By ELIZABETH WADDINGTON Elizabeth Waddington, MA, Dip.Perm.Des. - Garden Designer Elizabeth is a Permaculture Garden Designer, Sustainability Consultant and Professional Writer, working as an advocate for positive change. She graduated from the University of St. Andrews with an MA in English and Philosophy and obtained a Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design from the Permaculture Association. Roy Nicol, MHort (RHS), MCIHort - Horticulturist Roy is a Professional Gardener and Horticultural Consultant, specialising in large garden year-round maintenance and garden development. He is an RHS Master of Horticulture and uses his research in the application of no-dig methods in ornamental garden settings. Roy has been a Professional Gardener for more than six years and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Horticulture, Professional Gardener's Guild and Association of Professional Landscapers (Professional Gardener). Malcolm is an award-winning horticulturist who is the treasurer of The Herb Society. Malcolm also is the owner and director of Hooksgreen Herbs, a specialist plant nursery that was awarded the first ever RHS ‘Master Grower’ title at the 2016 Tatton Park Flower Show. Malcolm’s experience in growing and caring for herbs has also been shared up and down the country, as he has been invited to perform lectures and talks at various botanical venues.
Reviewed By ROY NICOL 
Contributions From MALCOLM DICKSON 
IN THIS GUIDE
- 1) Decide Where To Plant Herbs
- 2) Choose The Right Soil
- 3) Plan (And Plant!)
- 4) Choose Complementary Herbs
- 5) Consider Raised Beds
- 6) Or Spiral Herb Gardens…
- 7) Care For Your Outdoor Herbs
- FAQs
Growing herbs at home in your garden can be a wonderful way to use up your outdoor space.
Although it might seem overwhelming to start with, when you make the right decisions and think carefully about your own specific garden, you can grow a wide range of culinary herbs wherever you live in the UK.
In this guide, we collaborate with Malcolm Dickson, Treasurer of The Herb Society.
1) Decide Where To Plant Herbs
When planning a herb garden, one of the first things to think about is where you will grow the herbs.
A dedicated herb garden can be useful because the herbs that you require will all be in one specific part of your garden and will therefore be easy to harvest.
It can also be useful to have herbs close to your kitchen (such as near your back door) so that you can minimise the time it takes to gather them when you need them.
“The key to your first outdoor herb garden is to find an area which is south or southwest facing and is a warm part of the garden,” says Malcolm.
A dedicated herb garden might be a:
- Collection of different herbs in pots and containers.
- Vertical garden.
- Typical herb spiral or other specialist raised bed.
- A strip of in-ground planting alongside paths.
Planting them around and between other plants that you grow can also be beneficial, as herbs, especially aromatic types, can attract pollinators and other beneficial insects which aid in pest control.
Herbs can often also help to confuse, distract or repel pest species, keeping crops and other precious plants safe in an organic garden.
You might grow herbs:
- As companion plants with other edible crops in a kitchen garden.
- In mixed perennial planting schemes or in a flowering border.
- Below and around trees and shrubs in a fruit tree guild, forest garden or food forest.
2) Choose The Right Soil
Herbs cover a very wide range of plants utilised for culinary use, so it is important to remember that different herbs can have very different growing requirements.
It is important to think about the specific herbs that you would like to grow and to determine the conditions that they like.
Often, it can be helpful to think about where those plants come from in order to understand the conditions that they will prefer.
For example, many common culinary herbs come from the Mediterranean region.
These thrive in full sun in a warm spot, with free-draining and not necessarily particularly fertile soil.
“The soil should be free-draining and not too rich in humus,” Malcolm says.
“Gritty and poor soil is best.”
Other herbs, however, require very different conditions and might need much more moisture-retentive soil and could prefer an area with higher nutrient availability.
Most herbs like full sun, but some will thrive in somewhat shadier conditions, in light or dappled shade.
3) Plan (And Plant!)
Planning where you will plant herbs and which herbs you will grow should go hand in hand.
Make sure that you understand the environmental needs and preferences of the different herbs that you would like to grow and think about how you can best meet those needs.
Some preparation will likely be required before you plant your herbs, whether you are growing in a dedicated herb garden, or in a mixed planting scheme.
For a dedicated herb garden you may need to:
- Source containers or create planting structures.
- Build raised bed edging and fill raised beds.
For mixed planting schemes, you may need to obtain other plants such as trees, shrubs, flowering perennials or annual vegetables before you plant your herbs.
Many herbs can be sown from seed in spring, but it is also often possible to plant cuttings or young purchased plants.
The best strategy will depend on your budget, and also on the specific herbs that you have chosen to grow, as some are far easier to grow from seed than others.
4) Choose Complementary Herbs
When planning a dedicated herb garden, it is important to think about the herbs you wish to grow in terms of their relation to each other.
Some herbs can be excellent companions for one another – others, not so much.
“Plant useful hardy perennial herbs such as oregano, chives, common thyme, parsley, rosemary, lemon balm and green sage to form the core of your herb garden,” advises Malcolm.
“Then you can add the annuals during the season in any available spaces.”
When thinking about which herbs are best planted together, it is important to consider:
- Whether the herbs you wish to grow are annual, biennial or perennial.
- Whether the herbs like full sun or partial shade.
- The soil conditions that the specific herbs will prefer.
- The water, moisture and humidity needs of the herbs.
- Their vigour, root form and growth habit. For example, Rosemary can quickly become large for its allocated space if not pruned back regularly, Oregano can spread and flop over its neighbours if not reduced to a smaller size in the spring and Lemon Balm can self-seed around the garden if allowed to flower and set seed.
5) Consider Raised Beds
If you would like to integrate herbs into other plantings, one of the most common ways to do so is to use herbs as companion plants in the raised beds in vegetable beds.
When using herbs as companion plants for fruit and vegetable crops, one of the most important things to think about is whether they are annual or perennial.
Annual herbs like basil, coriander, dill, anise, and borage can be sown and planted alongside common culinary crops and grown in crop rotation schemes alongside them.
Like annual vegetables and fruits, annual herbs will grow outdoors only over a single season in the UK.
Borage is a particularly beneficial companion crop in kitchen gardens and it is said to promote the growth of many other plants when they are growing close by.
Remember to give Borage plants at least 30cm spacing as they become quite large.
It brings in pollinators and other beneficial wildlife, as well as providing an edible yield in its own right.
Basil is a particularly beneficial companion crop to grow alongside tomatoes, peppers or aubergines as it deters whitefly and aphids, whilst anise is said to increase essential oil production of other herbs, making them more effective in organic pest control and potentially improving their flavour.
Perennial herbs are not included as easily in annual crop rotation schemes.
However, it can be beneficial to think about planting perennial herbs around the edges of annual raised beds.
They can be placed either around the edges of the bed itself, along the edges of paths between the beds or in separate raised beds around the fringes of the space.
6) Or Spiral Herb Gardens…
If you decide to make a dedicated herb garden rather than incorporating herbs into other planting schemes, then your goal should be to create a growing area which can provide the growing conditions for as wide a range of herbs as possible.
Remember, different herbs can have very different needs.
In a single flatbed, you cannot meet the needs of all the different culinary herbs that you would like to grow.
A spiral herb garden is a raised bed of a very specific shape and form, which aims to address this issue.
Herbs like rosemary, basil, and parsley would not usually grow particularly happily in the same bed because they have rather different growing needs, but if you create a herb spiral, all can be grown in a relatively constricted space.
A herb spiral is a bed which, as the name suggests, is a spiral shape, higher in the middle and lower towards the outside.
The idea is that the spiral bed creates a range of different growing conditions.
The top of a herb spiral creates drier conditions and accommodates deeper-rooted herbs, whilst the southern side is sunnier and warmer and the northern side is shadier, moister and cooler.
Creating a herb spiral is a great solution for those who would like to grow as many herbs as possible in as concentrated an area as they can.
See this guide for more herb garden ideas (both indoors and outdoors).
7) Care For Your Outdoor Herbs
If growing annual herbs, remember that they will have to be sown each year, but perennial herbs will remain in your garden over a number of years.
Aside from sowing, annual herbs will usually just need to be harvested in a timely fashion.
Perennial herbs can be very low-maintenance but may benefit from additional care like pruning in certain cases.
If you’re growing borderline-invasive plants like mint then you will need to control their spread through regular cutting back – as they can quite easily take over a space when left to their own devices.
“I have found it is easiest to grow mint in its own stand-alone pots, otherwise over time the roots spread through the border and it becomes difficult to remove,” shares Master Horticulturist Roy Nicol.
Mostly, as long as environmental and watering needs are met, caring for plants in a herb garden should be fairly easy and straightforward.
“Herbs generally grow well together but need regular cutting back to minimise overcrowding,” says Malcolm.
“It is better to be cruel to be kind!”
FAQs
How Can I Keep Ants And Other Bugs Out Of My Herb Garden?
Ants can sometimes colonise areas of free-draining and drier soils.
As many Mediterranean herbs like free-draining conditions, gardens containing these herbs may be attractive to ants.
Remember, ants are not necessarily a problem.
In fact, they are a beneficial part of a garden ecosystem and will likely not do any damage to your herbs.
Simply attract other wildlife to your garden to keep the ecosystem in balance and pest species in check.
Can You Freeze Fresh Herbs From The Garden?
Yes, many fresh herbs from the garden can be frozen by chopping them and placing them in ice cube trays filled with water or olive oil.
Many herbs can also be dried for later use.
How Deep Should A Herb Garden Be?
This depends on which herbs you would like to grow.
Herbs like yarrow, for example, have very deep roots, while many herbs have much shallower roots and can be grown even in very small planting pockets.
