How to Plant the Perfect Herb Garden

When it’s warm outside, my family and I spend a lot of time on our roof, which has a grill, a pizza oven, and many planter boxes that I refresh every year with colorful blooms and herbs. This year, my Mother’s Day gift to myself was sprucing up my herb garden, so my family can enjoy delicious, homegrown herbs and a lush rooftop garden together on warm summer nights.

Fresh herbs add incredible flavor to any dish you make with them. Whether you keep chives on hand as a garnish or pack as many nutrient-dense herbs into salad dressings as I do, there’s no such thing as too many delicious herbs, especially during summer months. Fresh herbs are brighter, bolder, and it makes me feel better knowing exactly when and how they were grown. Here are a few of my tips to create a flourishing herb garden you’ll love this summer!

If you’ve planted herbs before, you likely already have a space for it in your mind. Every year, I change what I plant a little based on what I learned the year before, considering the amount of light each area gets, the height of the plants, and what I used the most the year before. Most herbs require full or partial sunlight to thrive (it will say on the tag when you buy it).

This is when you could map out your garden if you want to (I’m sure my husband would love me to), but I work much better by just diving in. Based on what meals I typically cook, this year I decided to grow flat-leaf and curly parsley, Greek and Italian oregano, basil, cilantro, dill, mint, rosemary, and chives. In addition to the herbs, I wanted to get new flowers to add color to the roof around our table. Even if you don’t want to draw it, I like to place all of the new plants from the store in my planters while they’re still in the nursery containers to make sure the taller plants don’t block sunlight and I like the way it looks before digging in.

Tip: Plan to plant mint in a separate container. It’s a bully and will take up your entire planter if you add it to the same container as your other herbs.

Most soils nourish plants for six months or so, and I like to use Fish Fertilizer as well to give my plants extra nutrients. My dad always taught me to aerate the soil with either a garden rake or even a fork, which I do occasionally when watering them. These tips and the right conditions should keep your herbs fresh through the fall!

I’ve really been wanting to get into herb drying, so I also picked up this Herb Drying Rack to use especially with oregano. I use oregano much more dried than I do fresh, so I’m excited this year to play around with it fresh and dry, especially once it starts to get cold again. Dried herbs make the perfect gift, too!