Today starts a series on my blog dedicated to gardening. It is the perfect time to be getting your garden going, so I thought I would share some tips, photos of my own garden and ideas for you to get started growing your own food.
My fascination on this subject started several years ago when I saw the Dervaes family featured on Oprah. They created the most unbelievable and beautiful edible gardens on their small fifth of an acre lot. They even have a few farm animals. It is amazing what they are able to create with so little. They are very inspiring, and I still read their blog .
While my skills do not rise to the level of the Dervaes family, I do enjoy getting my hands in the dirt and reaping the tasty rewards of some home-grown goodness.
If you want to get started, my advice would be to start slow. If you All Out right away, you will most likely get overwhelmed and quit. And it’s supposed to be fun, right?! Herbs are a great place to start for several reasons:
- They are easy and relatively low maintenance
- They are pretty hearty, and some even do well in the colder months
- They are fun to cook with, and easy to sprinkle on top of something to give that finishing touch
- For the health conscious, they are a great way to add awesome fresh flavor without adding a ton of calories/points
- You don’t have to worry about fending off a lot of pests. Many herbs even repel pests!
Steps to Planting Your Own Herb Garden
1. Pick a sunny spot. Your herb garden will do best with five to eight hours of sunlight every day.
2. Choose your planting medium. I use a square foot raised garden. Mine is 4 feet x 4 feet, and it is only about 4-5 inches deep with organic soil. Alternatively, you can use a big pot, if you want.
3. Brainstorm a few herbs to plant that you already enjoy eating. My favorites: sweet basil, rosemary, chives, thyme, oregano, flat-leafed parsley.
4. Head to your local nursery and pick up some baby plants. You can start from seed, if you want to, but this can take a while. Some herbs can take 2 – 3 weeks to sprout, and they would need even more time than that to harden off and be ready for planting. At this point in the season, I would suggest baby plants. (Note: If you are in a colder climate than me, there may still be time to plant from seed. I live in Birmingham, AL, FYI.)
5. Plant them in your garden. Note: You will want to check your famer’s almanac for your local region’s last frost. Plant after that.
6. Cut of a few stems to use as needed. Clipping actually encourages them to grow! So use them.
7. Enjoy!
Are you planting an edible garden this year? What are you growing? Are you interested in more posts on growing your own food? Let me know in the comments!
Tracy M says
oh, your garden looks so inviting! I’m hitting my garden center this weekend. Which do you recommend as “starters”. I’m thinking basil and parsley……. Thanks for sharing!!! It’s putting me in the mood for summer salads, salsa, grilled fish…mmmmmmmm!!!!
Marjorie says
Thank you Tracy! 🙂 Basil and parsley are both great choices! Make sure the frost is gone before you plant basil because it doesn’t like cold. I am just about to re-plant my basil.
Parsley is great too, although mine likes the mild Alabama winter and warmish spring best. It starts to shoot to seed and taste bitter when it gets to summer.
I also love chives and rosemary. They are great in some olive oil for dipping bread. Come to think of it, maybe I need to do another post on how I use my fresh herbs. Have a great weekend! And happy planting!