Developing Perfect Garden Soil for Herbs

When looking to grow herbs, one of the most important elements is the garden soil you will be using. Not enough can be said about preparing a bed in order to plant a successful garden. This is just as important whether you are starting your first herb garden, or preparing your existing garden for the spring and summer to come. This is dedicated to the growing of herbs outdoors. I will get into pot gardening in a later blog post. Stay tuned for that. In order to make things easier, this post is separated into a section on preparing a new bed and a section on preparing existing beds. Follow these instructions and you will be ready to get started with your herb garden come spring time.

Preparing a New Bed

 The first thing needed when preparing a new bed is to completely eliminate weed seed from the garden soil. This is important so you will not have to be weeding your garden right after planting when it can disrupt the ability of your herbs to create proper root structures. The process to get rid of weeds does not have to include a lot of weed killer. This will develop a bed which is wrought with chemicals. The herbs you grow will have reminisces of the chemicals left in them. Since this is unnecessary, there is no need to even go this route.

Consider the soil you have before getting started. If you have a hardy soil, attack it right after an early winter rain. Use a shovel to dig deeply. Remove any weeds you see right away and dispose of them properly to protect the rest of your garden. If you have light soil, you will do better to wait until the early spring in order to do the same thing. After digging up the soil, cover the entire area with a 400 grade black plastic sheet. This will prevent light from getting to any weed seeds which persist. Make sure to cover for at least one month before planting.

Preparing an Existing BedThe best time to remove weeds from existing garden soil for herbs is during spring. You will do best to wait until the weather has warmed up a little bit. This will make it easier to remove the weeds without disturbing your herbs too much. This is also a good time to check the nutrient content of your soil. While herb plants prefer a low nutrient soil, there still needs to be some nutrients available. A good idea to get your soil tested is to take it in to your local nursery.

Once your garden is free of weeds you can see, cover the soil bed in order to prevent seeds from growing. This is easily accomplished with mulch. Over this, apply a barrier to keep even more weeds from growing. This can consist of a permeable plastic film, gravel, coconut coir, cocoa shells or leaf mold. No matter what you use, make sure you leave room around the stem in order for the root system to be able to breathe. Once the garden soil is properly prepared, you will develop a much better harvest.