Organic Gardening in Central Oregon

Chapter Four - Herbs

The variety and versatility of herbs make them interesting landscaping material. Whole landscapes can be formed with herbal plants; a few tucked in with the vegetables; a couple in flower pots, or even forming special little gardens of their own.

The history of gardening with herbs is long and varied. Indeed, herbs were not grown for interest as we do today, but were grown out of necessity. These plants were used in everyday life. They are plants that were carefully brought to America by early settlers from all over the world, many of these naturalizing and becoming some of today's common weeds.

Herbs are often grown in theme gardens. Some of the more common themes used are culinary, medicinal, tea, aromatic and bee attracting. They even get as exotic as Shakespearian and biblical types. One particularly interesting effect is the silver or moonlight garden of Elizabethan origin, which is planted with just silver or gray colored herbs.

Another interesting historical form is the knot garden. It is an ornamental European garden form which achieved its high point in the sixteenth century. The idea is to arrange texture and colors of foliage in a manner that produces the appearance of cords looping over and under one another. This is a very work intensive garden to maintain, as everything must be pruned and sheared regularly.

Colonial gardens are interesting to recreate. They are often dooryard gardens, and are planted with the same plants the early settlers would have grown. This can include vegetables and fruits as well as a variety of herbs.

Herb gardens may be either formal or informal plots. For the formal garden, symmetry and perfect balance are essential. Elements of equal size and weight balance each other, and they must be neat, trimmed and precise.

The informal garden is casual in effect, but it must be carefully ordered and planned. It must bring into mutual relationship the various characteristics of the garden situation. This does not imply a naturalistic handling of the materials in the sense of unkept wilderness or jungle conditions.

Cultivation

Useful for every situation, there are herbs for sun, shade, dry or moist conditions. Herbs come in many forms: ground covers, shrubs, vines and hedges. Whatever your needs or habitat--there are herbs you can grow.

Herbs take particularly well to organic methods. Heavy fertilization and quick growth fertilizers make a lush, watery plant. Essential oils for which most of the plants are grown, are stronger in plants that grow slowly in a less fertile soil. This does not mean a poor, unfertilized soil, as many books indicate, but a moderately fertile soil. The ideal fertilizers being manure and compost.

The most universal requirement is good drainage. To check your drainage, dig a hole 18 inches deep and wide, fill it with water; if it still has water in it an hour later, your drainage is poor. This can be caused by underlying rock hardpan or a high water table. Adding organic matter to your soil will improve its water holding capacity and drainage. Another solutions can be to use raised beds.

The majority of herbs prefer full sun, but there are also many herbs for shady conditions. The following tables will help you plan your garden.

Propagation

Since we are discussing such a wide range of plants, the ease of progagation has a wide range; from the ridiculously easy to extremely challenging. The majority of common herbs are fairly easy to propagate. Most can be grown from seed, some being seeded outdoors and some indoors. A plant should be obtained for some herbs as they either do not set seed or do not come true to the mother plant. These include tarragon, sorrel, comfrey and the mints.

Most seed is planted in the spring. The exceptions to this are sweet cicely, sweet woodruff and angelica, these should be planted in the fall to germinate in the spring.

The following table indicates plants that are most easily grown from seed. A name in italics indicates which plants should be sown indoors and then set outside after the danger of frost is past.

Stem cuttings taken spring and early summer are the best method of propagation for other plants. Use of a rooting horomone, such as Rootone, will increase your success. The following tables indicates plants that root easily, all are perennials.

Division is a good way to increase your plants. It is recommended that the majority of perennials be divided every three years. Some herbs are rampant growers and will need to be dug more frequently to keep them within the bound of your garden.