If your new herb garden site is part of an existing border or vegetable plot, the initial preparation is relatively easy.
Mark out the site carefully.
Next, the site will need weeding to remove long-term or perennial weeds such as dock, dandelion and thistle. They have long tap roots and also seed themselves freely each year. Other perennials such as bindweed, couch grass and creeping buttercup with underground stems or runners, are difficult to remove completely, as they regrow from small pieces of root.
Loosen individual dock, thistle and dandelion plants with a fork and work at them until you have removed as much as possible of their tap root. Similarly, loosen the soil and dig out weeds with creeping stems.
Fork over the soil and check that you have removed all visible pieces of their creeping root systems.
Seedlings of short-term annual weeds such as chickweed and hairy bittercress are easier to remove, but they must be tackled before they flower – which begins very early in spring – and self sow. Use a hoe to chop the leaves away from their roots. The leaves and stems can then be forked into the soil, where they will eventually decay and increase its fertility.
If the soil has been used regularly to grow vegetables or flowers, it will need enriching with well-rotted home-made or proprietary compost to replenish lost goodness. Dig this in, then fork the area over to break the newly-exposed soil down into a crumblier texture.
Once the site is weed free, you will be able to transplant herbs that are overcrowded or whose position you wish to alter.
CUTTING A NEW HERB GARDEN FROM A TURFED AREA
If the new site is to be cut out of the lawn, mark out its shape, but wait until after the last snow or frost before clearing the turf and preparing the ground.
Use garden twine and wooden pegs to mark out the first side of a rectangular bed.
Then measure the second, third and fourth sides, using a set square or builder’s square to make perfect right angles where each side meets.
Lay a straight-edged batten on the ground to act as a cutting guide. If you have an alternative use for the turf, use an edging tool to mark it into even sections to a depth of 5cm (2in).
Then use a spade to lift each section and remove it carefully. Store in shade and re-lay it into a new site within 24 hours, before it dries out.
If you don’t wish to re-use the turf elsewhere, you can incorporate it into the new herb site. Before you begin, remove any perennial weeds such as dock, thistle and dandelion.
Double digging
Make a trench to one spade’s depth at one end of the marked out herb bed.
Put the soil and turf from this first trench into a wheelbarrow and keep it aside to add to the last trench you dig.
Fork over the trench to another spade’s depth, add manure and work it into the soil.
Work across the site, moving backwards. Remove turf and soil, turning turf over so that the grass is face downwards, and replace it in the first trench.
DOUBLE DIGGING
Double digging improves drainage, exposes deeply embedded weeds and eases incorporation of compost
Continue in this way, replacing soil and turf in the last trench dug, until you have a trench left at the other end. Then add the turf and soil from the wheelbarrow.
Enriching the soil
Although herbs generally do well in poor soils, if your herbs are likely to be cut frequently for use it is well worth adding fertiliser or compost to ground that is earmarked for spring sowing and planting. Lightly fork it in and let the ground settle before you finally rake it to make a level surface.
Start a herb compost heap, so that by autumn you will be able to use your own homegrown organic matter to enrich the soil and improve its structure and drainage.
STARTING A COMPOST HEAP
Fence off an area 60 × 60cm (24 × 24in) in a sheltered part of the garden, using four posts and fine-mesh wire netting.
Construct it so that the front piece of netting can be opened like a door.
Dig out the topsoil of the enclosed area and keep it to one side. Line the base with twigs or branches to allow circulation of air underneath your heap.
During the year, add layers of disease-free garden and kitchen vegetable waste to the heap.
Build the heap up in layers about 15cm (6in) deep. Between each layer add a thin layer of the topsoil you removed from the base.
alt=""/> Make early seed sowings
