Grow your own organic herbs (it’s super-easy!)
Growing your own organic herbs is a nice idea, especially as most storebought herbs are expensive, and sold in plastic packaging. Fresh herbs always taste nice, especilaly for French or Italian food. Fresh basil for spaghetti or a sprig of mint for a tisane. It doesn’t get much better!
Read 100 Herbs to Grow by England’s herb-growing expert Jekka McVicar. It includes herbs that are easy to grow, taste great and have culinary and medicinal properties.
Many herbs (borage, parsley, Pennyroyal mint etc) are unsafe near animals. Learn about pet-friendly gardens and use nontoxic humane slug and snail deterrents.
If growing indoors, avoid facing plants to gardens, to help stop birds flying into windows.
Tips for organic herb gardens
- Most herbs need 6 to 8 hours of sun each day (parsley prefers a little shade). Good organic peat-free soil is important, so grow in pots or raised beds if you have poor soil.
- Avoid standing water, or herbs will rot.
- Regular pruning encourages more robust herbs, so pinch the tips off regularly. Aphids love herbs, so encourage ladybirds to your garden (they eat them).
Grow your own scented lavender
A kind of flowery herb, lavender gardens are lovely for us and pollinators. Bees and butterflies love the scent and its vital nectar. The dense foliage also offers protection in harsh weather.
Don’t encourage bees if you live with pets, and if using the oil, avoid aromatherapy near babies or pets (air rooms before letting them back in – cats in particular can’t break the oils down in their livers).
If encouraging bees and butterflies, place flat stones in a shallow water bowl, so they have a safe place to land and drink, without drowning.
Lavender blooms from June to September, and is fairly drought tolerant, so grows well in sunny dry conditions.
Tamar Organics sells good organic lavender. Only pick a third of the stems from each plant, so the rest keeps the bees and butterflies happy!
