the best planting method is for you.
Growing herbs in a garden is a great way to start your gardening adventure! Herbs can be used in so many ways such as medicinal, culinary, warding off pests, and for beauty.
There is also a wide variety of ways of how to grow herbs. If you are like me, you want your time and efforts to not be wasted but instead, to be successful and a great addition to what your family needs.
After reading this post, you will know how to decide which herbs to grow in your garden, how you will use them, and in what ways you are able to plant them.
Deciding What Herbs to Grow in Your Herb Garden Outdoors
The very first thing you need to decide is what types of herbs you want to grow in your herbal garden.
There are a few questions you need to answer first before making that decision.
1. What is the purpose of growing herbs for you? Will you be using them in your cooking?
2. Will you be growing them for medicinal purposes?
3. Will you be strategically growing herbs to help ward off different kinds of pests around your home?
4. Or are you simply growing them because of their beauty?
Gardening takes hard work and time.
As I always tell my children, we only have a certain numbers of hours in the day, so we need to be using those hours wisely.
We don’t want to waste our time and energy on growing something that is not going to be beneficial to us in some way.
So, take a look at what herbs (dried spices included) you are currently purchasing from the store and make a list.
This is a great way to start figuring out what your family uses and what can be replaced with your outdoor herb garden.
Culinary
If you are wanting to plant herbs that you will use for culinary purposes, take a look at your spice cabinet. Search for the spices you use the most.
In most recipes, with a little modification of the amount used, you can substitute using dried spices for fresh herbs.
You also have the option of drying your freshly grown herbs and creating your own dried spices…more information on that to come in another post.
I know for my family, the spices we use the most are oregano, basil, parsley, rosemary, and thyme. So in my herbal garden, I make sure to have all of these herbs growing regularly.
In my zone, they are also (mostly) perennials, which is a huge added bonus! We will discuss that later in this post though. So, make your list and keep reading!
Medicinal
If you haven’t dove into the word of medicinal herbs, I would highly recommend starting.
Our country is filled with medicines filled with unwanted side-effects. Starting to replace some of those medicines is not only pretty simple, but it is a great way to start getting healthier.
Similar to the culinary herbs, you need to decide what kind of medicinal herbs you are currently using or would like to use, then plan your growing list from there.
There are some great herbs to start with if you haven’t started your herbal medicinal journey yet.
Take a look at how to use arnica flowers infused oil (arnica oil) in this post to learn more about the medicinal uses of growing arnica flowers.
Here are a few other herbs that you could grow to make into a tea or tincture to help different parts of life. Remember to think about what you and your family needs, then choose the herbs from there.
This is a very short list of herbs that help with everyday bothers, but there are a lot more out there. This list is just to help you get started.
Calendula- Use for rashes (including diaper rash), wounds, skin issues, swollen glands (the flavor of calendula on its own isn’t the greatest taste but mix it with peppermint makes is a lot better!
Chamomile- Use for upset stomach, sleep-aide, calm-aide, and gas. This herb tastes wonderful in a tea. Some say it has a similar taste to pineapple.
Aloe- Use for burns! This plant is a wonderful addition to your garden because it doesn’t need to be turned into anything in order to get its benefits. You simply cut off one of the leaves. Use the cut end to rub some of the goo that drips out of the leaf onto a burn to ease pain and promote healing.
Peppermint- Use for upset stomach, headaches, sinus issues, motion/morning sickness. This is part of the mint family which means the plant will spread like crazy in your garden. If you are wanting to keep it contained, you should plant this amazing herb in a pot/planter rather than in ground.
Bee Balm- This plant is anti-microbial which means it’s an antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal. Talk about getting the most you can out of one plant! Use for coughs, skin, and stomach cramps.
Lemon Balm-Use for cough, sore throat, cold/flu, reducing fevers, calms nerves, relieves stress. This is part of the mint family which means the plant will spread like crazy in your garden. If you are wanting to keep it contained, you should plant this amazing herb in a pot/planter rather than in ground.
Warding Off Pests by Using an Herb Garden Outdoors
Other than culinary and medicinal reasons for growing an herb garden outdoors, there is another way to use these plants for our advantage…to ward off pests!
Here are just a few suggestions of herbs to plant around your home to help keep unwanted bugs away.
-Catnip: Cats love catnip, but it repels A LOT of bugs like ants, flea beetles, aphids, japanese beetles, squash bugs, weevils, colorado potato beetle, cabbage looper, and cockroaches!
-Cilantro-not only is this delicious for salsa, but it also repels aphids, spider mites, and the colorado potato beetle.
-Dill: try your hand at making pickles with this herb while it also does other work for you like repelling spider mites, squash bugs, and aphids. One interesting fact about dill is that it attracts the tomato hornworms. As a result, you would not want to plant dill near tomato plants.
HOWEVER, if you plant dill far away from your tomato plants, it could draw those destructive hornworms away from your tomato plants and save those precious tomatoes!
-Chamomile: Repels flying insects
-Basil: Repels mosquitoes, carrot fly, white fly, and asparagus beetles.
-Citronella: Wards off flies, mosquitoes and ticks.
Herb Gardens Outdoors for Beauty
-Echinacea: This is a great medicinal herb to grow in your garden. You use it by harvesting the roots. However, it is a gorgeous flower that will grow until you are ready to pull it up and use the roots for medicinal purposes.
-Chamomile: These have pretty white flowers with a yellow center.
-Lavender:This great smelling herb produces purple flowers.
-St. John’s Wort: Produces yellow flowers and is a wonderful medicinal herb.
-Calendula: These herbs produce beautiful orange flowers.
So whether you are choosing to grow herbs for culinary purposes, medicinal purposes, to repel unwanted pests or for beauty, you can get the most “bang for your buck” if you can find some dual purpose herbs for your herbal garden. There are so many options out there to choose from.
Deciding Where to Grow Your Herb Garden Outdoors
Depending why you are choosing to grow an herb garden outside will determine where you should plant them.
If you are using them for culinary or medicinal purposes, it would probably be best to grow them within a close range to your house.
If we make harvesting these resources difficult, we will end up not using them as much as we could be. Think practically when choosing where to plant them.
If you are choosing to plant herbs based on getting rid of pests, you will need to figure out where to plant those as well. You might not need them super close to your house but rather around a pool or a place where your children play.
Everyone’s spot will be unique to their own situation, so take some time to think, look, and plan.
Different Methods of Planting Your Herbs for Your Herb Garden Outdoors
Seeds vs Starter Plants
There are a few different ways to start growing plants. We are going to discuss the two most popular ways here: from seed and from a starter plant.
Growing from seed takes a few extra steps and a little extra patience. But in my opinion, it is definitely worth it! It is so rewarding to see those little sprouts pop up and start to grow.
When you have a full-fledged plant growing that you are able to harvest from, you can sit back and rest in the satisfaction that you were able to help take a seed and turn it into a useful plant for you and your family.
In my opinion, if you are going to garden, it is important to know the basics of how to start a plant from seed. You never know when it is a skill you will need.
If ordering seeds from a company, it is important to make sure it is a reliable company. Some of the companies that I have found good quality seeds from are MIGardener, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, and BakerCreek Heirloom Seeds.
The other way to start your herb garden outdoors (or indoors for that matter) is to purchase starter plants.
These are the little plants you will find at a local plant nursery. They have already been started for you so you don’t have to wait the time it takes for the seeds to sprout.
The people who work at the nursery are usually full of helpful information. So if you have questions about a specific herb they sell, they will most likely be able to help you.
In Planters vs. In Ground
Once you have decided what to plant and where to plant it, you need to decide if a planter would be the best option for you or if you should plant your herb into the ground.
There are pros and cons to each. In planters, they can be moved around to fit your needs or desires whenever they change.
However, the plants in planters do not stay as warm during the cold months as the plants that are in the ground. The potted plants also require more watering as they tend to dry out quicker.
The type of soil you have available to you in the ground will also determine how you plant your pot. You can always amend your soil by adding different nutrients to it, depending on what type of soil you currently have around your home.
Clay and sand can be difficult to grow in but it is definitely possible so don’t get discouraged.
If you have not heard of the layering gardening (back to eden gardening, lasagna gardening…they are all the same thing but with different names), it teaches you how to grow in ANY type of soil which I think is so amazing!
Extra Thoughts
Perennial vs Annual
It is important to know and understand the difference between a perennial and an annual. Both will vary depending on the climate where you live.
One plant that is a perennial in Florida could very well be an annual more up north. Everybody has a growing zone.
You can google “growing zone in _________(add the closest large city to you)” and it will give you a number and letter. For example, my growing zone is 7b.
When I am researching what plants I would like to grow, I look for ones that have a hardiness up to zone 7b.
That means those plants will be more of a perennial (living through the cold in my zone and returning next year without starting a new plant). If I am growing something that cannot withstand the coldness of my zone, it is an annual.
Once it gets to a certain temperature, the plant will die and I will have to start over next year. Obviously, it would be best if you could grow all perennials so you only have to start seeds or purchase the starter plants once.
But that’s not always the case. For many herbs, they are perennials in my zone though, so hopefully there will be a lot of perennials for whatever your zone is as well.
Growing Organic
While I am not going to go into great detail about growing organic, I think it is an extremely important topic so we are going to briefly discuss it here.
The food we purchase at the store has become so unhealthy for our bodies…even if the food, such as strawberries, are very beneficial for us. It is all because of the way commercial food is grown.
The grower’s goal is to grow food so they can make money. That means, they can and will use whatever means necessary to ensure they have a good harvest.
By making this their priority, they spray their plants with all kinds of pesticides and harsh fertilizers that our bodies are not meant to handle.
A huge benefit to growing your own herbs or food is that you have complete control as to what touches that plant. In my opinion, you should be starting your plant off right…with organic soil/compost.
There are so many ways to organically fertilize your plants, there truly is no need for harsh chemicals.
As we learned earlier in this post, you can use herbs or other plants to help get rid of unwanted pests without using the pesticides. Once pesticides are used in your garden, you will be getting rid of the beneficial insects as well. In order to have healthy plants, you need those beneficial insects.
Conclusion
There are so many reasons to start a garden. An herb garden outdoors is a great way to start growing plants that you can also use in your home. I hope this post has helped you gain confidence into starting your own herbal garden!
