VERTICAL HERB GARDEN
- Kim Schmidtner
- Nov 13, 2014
- 2 min read
If I had to name the most important ingredient necessary for great cooking it's fresh herbs. The flavor of fresh herbs is so much bolder and brighter than dried herbs, not to mention more visually appealing. But, buying fresh herbs at the store can be quite expensive, as much as $2.50 a bunch. In addition, fresh herbs do not maintain their flavor for very long once harvested. The best thing is if you can grow your own herbs either in your garden or in containers to freshly snip on a daily basis for immediate use.
I enjoy using a wide variety of herbs, so finding enough space in the garden was a challenge. I only had one corner available. So, I tapped my engineering skills and designed a vertical herb garden and my hubby built it for me. I had seen other vertical gardens, but thought that they were too crowded or didn't provide enough soil space for healthy plants. My three-tier design provides sixteen planting spaces, each providing half a cubic foot of soil.
The entire footprint of the vertical herb bed is 4-foot square and consists of three 12-inch high
tiers. To build the simple structure, you will need six (6) 12-foot long 2" x 12" pieces of cedar or non-toxic pressure treated wood. First, build the bottom 4' x 4' square tier with cross-pieces for the support of the next tier, which is 2'-9" square and will fit on a perfect diagonal on the bottom tier. The top tier is 2-foot square and fits diagonally on top of the second tier. To separate the top tier into four planters, insert diagonal cross pieces as shown in the drawing.
The herbs that I plant every year include thyme, mint, chives, French tarragon, Italian oregano, sage, rosemary, dill, basil, parsley, cilantro and lemon grass. Happily, the first five are perennials and return on their own every year. Depending on the severity of the winter, sage and rosemary can live several years. Dill always reseeds itself (all over the herb bed), so I rarely have to sow seeds. Basil, parsley, cilantro and lemon grass need re-planted every year. That leaves four available spaces for wild cards. I use a lot of parsley, so I usually plant two spaces of it. This year I also planted Greek oregano and Thai basil in addition to French sorrel (another perennial). In the past I've grown purple basil, marjoram, savory and catnip. I somehow even ended up with some volunteer spearmint.
One suggestion for an improved design is the addition of a "floor" to the space in which you would like to plant mint. Mint is VERY invasive and I am constantly cutting and ripping out the meandering roots throughout the entire herb garden.
Losing my supply of fresh herbs in the winter is most depressing. I sometimes buy the live plants available in stores, but have found they are short-lived because they are easily root-bound and lack nutrients. The ability to grow herbs year-round indoors is one of the things I am looking forward to when our new conservatory addition is completed next month. In the near future I will show how you can grow fresh herbs even in the most urban center.
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