Tomato Facts

When things go right, you can’t beat it! Some plants are just like that. What you need to do is make sure you have a place for your plant to thrive, focusing on water, sunlight and soil condition.

Here are a few of my favorite low-maintenance herb plants for your garden:

• Borage: The long, fuzzy and prickly leaves may be difficult to eat, but you can certainly dig in and taste the flavor of cucumber. The borage plant likes dry, dark earth and full sun—the blue or purple star-patterned petals are cute as can be. Start your seeds in early summer and by Independence Day your herb will have grown to up to two feet tall.

• Caraway: Even though the leaves of the caraway can look like that of a carrot in its first growing season, don’t mistake it for a carrot. When year two comes around, white or pink flowers that sit in umbrella-shaped clusters replace the carrot-like foliage on 1 to 3 foot stems. Give your caraway plant full-sunlight and also make sure it has well-drained soil for the best outcome. Because this is a biennial, you can sow seeds outside in spring or fall. Your caraway will self-seed if you don’t remove the dead blooms.

• Dill: Dill is one of my favorite plants to grow because of its fine, fern-like leaves. It will sprout fast for you as long as you provide it with well-drained soil and full sun. It will grow to a height of more than three feet tall, but you can begin harvesting it to eat once it reaches a foot. The yellow flowers on the umbrella-like heads will look great in bouquets and can also be used as seasoning. Dill will grow well from seed and because this herb grow fast you won’t need to start the germination process in advance.

• Fennel: The mature version of fennel looks a lot like dill, but its licorice taste is nothing like dill. If you plant your seeds in late spring, you will have an adult, four-foot-tall plant in only a few weeks. Your herb will thrive if you plant it so that your fennel will get full-sun with well-drained dirt. Don’t forget to harvest the yummy seeds! Don’t let the seeds get brown. Dry them and use in baked breads, soups and stews.

• Lemon Balm: If you like the sweet, lemony scent of lemon balm, you’ll be happy to know that this perennial likes light, shady, well-drained soil. I love its heart-shaped leaves. Seeds will take too long, instead begin with a nursery-bought lemon balm and set it out in a pot or in your flower bed. Before long, you’ll divide your lemon balm plant and replant the divided part somewhere else. As a self-sower, lemon balm will spread quickly so give your plants plenty of room. Pinch off the dead flowers to stop lemon balm from self-sowing.

• Sweet Cicely: This perennial likes light shade as long as you provide loose, rich soil. Be sure to add in mulch and organic compost. Buy your initial herbs and it will spread out from there through self-sowing.

These aren’t the only good herbs either ... there’s plenty more to choose from, including Queen Anne’s lace and dandelion.

Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.

Here is more information on Home Herb Garden. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.