If you already have a garden with vegetables and flowers, you will enjoy adding and growing your herbs as well. They are not only enjoyable to grow, but they are beneficial too. However, to avoid the frustrations of them not growing well or failing. You must learn about the mistakes and hacks that you can use to have your herbs thrive. It is possible to have the ultimate success with your garden this year by adding more plants.
So try planting herbs for a start, and below are some of the common mistakes that you can avoid making or learn about to fix them.
Growing from seeds
When it is your first time growing herbs, it may be tempting to start with seedlings, but a lot can go wrong. First, seeds need a good environment to germinate properly, and they need to be indoors before it is time to plant them outside. Yet, for a similar price or even less, you can go ahead and select your herb starter plants that need you to just grow them. In this way, you can easily start with a healthy plant, and at the same time, you avoid disappointments of lacking plants to grow in spring.
Choosing the wrong variety of herb
This mistake is common, especially when you have no idea that the herb you want has many kinds of it. For instance, when you want to buy thyme, you need to know the variety that you want. Either it is silver thyme, creeping thyme, lemon thyme, just to name a few. This also applies to other herbs that you intend to buy as well to know the variety that thrives best in your area. So, when you purchase herbs, do not buy them blindly, especially those herbs that offer multiple options, know the variety you need, and then select correctly.
Not preventing a garden invasion
Although herbs provide complimenting flavors to the food that we eat. Sometimes they may be notorious in how they grow when you plant them in your garden. As an example, some herbs like oregano and mint are known to be voracious growers and can easily cause a garden invasion when you grow them. So, you need to grow such herbs in pots or containers, and you can bury them in the ground to ensure the rest of your garden space is safe. Since you will control the roots of these herbs and therefore they will not move to the rest of the garden plot. Try this garden hack, and you will prevent any garden invasion with some of these herbs.
Growing complex herbs
If you are a new herb gardener, avoid growing too complex herbs, too early as you start. Thus, grow herbs that you love to use and are easy to grow, and you can go on adding others as you learn more about them. Once you grow a versatile herb, that you can add to many dishes like basil, through its outcome, it will motivate you to grow other herbs that are more complex in terms of care and maintenance. As every gardener wants to be successful when it comes to growing herbs in their garden. Try basil and other less complex herbs that are perfect to train with, and also it is a quick grower, which is an added benefit.
Allowing herbs to start growing flowers
When you already know about proper plucking and pruning of various herbs. You must not make the mistake of allowing flowers to start growing. Since you should cut back herbs before the flowers start to grow. However, this is for certain herbs such as sweet basil, when you allow the flower to start growing, they make the herb bitter when you use it. Therefore, as much as flowers are lovely to see either annuals or perennials, in cases such as with sweet basil, they are not of benefit. Unless its other herbs like the aromatic bee balm, the flowers and leaves are great for making tea, and it is attractive to butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. So, with this herb, you do not have to cut the flower buds as they are of benefit to you and they do not affect the tastes of the herb when they bloom.
Not prepping the garden with fresh soil
This mistake is common with many herb gardeners as they do not prep the soil. Through this, the herb has no proper soil that will feed it to allow it to grow well. Avoid using soil that has no nutrients and is overused, as it will not produce herbs that thrive. Give your herbs fresh soil that has not been worked on, had compost added, so that it can grow successfully in its new home. When you use pots to grow your herbs, avoid garden soils, like black earth or topsoil, as they are heavy and take forever to dry. So use potting soil as it is fluffier and lighter. Then, water twice a month, and add soluble water fertilizer to boost the nutrients your plants are taking from the soil, and you will get the best herbs.
Watering herbs like house plants
Depending on where you live, you can opt to grow your herbs indoors or outdoors. However, herbs are different kinds of plants, and you need to treat them as herbs and not houseplants. So, in case you have herbs that have to grow indoors or outdoors, you need to treat them as herbs, especially while caring for them. For instance, herbs grown indoors can flourish with proper watering once or twice a week.
However, those growing outside will need regular and moderate watering, especially during the hot months. Importantly, if you are growing your herbs in pots, ensure it has good drainage to avoid drowning your herbs when it rains, but still, in this way, you will need to water them more than those herbs growing in the ground.
