Читать книгу Your Herb Garden - Barbara Segall - Страница 6

If you are a first-time herb gardener, you are embarking upon one of gardening’S greatest pleasures. What better time than midwinter to start thinking about the aroma and fragrance of herbs in the spring or summer garden, as well as the household pleasures they provide throughout the year?

A herb garden offers a special combination of plants, which can be enjoyed in different ways. They can be admired simply for their decorative effect and overall shape, as they grow into the plan you have created. In addition, you can appreciate the scents, aromas and colours of their flowers and foliage.

Herbs can be raised from seed, grown from cuttings or bought in containers from garden centres or nurseries. During winter, in an established herb garden, fresh herb leaves are still available from many evergreen plants such as rosemary, thyme and sage. You can also grow a selection of herbs indoors on a sunny kitchen windowsill. Winter savory, chives, parsley, chervil, sage and thyme will all provide flavour for soups, stews, sauces and vegetable dishes through the winter season.

If you are new to herb gardening, use the calm and relative inactivity of this ‘in-between’ season to choose the site for your herb garden and the plants that you will use and enjoy. Then settle down to create a planting plan for the herb garden. Herbs are versatile plants that look equally attractive whether they are grown informal, shaped beds such as squares, rectangles and circles, or informal borders. If space is at a premium, plan a herb garden using containers on a balcony or patio, or even a windowbox.

Whether you are growing a herb garden for the first time, extending an existing one or adding a new herb feature to your garden, now is the time to choose or reassess the site and to make the right plant choices.