How to Grow Herbs At Home For an Effortless Herb Garden

Herbs are some of my favorite crops to grow at home! Not only do they add fragrance and beauty, but they also act as natural pest prevention, are low-maintenance, and are nutritional powerhouses.

But I have heard from some of you that you are struggling to grow herbs. That’s why I’m sharing my growing secrets-so you can master herb growing, too! 

Whether you are intercropping herbs around vegetables, growing in herbs pots, planting a pollinator garden, using herb seeds in homemade seed bombs, or starting an indoor herb garden, let me clear up some common misconceptions about what they need. Use this guide to learn how to grow herbs easily and the three most effortless herbs for beginners. 

Let’s go!

It’s About Thyme

"Herbs" specifically refers to plants whose leafy parts are used to flavor food, while "spices" are seasonings derived from any other part of a plant. If you aren’t growing herbs in your vegetable garden, it's about thyme you start! 

Herbs and spices are the most expensive crops per pound, yet among the most straightforward to grow. To help you be successful from the start, I’ve also created variety specific herb growing guides, such as How to Grow Basil, How to Grow Lavender, How to Grow Catnip, and How to Grow Borage.

Must-Grow Varieties of Herbs

To be fair, some herbs can be challenging to grow, depending on which varieties you choose. But other herbs are basically foolproof; you throw them in the soil, barely take care of them, and they love you for it!

I want to tell you about three herbs you should absolutely add to your garden. If you’re a beginning gardener, rest assured that these herbs are very easy to grow. And if you’re more advanced, you may have grown these already, but you might want to consider adding more because of their benefits and how easy they are to grow. 

The three herbs I suggest starting with are lemongrass, basil, and chives.

• Lemongrass - Growing lemongrass could not be easier! It is an annual here in Michigan, but it is a perennial in growing zones 9, 10, 11, and 12. It grows very fast and is not picky about soil. Just give it plenty of nitrogen.

• Chives - Chives are truly a set-and-forget herb. Just throw chive seeds on the soil, don’t bury them, don’t even plant them! I usually grow them in containers because they tend to spread.

• Basil - There are so many different varieties of basil, and they’re unbelievably simple to grow! Plant basil in soil that is well-draining and don’t overwater it because it will suffer from root rot. The only special care it requires is pruning. To learn how to prune basil, read my complete growing guide on how to grow basil. 

How to Grow Herbs

1. Sunlight - Most herbs need at least 6 hours of direct sunlight. Check the back of the seed packet or plant tag for each herb variety’s specific needs.

2. Amend Soil - When planting herbs, use well-draining soil. Almost all herbs, with the exception of just a couple, do not like to have wet feet. I use a mixture of native soil and compost to create a mix that drains well but holds onto the right amount of moisture. It’s better to amend the soil with compost when planting than to regret it later.

3. Planting Depth - Plant herb seedlings at the original soil level. 

4. Fertilizing - Focus on nitrogen when growing all herbs! You grow herbs for their leaves, whether its fennel, lemongrass, parsley, basil, mint, rosemary, sage, or oregano. Nitrogen aids in their leaf development so I recommend using a balanced fertilizer with plenty of nitrogen, like Trifecta+.

5. Watering - Some herbs like more water than others, so I like to group plants together based on their watering needs. For example, rosemary, sage, basil, thyme, oregano, and lavender are all semi-arid-loving Mediterranean herbs that do not like to be overwatered. You can plant these herbs together, but don’t plant any of them next to something that needs a lot of water!

6. Remove Flowers - Flowering herbs are very beautiful, aromatic, and attract a lot of pollinators, but unfortunately, you can’t let them flower and still grow them for herbs. If you let herbs fully flower, just know that they will go to seed and their lifespan will end very soon after. Removing flowers will cause the plant to grow more herbaceous leafy growth and prevent seeds from spreading throughout your garden.

Herbs to Be Cautious About Planting

I don’t hear enough gardeners saying, "Be careful about which herbs you are planting." There are herbs that are very beneficial and fun to have in a garden, but they are invasive! 

• Fennel is one. Fennel will quite literally drop thousands of seeds, and you may have thousands of seedlings to pick out of your garden the next year. If you plant fennel, make sure you cut back the flower stalks BEFORE they go to seed! 

• Dill is another that can become a nuisance because it grows incredibly fast, drops a lot of seed, and can take over (there’s a reason it is called dill weed!). I’ve had so many rogue dill seedlings spread to every bed in the garden by the wind. 

• Chives are very easy to grow, but like fennel and dill, you have to remember to cut back those flowers before they go to seed to avoid it taking over your garden space.

• Mint is next on the list. Mint can spread so fast, and any tiny bit of stem that touches the soil for long can regrow. Mint will completely take over a garden space, outcompeting and choking out your other plants. I don’t think mint should be planted in a garden! Keep it isolated in containers, or you'll regret it.

I have seen a prevalent misconception on the internet that you can plant an invasive plant like mint or horseradish in your garden as long as you bury it in its container. It’s just not true! 

I even tried it with mint. It grew up and trailed over and set down roots everywhere. Seven years later, I am still fighting it and pulling it up, but it just keeps coming back!

Harvesting Herbs

Harvest herbs by using trimming shears or micro-tip snips to remove the leaves. Enjoy them fresh or learn how to dry herbs to preserve them and store them. 

One last caution: some herbs, especially medicinal herbs, have many lookalikes! There are many herbs with very similar leaf patterns that are easily mistaken for those that cause nasty health problems. 

There are numerous articles about gardeners mistakenly eating wild carrot for Queen Anne’s Lace, who ended up forever sleeping. I’m not trying to scare you, but I really want to caution you to stick to harvesting herbs that you are confident in identifying. 

I hope you are convinced to start growing herbs. Bay-leaf me, they are very multi-purpose and beneficial!