It is easy to create your own herb garden with a little planning and soil preparation. If you had your soil tested and amended with compost and fertilizer, you are ready to plant. Herbs are generally the leaves of plants
It is easy to create your own herb garden with a little planning and soil preparation.
If you had your soil tested and amended with compost and fertilizer, you are ready to plant. Herbs are generally the leaves of plants used to flavor foods. Spices are usually from the fruits, seeds, roots, flowers or bark.
Get to know the space requirements of the herbs you want to grow and whether they thrive in full sunlight or partial shade. Herbs can be planted wherever there is enough space, both width and height. They can be used as feature plants or as borders in the landscape, in between existing landscape plants or in pots. Some herbs are perennials like rosemary, while cilantro will flower, seed and die back in a couple of months and should be grown accordingly.
Many herbs can be grown from seeds while others like rosemary have poor seed germination so are best propagated from cuttings. Herbs such as green onions can be separated if they are the bunching type and the small bulb used as planting material. Look through the seed catalogs or visit the garden shops for a selection of seeds. Growing information can be found on the seed packets, in catalogs or on seed company websites.
Some herb seeds such as parsley may be difficult to germinate and need a little preparation first. Soak the seeds overnight in warm water then sow the seeds one-half inch deep directly in the soil or in pots. Herbs such as mint can be propagated by cuttings. Remove the leaves from the bottom one third of the cutting and make sure you have a couple of nodes without any leaves. The nodes are the stem sections where the leaves were attached, and stick the bottom end of the cutting in the soil or potting mix. When making rosemary cuttings, select the older woody stems, remove the bottom leaves and dip the bottom one inch of the stem in rooting hormone powder. Shake off the excess hormone and stick the cutting in a small pot with potting mix. The roots should be seen at the bottom of the pot in about 3 weeks and the rooted cutting can be transplanted.
Green onions, chives, and garlic chives or Chinese chives are in the same family, Liliaceae, or lily family. Green onions and chives have long, rounded, hollow leaves, while garlic chives have long, flat, narrow leaves. All three can be propagated by separating the plants at the base and planting the individual bulbs or by seed. These herbs can be grown in full sun and will get about one to one and a half feet tall. Some green onion varieties have large leaves and get two feet tall or more. Green onion pests include the leek moth and onion thrips which leave characteristic white feeding scars on the leaves.
The common types of parsley include the curly leaf parsley sometimes called American parsley, and flat leaf parsley, often called Italian parsley that is popular in Europe. When seedlings are 2 inches high, the plants should be thinned out to 8 to 10 inches apart. Parsley plants grow to about one to one and a half feet tall and will usually live for two years in Hawai‘i. Cutting the outer leaves will help keep the plant productive.
Cilantro is called Chinese parsley when the leaves are used, and coriander when the seeds are used. The seeds are ground and used in curries. The plants are delicate and best direct seeded in the ground as they are often damaged when transplanted. The plants grow about 1 to 2 feet tall, flower and seed, then die back. The seeds that fall to the ground often germinate and produce new seedlings. For a continuous supply of cilantro, sow seeds every two to three weeks depending on how much you use. Remember to soak the seeds overnight in warm water before planting.
Other common herbs include basil, sage, thyme, dill and oregano. The Kaua‘i Master Gardeners will be at the Farm Fair at the end of August and will have herb seedlings for sale to help fund their education programs. Stop by to ask them about growing your own herb garden and pick up a few herb seedlings all ready to plant. It is a good idea to include your children in the planting as they like to smell the different herbs and will enjoy watching the herbs they planted themselves be used in the family kitchen.
• Richard Ebesu is the associate extension agent on Kaua‘i for the University of Hawai‘i college of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. He can be reached at 274-3475 or rebesu@hawaii.edu.
