Using Herb Seeds to Start a Garden

Does it seem as if they always have the same few herb plant varieties in your local plant nursery? If you are tired of seeing the same old parsley, sage, and chive plants, you may want to consider growing your own plants from herb seeds. If you grow plants from herb seeds, you can find almost every type of herb in existence in seed catalogs.

Although the thought of using herb seeds to grow your own plants may sound a bit too difficult, most of these seeds are actually fairly easy to grow. In fact, some seeds, such as Echinacea, feverfew, and parsley are almost foolproof. You should be able to sow these seeds and the seeds of other easy to grow herbs right into the garden soil. Of course, some seeds do require a bit more effort. You may need to start chamomile, fennel, and sage indoors in seed flats to get them to sprout successfully.

Once your herb seeds arrive, it is time to start planting the seeds, right? Actually, you should gather a few supplies first. No matter how good your memory is, it’s pretty easy to mix up unlabeled rows of seeds or, even worse, forget that you already planted seeds in a spot and replant that same spot with other seeds. Plant labels help you keep track of which herbs you plant where. Of course, a quick garden sketch that shows the location of each type of herb is also a good idea, since no matter how elaborate plant tags are, a squirrel or stray cat is sure to carry a few of them off to play with.

Once you have all of your supplies, you can begin planting your herb seeds. Just be sure that you read the planting instructions on each packet to be sure you plant the seeds at the right time of year and that you use the proper planting depth. If the packet doesn’t tell you how deep to plant the seeds, let their size be your guide. Plant seeds should be placed at a depth that is about three times their size. Some of the tiniest seeds actually sit right on the soil’s surface to germinate.

When the herb seeds are planted, you should water them carefully, using a watering can with a fine rose, which means that the can pours water onto plants very slowly and gently. This allows the seeds to settle in and start growing without being washed away by a forceful stream of water.