Whether you are blessed with a small garden, a tiny terrace or yawning lawns, a little clever planting can bring an added dimension to your space, and an extra level of pleasure to time spent outdoors. Better still, with only a small splash of spring planting inspiration, and a few essential tools, it’s not hard to turn a drab corner space into a delightfully hedonistic (and edible) space, particularly if you plant a herb garden.
The whys and hows of planting a herb garden
The joy of planting your own herbs is that a herb garden is fragrant, floral, useful and aesthetically pleasing. Spikes of lavender blue and purple, delicate balls of chive mauve blooms, the gentle waving feathers of fennel with the yellows of dill and a variety of rich textures and forms create intense pockets of interest.
Whether you’re a keen cook who wants to be able to grab a handful of herbs for the BBQ or whether you enjoy the scents of lemon, lavender and thyme on a warm summer evening so that you can imagine you’re sipping wine on a hillside in Provence, herbs are one of the best ways to enrich the enjoyment of your garden.
What and when to plant
The best time to start planting is now, in late spring and early summer. The list of herbs you could plant is almost endless and will of course be dependent on your soil and position, but popular staples that are relatively easy to grow include rosemary, thyme, lemon balm, mint, borage dill, sage, chives, lavender, sorrel and tarragon. Tender herbs like basil, fennel, marjoram and coriander are best started indoors and kept there until you are entirely confident that the cold weather is behind you.
How to plant
The size of your garden and your choice of herbs is, of course, important. If you have a large garden, it’s easy for planting to get lost in which case you may wish to dedicate a smaller area to your herb garden. Similarly, bear in mind that some herbs can’t or shouldn’t be grown together and may be better if grown in pots. Mint can be invasive so needs to be contained or it can run amok in your garden. That said, it’s both intensely fragrant and very useful, so a couple of pots taken from a main plant is a great idea. Similarly, basil and sage can compete with one another as can dill and lavender. The answer to this dilemma is to plant up your herbs in series of different pots and containers.
Fennel, sorrel, parsley, coriander and dill will need the biggest / deepest containers along with rosemary and sage. Basil, chives and oregano will manage well in smaller pots. You will need to check each plant to see what soil variety it prefers as well as the best time to plant out into your pots and containers, or into your beds. Of course, a potting table or work bench makes life quite a lot of easier, allowing you to store compost and containers on the lower shelf and saving your back and your knees when you’re potting and planting. But if you are limited for space, why not double up the use of your potting table and use it to display your herbs at eye level. Add taller plants to the back and small delicates at the front and position the table somewhere that is within reach of your BBQ or outside table, or somewhere that you will regularly brush past to enjoy the heady fragrance.
A touch of the exotic
To elevate your herb garden, integrate either some exotic plants or abundant flowerers. If you’re thinking that exotic planting has to be tall and structural like ferns or bananas, well think again. There are cacti and succulents that can be added to an outdoor display. Agaves come in a variety of sizes and colours and can add real interest and euphorbia abyssinica can add height. Ask at your garden centre for hardy cacti or choose a few alpine plants. Sempervivum (houseleeks), for example, are little rosettes of interest and come in about 40 species where as campanula will produce masses of blue flowers. These smaller plants are perfect for adding extra interest and detail to a larger display although ideally, keep then at eye level so that you can really enjoy them.
Or an abundance of flowers
If flowers are the name of the game for you, then May is the time to start potting up petunias, verbena, geraniums, lobelia, fuchsias, pelargoniums and begonias for masses of glorious flowers interspersed with your herbs. If your pots are big enough, try and plant three to a pot, perhaps with one trailing plant and two uprights or a combination of two different colours (think white and purple for a strong contrast).
Enjoying the fruits of your labour
From enjoying a glass of wine as you relax at the end of the day in amongst fragrant blooms and herbs, to tucking into a Sunday BBQ with family and friends, summer planting is all about adding depth to life’s simple pleasures. If you’re not using your potting table to display your pots, give it a good clean down after you’ve potted up your plants, throw over a brightly coloured cloth and use it as a BBQ table or extra serving space. Better still, why not treat yourself to a BBQ table.
Beautiful handmade work benches
Greenfield Wood Store make beautiful wooden potting tables in a variety of widths and in either a plain pine finish or painted in a colour of your choice. They are handmade in Sussex from sustainably sourced wood, portable and easy to put together. Perfect for potting up or for herb and plant displays with added storage shelving and a variety of widths to suit you. Supplied in plain pine for you to finish in the colours of your choice.
To find out more or to order visit: Beautiful potting table.
For more spring planting inspiration, why not visit a Sussex garden:
