Herb Gardens-Prepping the Soil Prior to Planting
Before beginning your herb garden, it is important to properly prepare the soil. Prepping the soil will produce the ideal environment for your herbs, helping them to grow and be healthy. Depending on the particular types of herbs you wish to plant, and the area in which you live, you may have your work cut out for you. Most experts say that the best soil compilation for herb gardens is a mixture of clay, silt, and sand. In general, you will want equal parts silt and sand, with a little clay mixed in. To check the consistency, press the soil in your palm. If it is really crumbly and doesn't stay compact, you probably have too much sand in the mix. If it forms into a hard ball that doesn't crumble at all, you likely have too much clay.
To be absolutely certain you have the ideal soil conditions for your new herb garden, perform the following test. Take a glass jar, and fill it about 1/3 of the way with water. Add a couple of cups of soil, put a lid on it, shake it up, and then wait for the soil to separate into layers. Your top layer will be clay, the middle silt, and the bottom will be sand. This will let you see the proportions of clay, silt, and sand, so you can tell what you need to add or take out to create the best soil for your herb garden.
After analyzing your soil, if it seems that you have too much sand or silt, all you have to do is add some compost, or peat moss. Add small amounts until you are satisfied. To compensate for having more clay than needed, you can add in a mix of sand and peat moss. If you still can't seem to get the right soil combination, head down to your local garden center. Take along your soil jar, and someone there should be able to help you.
You also need to think about how much water you have in your soil. This can depend a lot on the placement of your herb garden. If you choose a spot at the bottom of a hill, then odds are, you will have too much water, which could damage your herbs. If this is the only spot you have for your garden, you will need to come up with a drainage solution, or elevate your garden so that the water doesn't runoff the hill and flood out your herbs.
It is always a good idea to add some fertilizer to your soil, before planting anything. At least a week before you plan to plant your herbs, you should blend in some fertilizer on your garden space. Mix it with your soil, blending it well. After about a week, you should have the perfect soil for your new herb garden!
It may be a good idea to add fertilizer every few weeks, again, depending on the quality of the soil in your area. Your new herbs will need plenty of vitamins and minerals to help them grow, and adding fertilizer is a good way to ensure healthy soil, as long as you don't over-do it!
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