All About Herbs
In Bloom held our first potted herb garden workshop this past weekend at Vintique Alley in Riverside. We had a great time talking about soil health and the importance of having oxygen, water, and living organisms in the soil. Check out this cute container (to the left) that our friend Sue brought with her and planted with lemon thyme and Italian oregano.
Herb Bouquets
Workshop participants took home fresh herb bouquets and a copy of our Container Gardening Book.
We hope to have another potted herb garden workshop at Vintique Alley in August.
So let’s talk about growing herbs!
Herbs don’t need as rich of soil as your vegetables, but they do need good drainage. That means they do well in decomposed granite or sandy soil in your landscaping. Most herbs do well in the ground but we do not recommend you plant mint as it will become invasive.
Some favorite herbs of ours to plant in the ground are:
Shrub types:
Sage (every kind)
African Blue Basil
Lavender
Tuscan Blue Rosemary
Ground cover:
Oregano
Creeping rosemary
“Grass Type”:
Lemongrass
In general, herbs can get by with less watering than your vegetables, so they make great potted plants or do well planted around the edges of your raised beds. The importance here is:
Make sure you give the roots enough room to spread.
Use a sandy potting soil blend with compost mixed in.
In hot climates, you may find some potted herbs that may need afternoon shade or need extra watering if you are using a terracotta pot. This varies from micro-climate to micro-climate.
Always plant mint by itself and don’t even mix more than one type of mint in the same container.
Just like your vegetable garden, herbs come from families that may thrive in certain seasons over others. Most of the herbs pictured below are thriving in the summer heat. If you wonder why your basil doesn’t thrive in January, that’s because it likes high temperatures! On the opposite spectrum are herbs like dill and cilantro which do better in cooler weather in the hot inland valleys of Southern California.
If you haven’t started a garden yet, herbs are a great place to start. The cost of a small plant at the nursery is around $3.99, the same price you’d pay for fresh herbs at the grocery store! Even if you calculate the cost of your soil, it’s a long-term investment that enhances your physical and mental health, your culinary appetite! You are also reducing your carbon footprint by reducing the miles it takes for you to get your food. When herbs go to flower, they bring in a lot of pollinators quickly.
We hope you’ll enjoy the photos below and plant some more herbs in your garden!
