Herbs are essential for healthy living and experiencing the pleasure of growing one’s own herbs, vegetables and fruits is even more exciting. Winters are the ideal time for planting an herb garden. The good things about herbs are that most can be grown in small areas in containers.
They can be grown as pot plants or spread among ornamental plants in a bed. Select a sunlit and reasonably sheltered area of the garden with alkaline soil and good drainage. Herbs are very versatile and have multiple purposes. They can be used to decorate the house and can provide fresh and pleasant flavors to the garden. They are usually used to flavor food, serve medicinal use and inhibit pest growth.
Herbal plants are annuals as well as perennials. Annuals plants are those which complete life cycle in single-season such as coriander, basil, marjoram, and perennials are plants that have an indefinite life span of more than two years such as fennel, thyme, mint, rosemary, chives, etc.
- Annual culinary herbs: Basil, coriander, dill, marjoram, summer savory, parsley, celery, chamomile
- Perennial culinary herbs: fennel, thyme, mint, rosemary, chives, tarragon, green onion, lemon, sage, Lavage, hyssop
- Herbs used for potpourri: lemon verbena, lavender
- Herbs used for tea: lemon verbena, mint, cannabis
- Herbs used for other purposes: feverfew for pest control, stevia for sweetening
- Herbs used for decoration: rosemary, ivy, myrtle, mistletoe, winter savory, bay