Herb Garden

[Phil Occifer™]

I am considering turning a 12'x 4' eastfacing piece of ground into a Herb Garden.
Apart from which herbs to plant (they will be used for cooking mainly) I would like to know what soil preparation is required and when the best time of year is to begin planting/sowing.
Any other advice will be very greatfully received

[meltemi]

Good, even fierce drainage...lots of large gravel...grown them mean & hard for flavour...don't water until death is imminent...feed once a month May to September...cut frequently & put into the freezer...they break-up a treat ready for use. Planting from April..Scatter parsley seeds all over (curly & flat) the one you can never have enough of.

[Fi]

I'm even meaner than you mel. Many herbs require no feeding at all, and the poorer the soil, the stronger the flavour. Things like oregano, marjoram (its close cousin) Mediterranean mints, thyme, sage, tarragon, lemon balm and loads of others that originally grew in areas with relatively hot summers. They will bear longer stems, a lot more leaves and spread more rapidly, and so look prettier if they are well fed, so if aesthetics are important then feeding them makes sense.
In terms of what to plant phil, I'd go for a basic framework to the bed that is determined by what you want the bed for - is it for herbs to eat and/or use for medicinal purposes, or to look good, or to be a garden of all of the herbs mentioned in the bible - there are so many different themes and it's worthwhile either googling for sites about herb gardens or invest in a good book about herbs, or see if your local library has any in stock - the RHS Encyclopedia of Herbs is good. Once you've decided what sort of herb garden you want, the next thing is the structure of the bed - whether its against a wall so it needs to be laid out like a perennial border, or if it's an island then. if it's just 4'wide, then some of the architectural herbs like angelica and lovage may be too big to be included (they both can grow to 10' tall or more. Once you have a framework, plant the chosen perennials, but leave space for annuals such as dill, coriander and parsley (I know it's a biennial, but it's best treated as an annual). Also you may want to add some perennials simply because they look good - things like Monarda didima (the stuff the flavours Earl Gray tea, clary sage, bronze fennel etc.
The only thing to beware of are those herbs that are thugs. Mint is an obvious thug, but so is soapwort, horseradish and a few others. The worst I know is Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) - it self seeds extremely freely and the root systems are so vigourous that pulling out anything other than seedlings is exceptionally difficult. We had them in our last garden and they looked very pretty, but never again! If they get a toehold you'll never get rid of any of the thugs except by extreme means. So I suggest planting them in containers, sunk into the bed, but with the rim just showing so that you can spot any runners that try to get out over the top. Also, check the base of the container each year to make sure that no roots are making their way out at the bottom.
So good luck - I started out planting herbs for culinary uses, but then learned a bit about their medicinal uses, so put in some grown solely for that purpose (the most useful I found was yarrow - chewing on a few leaves really does make toothache far less painful, then I added some of the shrubs like willow, elder and witch hazel, and finally learned a lot about the fascinating history of herbs, for example the use of meadowsweet as a medicine, apparently since the days of the druids - it happens to contain salicylic acid, the precursor to aspirin!. It was about 20 years ago that I got hooked and it's a branch of gardening that's given me immense pleasure (apart form the Lady's Mantle) ever since. Enjoy!

[Phil Occifer™]

Thanks both,
that's just the sort of advice I'm after..here's the site (the scotch bottle is there purely to give some scale to the size)

As you can see, it has wall cordering both 'ends' and a hedge as its backdrop.
What should I do with regard to the earth? Should it be dug/turned/de-rooted/fed?.
When should this be done, infact when should I be looking at beginning the planting process, again, -seeds or plants?

I have several gardening books to hand but herbs hadly eature. I will endeavour to get hold of the RHS one.
Many thanks
Phil

[Fi]

The first thing to do is get rid of those over-hanging branches and given the aspect of the bed, it's only going to get sun in the morning. Most herbs need full sun to flourish, especially the culinary ones. I'd de-root the bed and, if necessary, put grit in the soil to make it free draining. I'd use seed for any annuals and biennials like coriander and parsley, but buy plants for the perennials unless they are not available. I'd wait until spring, once the soil starts warming up, to plant everything. Have you decided upon a theme yet?

[Phil Occifer™]

Right, I've had to get My Buffday, Crimbo, new year etc..out of the way, but finally have made the effort and the herb garden plot has gone from ....

this...to


THIS!

As you can see I am still restricted on sunlight because of the neighbours 'hedge'. (the photo's are west-facing). But the majority of the plot will get sunlight from early morning untill early afternoon.
Now we're off to the Garden Centre...

[Sharon Sharealike]

Wow - look at the difference there! Lots of room to play with now!

Good luck and keep us posted!

[meltemi]

Yep. looking good...

[Caddi Fuller-Teabags]

I grew dill for the first time last year, took an age to come up, but my goodness it was worth it. The coriander was lovely too, I bought two small plants and they kept us going most of the summer (and I love coriander!)