Free Garden Catalogs - Herb garden, easy, looks good, and useful....?

Herb garden, easy, looks good, and useful....?

I have never had a garden before, i've never really gardened before either. BUT my dad is a landscaper and could definitely help me. However i wanted to try it on my own, he can help with the layout. But i wanted to start a herb garden, so meting different than your usual flower garden. That way it would look good and could be useful as well. What is something simple and easy to start with. and how should i go about doing it? so basically i want a herb garden that will look good, easy to maintain and that will be useful for like lots of stuff candles, insense, dyes, decoration etc. sorry, if it's kind of confusing... i'm really bad at explaining things. To Nora; 1. i live in richmond hill, ontario, canada and, 2. A mix of annual and perennial are good.

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Rosemary is always good for a start. It has many uses both culinary and medicinal. It is perennial so it continues to live from year to year. It looks like a small fir tree. There are about 30 varieties of mint that can be grown. Mint needs to be grown in a container, or it will take over the garden. Lavender is another nice herb for looks, and aroma. I personally like Basil for cooking uses. Start off small and slow. Add new species as you learn more.
It's not a bad explanation at all. My first independent garden was an herb garden. In thinking of what to include I have two major questions - if you can answer these, I can give you lots of ideas 1- do you know what usda zone you are located in? if not you can google it or just list the city (or a nearby city if you prefer) and state where you live so I can stick to plants that meet your climactic needs 2 - do you want only annual herbs or perennial or is a mix ok? Link to Canadian Hardiness zones: http://www.theweathernetwork.com/gardening/onzone/caon0585 Canadian gardening site w/ Q & A and multiple links: http://www.garden.ca/index.php Mid-Atlantic gardening Zone Info Site: http://www.garden.org/regional/report/description/full/13 ** looks like you're in this grow zone, so extra info here Plant hardiness zone for your town: http://nlwis-snite1.agr.gc.ca/plant00/index.phtml?mode=browse&layer=zones&layer=cities Sorry for so many links, honestly gardening in the mid US it took a fair amount of looking for me to track down your growing conditions and I thought you could use the links I liked best for more info somewhere down the road. That being said, it looks like your in zone 5a - not a lot of people bother with the a + b part but I like them for making borderline calls on plant choices. The good news - you're not zone 4 :) 5 gives you a fairly large amount of options, and although I have not found a rosemary able to overwinter in zone 5 there are people who claim they can. For plants like rosemary and other borderline herbs it's a good idea to decide in advance if you will try to overwinter them indoors - some years my do well - others they don't make it past january or so, but I know that going in. So Zone 5 herbs for a start: If you aren't looking for cooking herbs (wasn't on your list) I recommend trying out the following: rosemary lavender - lots of varieties and choices here - some of which can do quite well in zone 5 The mint family is incredibly fragrant, easy & INVASIVE - mints are a great plant to start with but unless you want them to actually take over and kill off everything else, plant in a large pot with good drainage & then into the ground with a few inches of the pot above ground to keep it from going wild. Chamomile is another good and easy to grow herb Lemon balm is a tall and wonderful smelling but also invasive herb - plant like mint in pots Thyme is also lovely and has many cultivars of various scents or nuances This is just apartial list but definetly the easiest of the perrenials and some that can be used for borders and structure in your new garden. Annual herbs or herbs you can grow as annuals are limitless providing you can find starts at nursery's mail order or start each year from seed. First time out I suggest you hit as many garden centers as possible, check them out in person and use your nose on all of them to see what YOU like best. Some of my favorite include: the scented geraniums - these are amazing and can smell like anything from strawberry or pineapple to lemon, citrusy orange or even roses, they are also easy to bring indoors Lemongrass - I use it both in cooking and dried for fragrance & arrangements .....most of my other herbs are more savory, but don't hold back, you never know what might strike your fancy. As to dyes, bloodroot is good, though not an herb but pretty and perrenial, as is bloody dock or sorrel (invasive but bright vivid red), onion skins can provide yellow to orange to brown To start check out this online: http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/fragrantherbgarden5.htm just one sample & there are hundreds. then hit books and stores - library maybe or search out 'herbs + zone 5' and go from there
I live in Central Texas, and we've had lots of success with cilantro (which will die off in early summer), rosemary, dill, thyme, Mediterranean oregano, basil, and chocolate mint. A few notes: rosemary bushes can last many years, dill will reseed itself every year if you don't disturb the area in grows in too much during the winter, oregano and thyme are winter hardy and are easy to manage, chocolate mint really isn't hard to control (we've had it confined to a small area for over 3 years now) and it comes back each year after going dormant, and your cilantro plants' seed can be ground to make coriander. I hope this helps.
Pick the herbs you will use most and plant those. You'll probably want rosemary, lavender, various mints, sage, and thyme. If you're into dying things, indigo, red cabbage (makes a robin's egg blue dye!) and saffron. Once you have your list of herbs, mark down which are perennials and which are annuals (in your neck of the woods, rosemary is an annual and lavender is too - they won't survive a cold winter). The perennials should have their own bed so they won't be disturbed by pulling out annuals around them. I like using raised beds for herbs - you can make them easily with wood and brackets from the hardware store or get kits to make professional looking ones. Mints should have their own individual pots or else they will take over your garden.
Perennial musts are a hardy English and or French lavender -- bloom spring to early summer. Echinacea grows tall with beautiful flowers that attract butterflies bees, humming birds and hummingbird moths -- bloooms mid-late summer. Bee-balm (available in shades or red or purple) is also tall with a magnificent scent and attracts butterflies, bees, and humming birds -- blooms early summer until last hard frost. Sage (perennial) is an herb garden essential -- it in itself makes a heavenly incense -- and in your climate you will just need to mulch it well or cover during the winter -- lovely spikey lavender-blue flowers in spring. Thyme comes in a variety of flower-colors and flavors, and I grow both regular and lemon thyme -- spring blooms, low bushy growing perennial. While mints can take over a garden, I do grow lemon mint which stays compact and doesn't get out of control. In the lemon family, don't forget lemon grass (great for cooking or just chewing on), it makes a great specimen and accent plant, growing tall and spikey, but in your neck of the woods is an annual. Oregano offers a smatter of purplish flowers, and is a low growing bushy plant great for filling in areas. Grow annual marigolds to attract beneficial bugs, fill, color, and as a substitute for saffron in cooking. Grow annual nasturtiums for fill and color and for adding to salads. Dill imparts a wonderful aroma in the garden and grows tall and frothy...just be careful with dill as it can overpower some of the other wonderful aromas in the garden and it seeds itself readily. Think about some rhubarb -- the flowers (if you choose to let them bloom) are very, very odd and interesting...but you get rhubarb from early summer to early frost, with some interesting large leaves. Chamomile is an easy to grow annual with low, bright green foliage and adorable little daisy-like flowers from early summer to late frost. Fill in little spots with everbearing strawberries. Oh, and don't forget the new miracle sweetener, Stevia, which is an annual. While not an herb, get some hard asparagus plants for both food in spring and their wonderful frothy foliage in summer. Plan your garden so that you have a balance of bloom and color throughout the season. Generally, work from higher in the back to lower in the front, and allow room for growth (which is why filling in with marigolds, strawberries, other flowers, and herbs is wise). Keep sweet scents together. Herbs to best in a raised bed environment for some reason (not to mention helps keep out nasty weeds). One of the simplest ways, I have found, is to shape my garden, lay down several layers of newspaper, then start laying dry and damp matter compost interspersed with shredded paper and peat moss. This will compost down as time progresses so you do need to keep filling it up with your grass clippings (dry and damp), leaves, and shredded paper, and peat. Get some good all-purpose top and potting soil and do your initial planting in that (plop down a blob or dig down a little if need be, plant seedling in it, cosy up your composting materials around it). Good luck, and you can't go wrong with those starters.