In my part of the world (central England) February is often a dismal month of cold, damp mists and the days still short. However, the herb gardener can brighten up the season with thoughts of what is to come.

If you’ve not already done so in January, plan what you’re going to grow this year and order your herb seeds now. (Click on the above link to find recommended online sources in both England and North America).

Out of doors, when the weather is kind, you can be preparing the soil. If you’re changing the use of an area you may have to do some energetic digging. Removal of weeds, especially those awkward perennials with underground stems and widespread roots, can be time consuming but in the long run the effort will be repaid.

Double digging will improve drainage, and while you’re doing this you can mix in some sharp sand or grit if necessary. Depending on what you are planning to grow you might also wish to add some garden compost or manure to enrich the soil, although many herbs are perfectly happy in poor soils.

Continue also with any construction projects started in January - or start them if they never passed the thinking stage! How about making some window boxes in which to combine herbs for the kitchen and flowers for decoration?

Toward the end of the month, if you live in an area where severe future cold is unlikely, you can start to divide clumps of perennial herbs that have grown too big and need some rejuvenation. In the greenhouse you can be commencing the sowing season, and also rooting some early cuttings.

Tags: February, garden calendar, gardening, growing herbs, herb garden, herb seeds

In the northern hemisphere January is a time of preparation for a new herb gardening year.  Depending on the weather, a certain amount of tidying and general maintenance can be done, but most work will be done indoors.

Some herbs such as parsley, chives and mint may have been potted up in the autumn for growing in an indoor herb garden, possibly on the kitchen windowsill, and hopefully you’ll have a plentiful supply.   Others such as sage, rosemary and thyme can be picked outdoors fresh for the kitchen even in the January cold.

If you’re intending to start a new herb garden in the coming year now is the time to work on the detailed plans.  Start by  measuring out the plot.  Calculate what materials you’ll need, such as timber or other edging for your beds, and chippings for your paths.

Order your herb seeds in January so as to be well prepared for the sowing season.  It won’t be long before you’ll be sowing the first of the annuals in the greenhouse, in a table-top propagator or in a warm place near the kitchen window.

If you are planning an outdoor herb garden in containers such as terracotta pots you might later want to arrange these on a wooden shelf structure.  This can be especially helpful to reduce the floor space used (for example in a patio herb garden) or to raise them to more accessible heights.  January is an ideal time for this kind of small-scale construction work as it can be carried out indoors.

Tags: garden calendar, gardening, growing herbs, herb garden, herb seeds, herbs, January

As we build this new site we want not only to provided useful information about herbs themselves, but also to recommend sources of supply.

We ourselves are based in the UK, but experience from our other sites tells us that the majority of our readers tend to be in the USA.  In order to give good help to as many people as possible we’ll be trying to provide recommendations to online sources of seeds, plants, books and equipment on both sides of the Atlantic.

Our initial recommendations are as follows.

Herb seed suppliers in the UK:

• Thompson & Morgan
• Dobies

Herb seed suppliers in the USA:

• Nature Hills Nursery

We’ll add more as time goes on.  For further details on some of these suppliers see the Site Resources index toward the top of the right hand column of this page.

Tags: herb seeds, herbs