choosing your herbs 

There are many different ways that you can easily decide on which herbs you want to plant in your garden.  If it is a basic herb garden that you are simply planting for harvesting and using the herbs for culinary or medicinal purposes, then you probably already have a good idea of which herbs you would like to grow in your outdoor herb garden.  You would then probably want to make a list of the ones you want to have in the garden based upon their flavors and/or medicinal purposes.

 

If your herb garden is primarily for decorative purposes, then you would do well to make a list of the plants that you would like to have in the garden. You can do this based upon the overall colors that your would like to have presented within the particular theme or style that you have chosen for this particular garden.  You will want to choose ones that not only compliment one another but you will also want colors that will properly accentuate the overall look of your outdoor environment and landscape.

 

Whether you are growing your herbs for practical everyday usage, merely decorative purposes, or both, you will want to make a list that will help you to decide on want you want ahead of time.  When you are making your list you should remember to make a note of which herbs are annual and which are perennial.  That is something that you will definitely want to remember and it is good to have this information on hand for future reference. 

 

You should divide this list into three separate sections.  In the first section you will list the herbs that you most definitely want to plant in your garden.  Section two can help to serve as a backup list and should be comprised of herbs that you would like to plant but they are not vitally necessary to the overall look or function of the garden.  Finally, section three can be a list of herbs that you can put into your garden but you won’t necessarily care one way or the other about them.

 

Creating a list such as this can go a long way to helping visualize and plan your garden well in advance.  It can also help to give you a better idea of what exactly it is that you are looking to get out of your overall garden design.  The redundant sections of the list are great because they allow you to consider ahead of time with the possibility of herbs that may in reality turn out to be unavailable when you actually go to buy them.

 

For those who are just starting out, it is a good idea to at first limit your list to about five to ten different herbs.  The last thing that you want to do is overwhelm yourself in the very beginning.  It is always good to start out small and slowly work your way up to a bigger garden as you gradually become more comfortable with maintaining it.