Herb Garden Designs

Knowing About Herb Garden Designs

When people start planting herbs, it can seem a little intimidating. There are so many different designs and shapes that are recommended that it can seem overwhelming. However by focusing on what you want you can quickly decide on the best way to plant your herbs and get on with the fun part: using them in delicious recipes.

Before you do any designing it is best to spend some time sketching out what you want your garden to look like. Would you like a large garden such as a formal English garden? Or would you prefer something smaller such as a windowsill herb garden?

Next take a pen and paper and sketch out a diagram. The best advice is to stick to some simple shapes (Line, circles and diamonds are easy for beginners; advanced gardeners may prefer knots or mazes) and use colors to represent the herbs so you can work out the aesthetics. Remember the golden rule: large herbs in the backs and corners; small herbs towards the center.

Designing Around the Sunlight

The first thing that gardeners need to take into account is the sunshine that the garden receives. You want to check whether anything is blocking the sunlight from reaching the herbs. Is there a tree that is casting a big shadow or a fence that makes one part of the garden darker than another? Certain herbs prefer the shade, whereas others prefer bright sunshine, so this should factor into your calculations. Also be careful not to add anything at a later date (A massive ornament for example) that may cause problems later.

Designing Around the Use

Some thought should go into what you want to use your herbs for. If your goal is mainly to make culinary herbs then you want to place them in a location where harvesting the herbs is very convenient to get to. Luckily culinary herbs require less room than other plants, so they use the space very efficiently. A lot of people plant culinary herbs between the other plants in their garden to maximize the space. Another great tactic is to plant the herbs next to the vegetables that they are most often used with, this way you can reduce the number of trips to your garden.

If you have ambitions to sell the herbs or make potpourri you will need a lot more space to allocate to your herbs. Remember that some herbs may be damaged or lost and so plan accordingly.

Designing Herb Gardens Based on Type

Some people like to design their gardens by dividing the herbs based on their properties or type. Some examples are: