Herb Gardening for Beginners: How to Get Started

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When it comes to herb gardening for beginners, it’s easy to end up in the weeds. After all, there are countless articles on specific herbs and their medicinal properties. Some of these might even include a few growing tips. But what if you have no idea which herbs you should try to grow—let alone know how to grow them? We’ve got you! This quick-start guide on herb gardening for beginners includes suggested plants, notes on site selection, spacing your plants, harvesting fresh herbs, and more, so you’ll be able to plan and plant an herb garden tailored to you.

Why grow your own herbs?

In thinking about herb gardening for beginners, it’s important to consider the specific reasons you might like to grow your own herbs.

Here are some of the most common reasons many beginners dive in:

Health benefits: Containing vitamins, antioxidants, and sundry volatile chemical compounds, herbs have been used to fight everything from depression and anxiety to insomnia, indigestion, inflammation, and beyond. By growing herbs to be used in your own medicinal tinctures and teas, you can be more certain about their safety and quality. (For instance, you can choose to grow them organically to avoid ingesting any pesticide residues.)
Culinary uses: With their wide range of flavors and aromas, fresh herbs, like rosemary, sage, tarragon, and thyme, can absolutely transform your usual chicken and vegetables, as well as sauces, soups, and stews.
Attracting pollinators and beneficial insects: Herbs with clusters of tiny flowers are irresistible to many bees and butterflies. (In fact, parsley, dill, fennel, and some of their relatives play host to black swallowtail butterflies.)

a variety of herbs ready to be planted — You may plant herbs for culinary uses, but they’re also quite ornamental. Here, mint, purple basil, French tarragon, lemon chives, and parsley are ready to be planted in containers and the garden.

The basics of herb gardening for beginners

The flowering bedding plants we choose to grow in our gardens may be annuals, biennials, perennials, or a mix of all three. Similarly, there are annual herbs, biennial herbs, and perennial herbs.

Because it can’t survive frost, basil is largely considered an annual. (Still, in some warmer climates, it may be a “tender” perennial.) And, for their part, lavender, lemon balm, and oregano are all perennial herbs.

One example of a biennial herb is parsley. (In its first year, parsley grows only leaves. In its second year, parsley develops flowers and seeds, thereby completing its lifecycle.)

basil and alyssum in a vegetable garden — Understanding what each herb needs in the garden is helpful. Basil likes warm temperatures, so it’s not planted until other heat lovers, like tomatoes, melons, and cucumbers, are planted in the garden.

With all of this in mind, you can plant annual and even biennial herbs without feeling too strongly committed to their location. However, if you plan to grow perennial herbs—especially aggressive spreaders like catnip or mint—understand that they will come back in that garden spot year after year. Those are best grown in pots

Finding the right site

Regarding herb gardening for beginners, locating the right site is always critical to success. As a general rule, most herbs need full sun to really thrive. (There are some herbs, such as cilantro and chives, that will tolerate partial shade.) A spot that gets a good five or six hours of sunlight each day is ideal for most herbs.

If need be, you can also grow herbs in pots under a grow light or placed on a sunny windowsill.

dill seedlings — In areas of the garden where certain herbs have done well, I’ll let them go to seed. The following year (or later in the season), I’ll have fresh plants without having to sow more seeds. I do this with cilantro and dill. It makes for a bit of a messy garden, but it’s so worth it!

What kind of soil is best for herb gardening for beginners?

Aside from site selection, soil preparation is also a crucial step in herb gardening for beginners. If you plan to grow herbs in containers, you should make sure your containers include an adequate number of drainage holes, since most herbs won’t tolerate overly “wet feet.”

Herbs prefer light, well-draining soil. Want to establish a new garden bed of perennial herbs? Check the makeup of the soil and amend with humus or well-rotted compost if it is too heavy or slow to drain. (And, for those establishing herbs in containers, plant in a lightweight potting soil.)

The best plants to include in a beginner herb garden

Versatile and easy to grow, here are some great choices for beginner herb gardeners:

Bees and butterflies: Attract much-needed pollinators with borage, fennel, and dill.
Tea time: Used individually or mixed, catnip, chamomile, and mint make tasty and relaxing teas.
Kitchen staples: Here are just a few examples of using herbs for cooking. Basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme are clear choices for pestos, sauces, and seasoning meats. Cilantro shines in fresh salsas, to garnish tacos, and in flavored rice. Cultivate chives for baked potatoes, salads, and homemade dressings.

a bouquet of chamomile flowers — I love drying various herbs that I steep into cups of tea. The dried leaves are stored in airtight glass jars. And I get the seeds from William Dam Seeds, my local seed supplier.

Choosing how close to plant herbs together

Because overcrowded plants are more susceptible to disease, thoughtful spacing of the plants you choose is another important aspect of herb gardening for beginners. Let’s say you purchase large bedding plants from your local nursery. In that case, you’ll want to position them according to each plant’s final, mature size. (Mature basil and borage, for example, should be spaced about a foot apart. Parsley, sage, oregano, marjoram, and thyme all need to be spaced at least two feet apart.)

If, on the other hand, you intend to direct-sow seeds in the garden, you’ll need to thin out any extra seedlings gradually as they develop. Ultimately, you should doublecheck your herbs’ nursery labels or seed packets for mature spacing guidelines.

sage is a great recommendation for herb gardening for beginners because in many places it's perennial — I love perennial herbs because I don’t have to worry about starting them for seed or finding them at the nursery each year. This sage plant has been in a side garden for almost 10 years.

Plant care advice for your new herb garden

For best results with most herbs, you should water them deeply, but not too frequently. Because they are more susceptible to root rot, herbs like rosemary and lavender, in particular, need time to dry out between watering sessions. (Don’t be afraid to poke around in the top couple of inches of soil to help you decide whether or not it’s time to water.)

Also, mulching around your newly planted herbs will help reduce the need to weed between them.

When and how to harvest your herbs

The concentration of volatile chemical compounds in your herbs is strongest once plants have just begun to put on their flower buds. (These compounds are what give herbs their characteristic flavors, scents, and, where applicable, their medicinal properties, too.) As a result, you’ll want to harvest herbs during this pre-flowering stage when they’re at their most potent.

parsley in a container with ornamental plants — Even when I plant herbs in containers as an ornamental, I still harvest them regularly.

Whether you wish to harvest fresh herbs to eat raw in salads or you intend to cook with them, herbs are a great cut-and-come-again crop. When harvesting perennial and biennial herbs, you can safely snip up to one-third of the length of each stem, and, for annuals, you can get away with cutting a little bit more.

More tips for herb gardening for beginners

Beyond site selection, watering, and other basics, here are some extra tips around herb gardening for beginners:

Fertilizing: Most herbs get all they need from your soil. If you do choose to fertilize, avoid nitrogen-heavy products.
Pest patrol: Although aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, slugs, and snails occasionally snack on herbs, nearby beneficial bugs usually can keep pest damage in check. Periodically hand-pick as needed.
Mint condition: Keep aggressive spreaders, like lemon balm, mint, and catnip, confined to pots.

Dig in!

Now that you’ve been through our guide to herb gardening for beginners, you should be able to choose a suitable garden planting site for your annual, biennial, or perennial herbs. Remember that five to six hours of full sun and light, well-draining soil are best. (Also, if you’re establishing perennial herbs, you’d better like where you put them, since they’ll return each year.)

Also, while herbs don’t need much in the way of fertilizer, they do need a deep drink of water occasionally. Let herbs dry out between watering sessions, and, once their soil feels dry, water away. This method promotes healthier, deeper root development, so you’ll have more robust rosemary, bigger basil, more magnificent marjoram… you get the idea!