Sometimes it seems that the tasteadditives and food concentrates will soon displace all natural tastes and aromas from our lives. But there are still real gourmets in this world who value and recognize only fresh herbs and natural products. Of course, you can buy a bunch of parsley or cilantro at the market, and a set of dry spices - in the supermarket. But with the onset of spring, you can stock up on seeds or seedlings of herbs and plant them at your dacha. This will be healthier, tastier, and more economical. And even more beautiful, if you put at least a minimum of effort into this and plant herbs at your dacha, creating a flower bed or mixborder from them. This will not be difficult to do. First, you should choose a convenient, well-lit and wind-protected area, clear it of weeds. It is even better to do this in advance - in the fall. Then you should think over the shape of the kitchen herb garden, its content and the main idea. By selecting variegated varieties of thyme, sage, marigold, silver wormwood and flowering monarda, you can make it a decoration of landscape design. And by collecting a collection of representatives of the family of mint, umbelliferous or Mediterranean herbs, turn your herb garden into a storehouse of handy seasonings for the kitchen. If we talk about herbs for beginners at the dacha, then these are mint, oregano, lovage, marjoram, catnip, fennel, anise, etc.
Set Goals
Before you plant a herb garden,Think about what you need it for: are you creating it to grow environmentally friendly aromatic and ornamental spices and medicinal plants or do you just want to scare away pests and attract bees to your site. Depending on what task you set for yourself, you will choose such plants there. If, for example, you need medicinal herbs, then the main attention will have to be paid to the conditions of their cultivation and collection, and not to decorativeness. If you need to get rid of harmful and attract beneficial insects, then you will have to choose a place accordingly - it is better to plant them along the perimeter of the site or between the vegetable beds. It will be natural to arrange a kitchen bed closer to the house or kitchen. And the range of herbs for it will have to be selected accordingly: dill, parsley, basil, different varieties of onions, horseradish, coriander, lovage, mint, oregano, and so on. Classic kitchen herbs in the garden and vegetable garden are most often planted in a round or square bed, divided into segments or squares. Today, this is not so much a tribute to tradition as it is convenience in placing and caring for the grown plants. But without a doubt, the shape can be any - rectangular, square, triangular, arbitrary. The main condition is that the herbs have enough warmth and light, because many of the herbs that we use today, such as basil, thyme, marjoram, hyssop, tarragon, sage, etc., came to us from the Mediterranean. Other greens - for example, parsley, lemon balm, all types of mint, lovage, catnip, sorrel, lofant, monarda, feel great in slightly shaded, damp areas.
Determine the place
The basis of a real kitchen garden isperennial herbs. But until they have grown enough, annuals will occupy a large place in the herb collection in the first few years. In principle, it is impossible to do without them in the kitchen. These are dill, parsley, coriander, basil, chervil. And they are used in the kitchen most actively. Therefore, when arranging a decorative garden, and not just beds with herbs, think over a scheme for replacing one plant with another, since they all have their own growth and harvest periods. It would be logical to grow not only spicy herbs in the kitchen garden, but also green crops. For example, sorrel, rhubarb, all types of salads, and so on. And also medicinal plants - calendula, nasturtium, etc. For decoration, you can even grow vegetables here, for example, small-fruited tomatoes or hot peppers. Their bright fruits will perfectly decorate a decorative flowerbed of herbs. However, the latter are best planted in a container. It is important to know that the only thing that almost all herbs do not tolerate is excessive soil moisture. Therefore, it is imperative to make good drainage. On heavy clay soil and in lowlands, the place for herbs should be raised, pouring ridges of earth with the addition of sand to them. In the fall, the area is cleared of weeds and dug up. Then you should think about the content of the garden and its shape. And in March, it is time to deal with seedlings. However, you can buy ready-made planting material closer to May. In the spring, when the soil warms up enough, loosen it again and remove weeds. Then, in accordance with the developed plan, paths are marked out and a border is laid out. To do this:
- with the help of twine and pegs, outline the plan and form of future plantings;
- from the boards on the markings, assemble the frame of the raised bed;
- pour the resulting bed with fertile soil, and the aisles should be covered with decorative material;
- in order to be able to combine andcombine plants, seedlings in the garden, first set in pots. If the result meets your aspirations, transplant the seedlings into the ground, taking into account that many of the spicy plants grow very fast. To avoid this oregano, mint, sage can be planted directly in containers, thereby limiting their growth.
In the middle zone, most types of lavender and rosemary do not overwinter, so they must either be grown as annuals or moved to a cool room when winter comes.
Care
As a rule, herbs are unpretentious andare hardy, so they don't require special care. They are resistant to diseases and pests. They can grow on poor soils, and excess nitrogen is harmful to them. On such soils, they grow strongly and weaken, losing their aroma. They only need watering after planting or during periods of drought. True, until they grow, you will have to regularly weed and loosen the soil, but this work can be made easier by mulching the plantings. The only problems that the owner of a herb garden may encounter are associated with excessive growth of plantings. The vitality of many of these plants is so great that they themselves turn into weeds. Therefore, you should not plant horseradish in a kitchen garden, for example, because it will be difficult to get rid of it later. You will have to look after oregano, mint, lemon balm, monarda and sage. Because if you don't do this, then after a while you will be weeding them out in the most unexpected corners of your plot. Growing herbs in the country can become a real hobby. And the results of your labors will not only be joyful to admire. After all, how nice it is to enjoy a variety of dishes seasoned with plants grown with your own hands. We recommend reading:
