Planning a herb garden

One of the few compensations of the month of January is that you can always curl up in front of the fire, away from the filthy weather, reading seed catalogues. The wind may be howling, the snow may be drifting, or the rain may be beating a tattoo on your roof, but by flipping through a couple of catalogues you can quickly transport yourself through the seasons into Spring and Summer, imagining how splendid your garden is going to be.

Whether you have a huge garden, a tiny patch, a small back yard or just some plant pots on a window ledge, getting a pencil and paper out and taking some time to plan what you are going to plant and where you’re going to plant it, can pay dividends when you come to do the work, as well as offering some delightful escapism now.

Where to site your herb garden?

One of the most important things about planning a herb garden is to make sure it’s easily accessed from the kitchen, unless you’re partial to stumbling about in the dark and cold (and possibly the rain) when you suddenly remember you need some Rosemary for your roasted vegetables. The author of my favourite gardening book, The Small Garden, put it very well (do bear in mind the old chap was writing in 1947): “If you wish to acquire merit and praise, one small but important detail is to site your beds for herbs and perhaps some lettuces, as close as possible to the door of the kitchen, so that the genius thereof can pop out quickly for a plucking.” These days Her Indoors is usually the one doing the heavy digging, but the point still holds!

Many people plant their herbs in a bed within a vegetable plot or allotment, but a dedicated area for herbs may be more convenient, particularly bearing in mind the location point above. You can also successfully mix herbs in with herbaceous planting, as long as you can remember where they are and make sure you curtail the spread of the more expansive ones such as mint, so they don’t take over the whole border (see below). Herbs are naturals for container gardening and this can often be the best solution for convenient access to the kitchen.

As for positioning, herbs love to be in full sun, although Mint will tolerate a shady spot. So, if possible, bag some south facing space. Make sure it’s also sheltered from strong winds.

Soil type

Herbs need well drained soil. Heavy clay soil will need lots of compost before you do any planting – but don’t add this until Spring as the winter frosts will help break down the heavy clay for you.

If you have sufficient space, you can have some real fun with a herb garden. You can plan it out in neat regimented squares, like a chess board with each type of herb having its own dedicated square. Another attractive idea is to create a circle and divide this into segments – again each wedge representing a different herb. If you’re going for a cottagey feel and happen to lay your hands on an old cartwheel, you can put this onto the top of the soil and use it to create a hard circle. Space permitting, those of an artistic bent could have a go at recreating an Elizabethan knot garden. The shape is created by use of different herbs and often miniature Box hedges, Lavender or trimmed Rosemary are used to separate the herb groupings.

If you are ambitious enough to attempt this, you’ll need some squared paper and a scale rule to plan it out. You can then peg out the design with canes and string. Don’t attempt to do a project like this on the hoof as it will end up being haphazard and the beauty of a knot garden is its symmetry and formal pattern. For that reason, don’t try this if it is not in keeping with the rest of the garden.

Choice of herbs

Obviously the choice of herbs depends on your personal tastes, whether you want them for cooking, cosmetics, fragrance or medicinal purposes, but these are some of my favourites:

Rosemary - classic perennial. Rosemary shrubs do need pruning regularly or they can get very woody, untidy and sprawling. Perfect partner for roast lamb and roast spuds.

Sage - great for making stuffing and great with pork and liver. This is also a perennial

Mint - can be very invasive so it’s a good idea to grow this in a container. Stick it in a plant pot or a bucket with the bottom cut out and submerge it in the soil of the bed. Try different types of mint.You can even get chocolate mint which is delicious and smells great. Annual.

Oregano - also known as Marjoram, this is an Italian classic, essential for many pasta and tomato dishes. Perennial.

Parsley - make sure you have both the flat leaf Italian variety and the curly English one. Annual.

Thyme - I tend to grow a few different varieties of Thyme. Try the lemon one. There are more than 40 varieties for you to ponder over! Perennial, but doesn’t usually last more than 3 or 4 years.

Bay – this perennial is actually an evergreen and if you want to keep it small and manageable you will need to do regular pruning. Good for flavouring stews. Dries well.

Lavender - this perennial doesn’t like to get too wet so make sure it’s in well drained soil and don’t over-water. We tend to think of Lavender as a herb for fragrance and flowers but there are also some great ways to cook with lavender. »Try our recipe for lavender ice cream

Basil - this needs loads of sunlight. There are also lots of varieties – try the purple one. If you find basil difficult in the garden, stick to the pots you can keep on the kitchen window sill. If you buy it from the supermarket it sometimes benefits from re-potting into something larger. Annual.

Drawing your  plan

Whatever herbs you choose, make sure you remember which ones are annuals and which perennials and note this on your plan.You’ll also need to pay attention to the height each herb is likely to grow, so you can arrange them with the smaller plants in front. Good seed catalogues and seed packets give height ranges.

When you prepare your scale diagram, as well as thinking about the relative height of your herbs, don’t forget to think about access, so that each of them are easily reached. If you have the space, having pathways between plant groupings is helpful. Otherwise, make sure everything is within arm’s length.

To make planning of the planting easier we love and can’t recommend highly enough, the » GrowVeg.com vegetable planting planning tool.

This simple to use software is designed to help you plan the planting of vegetables and herbs. It works out how much space you need for each type of vegetable, and has simple drag and drop visuals of most veg types. It also includes growing information and advice.

You can update it each year and it will suggest the necessary crop rotation.

You can input the dimensions and shape of your own garden, veg plot or allotment. It’s even got an email reminder option to tell you when to do planting etc. The lovely people at GrowVeg offer a 30 day free trial so you can take the software for a run and see what you think with no obligation. If you do decide to subscribe, it’s very reasonable at £15 or $25 or €18 for the year.
» Follow this link for a demo of the tool in action