Starting a Herb Garden

Starting an Herb Garden

Better To Try And Fail Than Never To Try At All

.... quoted who? Oh, it's from a famous poem by William F. O'Brien;  I knew I heard of it somewhere.

I woke up this morning feeling like this was a good motto to start with.  I've been talking for a while about starting an herb garden. And when I say while,  I mean years!  Like, I've got this procrastination thing figured out! 

So anyway, today is the day I will start my herb garden.  First step, planting the seeds!   I've got the seeds, containers, some soil, water, sun...I mean what else could a girl ask for? 

So without any research,  I just jumped in. I stopped at the Dollar General on my way home from taking the kids to school this morning,  picked up 2 small bags of starter soil and 2 baking pans, just in case I needed some additional supplies,  then headed home. 

Supplies I used....

• Seeds
• Starter Flats
• Baking Pans
• Spoon
• Plastic container for mixing
• Plate to open seeds over, so I don't lose any
• Potting Mix
• Starting Mix
• Plastic wrap
• A pen

So I pulled out my work space, which happened to be the tailgate on my pick-up truck.  

I poured into my mixing container a bag of the starting mix, and then about a quarter of a bag of my potting mix.  I mixed those together using a large cooking spoon.  Once well mixed, I dumped the soil into the starter flats (or whatever they are technically called...remember, I just started without any research.)  I filled the containers to about 2 inches thick, loose packed.  I ended up taking the separating type baskets within the flats out to mark where I wanted to plant the seeds.  I flipped them over on top of the soil and lightly pressed into the top of the soil to lay out the grid.

Once I could see the grid, I used a pen cap to poke holes into the center of the grid squares.  I pressed approximately 1/4 inch from the surface.

After I got the holes punched, I carefully opened my seed packs, one at a time.  Dumped some seeds in my hands and then pinched a couple seeds into each of the holes.  Covering as I went so that I didn't lose track of the holes I already added seeds to.  I must say, that I didn't start with that process and because of possible over seeding, I am curious to see what they look like once they start sprouting...I am suspecting that I may be growing some herbal bushes 😄.

This year, the herbs I decided to start with were: Sweet Basil, Cilantro, Parsley, Dill, Chives, Garlic Chives, Lavender, Thyme, Rosemary, Sage, and Lemon Balm.

When I completed filling all the holes I realized I didn't have anything to label what was in each row, and I knew my memory wasn't good enough to remember the exact sowing order of each herb in each container 2-3 weeks from now.  So I ran into the house and found some old canning lids, and decided to just jot down the herbs in order on the top and stuck them in the head of the container.  That should jog my memory when the time comes to re-pot the seedlings.

I tried to put the container lids on top of the flats but realized they were not the right size, so I hoped that just sitting them on top would do the trick.  I moved the flats to a table in my side yard, next to the chicken run.  I figured it would be a nice, sunny spot to work its magic.  I watered the seeds, put the tops back on and I was done...at least for now!  

Let's see if anything becomes of my endeavors this morning.  That would lead to the next installment of the start of my herb garden.  I am excited to see if this goes anywhere.  

 

Feel free to give any suggestions on what I could have done differently.  If I ever intend to be a decent homesteader, I need to be able to learn from others advice and successes.