Grow Your Own Herb Garden ... Make Marvelous Herb Recipes

There's nothing more satisfying than preparing a spectacular feast using aromatic and delicious herbs such as basil coriander or fennel collected from your own herb garden.

Pep yourself up during the day with a stimulating peppermint tea or take a moment at the end of the day to brew a relaxing warm tea infused with chamomile. Sink into a warm, fragrant bathtub, scented with lavender - all with freshly gathered herbs from your very own herb garden.

Learn more about herbs and herb gardening here

Growing a Herb Garden…..

You don't need to have a garden to have a herb garden!

  • Herbs will grow in many locations providing they have sun. A herb garden can consist of pots of basil on your kitchen windowsill, tubs of thyme, oregano and sage growing outside your back door, or lavender and rosemary growing in your flower beds.

  • A formal herb garden with herbs laid out in a uniform design is a fun project if you have the space and gives you the opportunity of growing many different herbs. 

  • The most important thing is to have a herb garden!! With the overwhelming variety of seeds, seedlings and plants available at your nearest garden centre, growing a herb garden couldn't be easier. Your herb garden will provide you with a supply of fresh herbs for most of the year. You can harvest and preserve a supply of herbs from your herb garden for those times during winter, when some of the herbs are not available.

  • Herbs are so varied in their uses, you will find that if you have a culinary herb garden, you will also have a medicinal herb garden.

Herbs are so versatile, it is impossible to classify them under a single heading.

A Culinary Herb Garden……

Herbs, such as basil or sweet basil, caraway, chives, coriander, dill, fennel, horseradish, lemon grass, marjoram, mint, oregano, rosemary, tarragon and thyme, can transform even the most basic of dishes to a delightful meal.

With just a small collection of herbs at your fingertips grown in a culinary herb garden, you have the power to enrich your mealtimes and your life!

A Medicinal Herb Garden…….

Almost all of the herbs you can grow in your herb garden, such as bergamot, catnip, comfrey, evening primrose, parsley, sage, St John's Wort, tansy, wormwood and yarrow have some form of healing and medicinal properties. They are just waiting to be picked straight from your herb garden and transformed into a tea or an ointment, to help ease your pain.

However, I must stress that you consult your doctor or homeopath before you embark upon any homemade herbal remedies.

A Cosmetic Herb Garden……

From perfumes, lotions and foot soaks to relaxing or invigorating oils for the bathroom, the herbs from your herb garden can be freshly blended, chopped and crushed and utilised in a variety of treatments. Lavender, anise, fenugreek, feverfew, lemon balm, lemon verbena ……….

A Domestic Herb Garden…….

Many herbs from your herb garden can be used around the house and in the garden very effectively such as comfrey for your compost heap or peppermint to dispel ants.

The aromas of lavender, rose and mint in pot pourris and pillows are very welcome around the home and other herbs from your herb garden can be used as insect repellents and fertilizers in your garden - angelica, comfrey, rue and southernwood.

The Essential Herb Garden……..

If you don't have space for more than a few herbs on your windowsill or patio, you will have to be selective and choose those that will be most beneficial to you.

For your essential herb garden, I would recommend basil , parsley, thyme and oregano and if you can find a space for a couple outside too, I would suggest lavender, sage, rosemary and mint, the garden variety.

A Flower Herb Garden…….

Herbs are wonderful in the garden in their simplest form - as stunning plants. With all the wondrous colours of the various flowers and foliage, you can have a complete vista of colour and fragrance all year round.

Some herbs and their uses may be unfamiliar to you such as:

  • Borage and Chervil

  • Chickweed and Columbine

  • Lovage and Salad Burnett

  • Myrtle and Soapwort

  • Sorrel and Costmary

  • Summer and Winter Savoury

  • Sweet Cicely and Orris Root

  • Pennyroyal and Mullein

  • Vervain and Burdock

  • Cotton Lavender and Pink Periwinkle

  • Golden Rod and Verbascum

There are also some plants that you could grow in your herb garden that you would not immediately recognise as being herbs Such as:

  • Aloe and Nettle

  • Garlic and Mustard

  • Elder and Dandelion

  • Dock and Watercress

  • Marigold and African Marigold

  • Honeysuckle and Nasturtium

  • Pelargonium and Rocket

  • Violet and Marshmallow