Growing Your Own Herbs – A Beginner’s Guide

Thinking of growing your own herb garden? Growing your own herbs is an easy and affordable way to dip your toe into gardening. Nothing compares to the freshness of new herbs picked from your own garden. Plus, using your own homegrown herbs means that there will be no wastage as you can pick more or less as needed.

Read on for our beginners guide to growing your own herbs.

Pick A Location

Picking the right location to grow your herbs is essential to your herb garden’s success. Most herbs flourish in the sun, so it’s important to pick a spot that is sunny, and not too far away from your kitchen, perhaps just outside the kitchen window. Alternatively, many plants can be grown indoors in containers or pots. 

Different herbs have different sun requirements, some herbs will want 6+ hours of direct sunlight, and others will require a partially shaded area with 3 to 6 hours of sun a day. This means that the location that you choose for your herb garden will also determine which herbs you can grow.

Choosing Your Herbs

Once you have chosen the perfect location for your herb garden it’s time to choose which herbs you want to grow. As mentioned earlier, when choosing your herbs you will be limited by the location of your garden based on how much sun the growing herbs will receive. 

To ensure that you choose the right herbs that will flourish in your chosen location, check the sun requirements on the back of the label or packet. Alternatively, ask one of the friendly experts at your local garden centre.

Easy Herbs To Start With

To get started, we have put together a list of 5 easy, low maintenance herbs that are great for beginners.

• Basil

Basil is best grown in spring or summer and flourishes in full sunlight. (Note: in hotter seasons/areas basil requires partial shade to keep from wilting). Keep the soil moist and fertilised to promote healthy growth, and pick the young leaves as needed.

• Coriander

Coriander is another herb the flourishes in the sun. In fact, coriander plants are frost sensitive and should be planted in a sunny spot with minimal shade. Coriander is great for growing in pots as well as in the garden.Like most plants, coriander needs moist, fertilised soil to grow.

• Rosemary

Arguably the easiest herb to grow for beginners, rosemary is a particularly hardy herb. With small, tough leaves built to survive hot, dry climates, rosemary is a drought resistant herb that will do just fine if you occasionally forget to water it. In the right conditions, rosemary plants can grow quite tall and wide, providing more rosemary than you could ever need.

• Parsley

Parsley is a herb that is particularly easy to grow indoors – perfect for on the kitchen windowsill. Like most herbs, parsley flourishes in the sun, however, it should not be planted in the summer in hot or dry areas. As a hardy plant, parsley requires less watering than other plants, plus, you won’t need to wait long to see results, making it the ideal addition to a beginner’s herb garden.

• Mint

Mint is perhaps the best herb for beginners as it is fast growing, and thrives in both pots and gardens. When growing mint, keep the plant well watered in full sun, or plant in a partially shaded area. (Note: it’s important to leave around 40cm between mint plants to allow for their rapid growth and to avoid root crowding). 

Your Local Brisbane Garden Centre

Whether you’re starting your own herb garden for the first time, or looking to add to your seasoned garden, Wellers Hill Hardware has all of the garden supplies you need. Visit our Tarragindi garden centre today for expert advice and quality seedlings to start your own herb garden.