Many definitions of herbs abound; I've seen "any useful plant that grows in annual cycles" to "domesticated wild plants that make life easier". And that is just a start. The number of plants that fall under the general description of "herbs" seems to change all the time. You now even get herb "experts" expressing opinions on whether a plant can be classified as a herb or not. Absolute poppycock!

The truth is that over the ages people noticed that certain plants possessed culinary, healing or aromatic virtues. These became the herb garden plants of the local community or healers. As communications spread and travel became widespread, people learnt that their favorite local culinary/healing/aromatic plants were not by any measure the only plants possessing virtues. Somewhere along the way someone categorised these useful plants by dubbing them with whatever name has evolved into our English description of "herbs".

My feeling is that any plant that benefits the user in exceptional ways should be included in my garden; yes - I would probably call it a herb to distinguish it from the pretty but vacuous flowers that I grow for decoration. And yes, like generations before me I would probably feel great affection towards it for the help or utility it provides.

If you are interested in a specific genre of herb garden plants, look for it in our ‘categories’ to understand its care, usage and requirements. Contact us if the herb garden plants you are seeking are not yet included and we will look them up if possible and do a post on them.

In the broad class of plants we call herbs, there are distinct divisions of type and seasonality. My 4 high meter bay tree and my 3 meter high lemon verbena can justifiably be called a perennial as I collect leaves for cooking (the bay tree). I am constantly recycle planting basil to give me a steady supply in season, which of course means that it is an annual plant. Some plants have a 2 year life cycle. They use their first year to attain growth and allow you to harvest their produce the following year, after which they die off.

This subject is covered extensively in my book as well as this site, so explore, it's part of the fun.

Prepare your soil or growing medium by working it to a fine texture and damping. Plant seeds of herb garden plants in shallow rows then firm up the soil placed on top of the seeds. Fine seeds, e.g. celery, can be mixed with sand which will allow wider distribution. Otherwise your new sprouting herb garden plants will be on top of one another You may want to cover the bed with wet burlap or newspaper in to keep growing medium suitably moist during germination.

Throughout this site are references to culinary, aromatic and medicinal herb classes as well as perennial, biennial or annual plants. To easily access them look at the "categories" menu and/or type a word in the search box and hit "return'. You will find that many herbs have multiple uses.

Irrespective of your primary motive for wanting to get your hands dirty in herb gardens, knowing the characteristics of various herbs will add to your pleasure and focus your choice of what herbs to grow. More at http://herbgardenblog.com