Herbs

Welcome to the herbs section of Backyard organic gardening.

The information contained in the herb section stems from my own experience as a gardener in Hobart, Tasmania's capital.

In my opinion, herbs are an essential part of a healthy organic garden. They attract some insects and discourage others, they provide flavour and nourishment in our diet, and of course they're well known for their healing properties.

Most of the well known herbs are easy to grow and to propagate. The main requirement for them generally, is well drained soil. Propagation is usually by cuttings but many will also grow from seed. Most cuttings should be taken during the milder periods of spring or autumn, when extreme temperatures are either finished or impending.

Some are useful annuals and biennials, grown in the same way as vegetables. Others are perennials, which become a permanent feature in the backyard.

I'll only talk about the ones I regularly grow and utilise myself. That means of course that this section of the web site will grow as I experiment with different kinds of herbs. I have however created a table, using a number of different sources of information, to indicate growth habits and propogation methods for many other kinds of herbs. I hope you find this table accurate and useful.

Click on one of the links above for some easy to follow, practical advice about growing herbs in your own backyard.