5 Common Mistakes with Herb Gardening

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Planting an herb garden can be a fun and fruitful hobby that gives you a good excuse to spend plenty of time out in the sunshine on beautiful summer days. You can use the herbs that you harvest from your garden in any number of different ways including for medicinal purposes, to make tea, to eat or cook with or even to sell for a profit.

However, there are some common mistakes that people make when planting an herb garden that can be harmful to the plants and can make tending your garden more difficult and time consuming. To be sure that your herb garden goes in great and yields a wonderful harvest, here are 5 common mistakes with herb gardening to avoid.

1. A Lack of Planning

If you fail to have a plan when you are planting your herb garden it can wind up overcrowded, unuseful or difficult to care for. For instance, if you choose some plants that take a lot of water and others that don't it can make it really hard to know how much water you should give you garden.

Planning your garden before you head to the nursery to buy plants can result in a healthier, easier to maintain garden. You might want to think about choosing a theme for your garden such as planting an herbal tea garden or a medicinal garden. Choose plants that have similar growing and watering requirements to make caring for your garden a breeze. Also, try to stick to just 5-10 different types of plants to keep your garden cohesive and to make it easier to care for.

2. Choosing the Wrong Plants

If you choose shade loving plants for a sunny spot they aren't going to thrive, and vice versa. Choose plants that will grow well in the area that your garden is located. Also, remember that soil conditions impact how well your plants grow so you may need to add compost or organic matter to your soil before planting depending upon which plants you choose.

3. Buying Unhealthy Plants

You may be able to find a terrific deal on a wilted or somewhat dead looking plant, however you should probably avoid the temptation to buy it. Instead, look for strong, healthy plants at the nursery. Check the leaves for bugs or signs of eggs. Usually nurseries have higher quality plants than chain stores so you may be better off opting to shop at a nursery and spend a little more.

4. Spraying an Herb Garden with Chemicals In almost all cases herbs are grown and harvested to be consumed in some way whether that is through food, tea or medicinal uses. If you spray your herb garden with chemicals you are risking that you or anyone who eats the herbs will ingest the chemicals as well. Always opt for non-toxic pest control products for an herb garden. There are plenty of solutions to fertilize and keep bugs away that won't be harmful to you or anyone else if ingested.

5. Failing to Harvest Often Enough

When you harvest your herbs frequently it encourages new growth and helps the plants stay bushy and full. In addition, when you harvest regularly it can actually allow your plants to live longer so you can get more use out of them. Plus, frequent harvesting gives you lots of herbs to cook with or use however you want which is fun as well.