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This month . . .
Creating Herb Gardens
Inspiring Aromatic Adventures
Herbs arouse kids' curiosity and interest
because they thoroughly engage the senses. What better motivator
for student investigations than plants that feel cool, smell great,
and can turn mere tomatoes into pizza sauce? Their life stories,
it turns out, are fascinating too. After all, these humble plants
were early humans' first medicines, food preservatives, and cosmetics.
And that's just the beginning.
The word "herb" conjures up visions of soothing teas or the green
flecks in spaghetti sauce, but just what is an herb? Some
people define it as any plant or plant part used as an ingredient
for flavor, fragrance, or healing. Spices, it seems, could fit
the same bill. Here's the difference: Herbs are usually defined
as plants of temperate climates whose leaves are harvested for
use. Spices, on the other hand, tend to be of tropical origin;
we use their roots (ginger), fruits (vanilla pods), flowers (cloves),
seeds (pepper), or bark (cinnamon). They both differ from other
plants in that they contain some active ingredient that is useful
to us. But the real role of these adaptations is to help
a plant survive in its environment — that is, to defend against
being eaten!
These
aromatic plants can be a fascinating focus for a growing classroom.
They're easy to raise and have a multitude of uses. Many also
offer sustenance to pollinators. Consider using an herb garden
to stimulate senses and investigations, bring literature to life,
or inspire craft projects. It can also become a lens for studying
people/plant connections in different historical eras or regions.
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Materials
If
you don't have an herb plot in your schoolyard, consider raising them
in outdoor containers or windowboxes, or even in the classroom under
lights or on windowsills. Select from the following materials accordingly.
gardening tools (forks, shovels, rakes)
herb seeds, plants, or plant parts (see Herb Growing
Chart, below)
large containers with drainage holes
seed-starting containers, soilless planting mix,
fluorescent lights
Creating
Herb Gardens
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Plan
the vision
Wherever you're raising herbs — outdoors in the garden
or containers, or in the classroom — you and your students
should consider
what
role you want them to play. Do you imagine mingling the fragrant
plants with vegetables and flowers or creating separate bed or
container
just for herbs? Do you envision planting a medley of herbs to stimulate
visitors' senses? Are you drawn to having a special theme for
your
herb planting? Here are a few thematic ideas to spark your thinking:
Herbal vinegars (or salad dressing) - Good plants for these
products include tarragon, chives, basil, dill, rosemary, thyme,
and lemon balm.
Colonial herbs - Students can have fun learning how herbs
were used in "olden" times. For instance, rosemary was
believed to calm naughty children and sage was used to color gray
hair! Thyme, oregano, parsley, and savory might also be found in
the Colonial garden.
Spaghetti herbs - Consider raising culinary herbs necessary
for this children's favorite: basil, oregano, parsley, garlic. (Fennel
imparts a great flavor, too!)
Herbal teas - Students may want to dry, bag, and sell their
own herb teas, or simply enjoy drinking them. Chamomile, lemon balm,
peppermint, and spearmint are good (and safe) candidates.
 Peter
Rabbit herb garden - Inspired by this favorite story, your
students might grow some of the herbs it mentions: mint, rosemary,
sage,
hyssop, camomile, tansy, lavender, lemon balm.
Fragrant herbs - Consider these particularly aromatic candidates:
basils, rosemary, mints, lavender, thymes, lemon verbena, oregano,
chamomile, savory.
Container herbs - If you plan to raise herbs in containers,
you might try these easy-to-grow plants: thymes, mints, parsley,
basils, sage, marjoram, oregano.
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Prepare
the soil
Most herb plants require similar growing conditions: a minimum of
six hours of sunlight per day and moderately rich soil with good
drainage. To improve the soil structure and drainage, your students
should use garden forks or shovels to loosen the soil to a depth
of 8 to 12 inches before planting. If you are planting in an area
with nutrient-poor, dry, heavy, or poorly-drained soil, add some
organic matter, such as compost, before planting. Rake the soil
to form a fine, even bed, which is particularly important if you're
growing herbs from seed.
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Plant
seeds, plants, or parts 
Herbs may be annuals, started from seed each year, as is
basil; biennials, requiring two seasons of growth, as does
parsley; or perennials, which grow back year after year,
like thyme. Generally, you should plant annual and biennial
herbs
from seed directly in the garden or in containers indoors (to
transplant), or buy seedlings. (Your students can save
seed produced
by their herb plants for next year's crop.) You'll want to buy
or get donations of perennial herb plants or propagate them
from cuttings
or divisions. The Herb Growing Chart, below,
highlights the best ways to start different herbs.
Starting from seed - If you want to get a jump on the season,
you can start herb seeds indoors under lights or on sunny windowsills
and later transplant them to the garden. Use the same types of containers
and soilless potting mix that you would use for other indoor seedlings.
To encourage healthy seedlings, keep soil mix uniformly moist until
seeds germinate, keep lights 3 to 6 inches above the plants, and
water seedlings thoroughly when the mix is dry to the touch. Herb
seeds tend to be small, so whether you're starting them indoors
or in the garden, you'll plant them fairly shallowly (see seed packets
for planting depths).
Before you move seedlings outdoors, "harden" them off to get them
accustomed to harsher outdoor conditions. Do this by setting them
outside for progressively longer periods each day, starting with
a few hours and increasing to a full day over the course of a week
or so.
Starting from plants or plant parts - You can purchase many
herbs from nurseries as young plants, or dig up shoots or sections
of mature perennial plants in the spring. Some herbs can also be
started from stem cuttings. To do this, snip healthy stems 3 to
6 inches from the growing tip. Remove leaves from the lower half
of the cutting, and plant the cutting in a soilless mix indoors
or in moist sand in a shady outdoor area. Water it gently and cover
the container with a plastic bag until new top growth appears. Keep
cuttings out of direct sun so they don't overheat in their plastic-bag
"greenhouse."
How you lay out your planting will depend on the plants you choose
and on your theme. Herbs, like most plants, stay healthier if there's
good air circulation, so space them to allow for the mature size
of each plant. (Catalogs, seed packets, and nursery containers give
spacing requirements.)
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Harvest!
You can harvest most herbs continually as soon as the plant has
enough foliage to sustain growth. Harvest herbs grown for seeds,
such as dill, caraway, and coriander, as the fruits change color
from green to brown or gray but before they scatter to the ground.
If students want to dry herbs to use or sell as cooking ingredients,
they should spread them in a single layer on trays or screens, or
hang them in bundles using rubber bands to hold the stems together.
Place the herbs in a dark, well-ventilated place until they are
completely dry. Store them in the dark in airtight containers.
Indoor
Herb Growing Chart
| Herb |
Days
to germination |
How
to start it |
| basil
|
5
- 10 |
seeds/plants |
| catnip |
4 |
seeds/plants |
| caraway |
14+ |
seeds |
| chives |
7 |
seeds/divide
plants |
| chamomile |
7 |
seeds/plants |
| coriander |
9 |
seeds |
| cress |
7 |
seeds |
| dill |
5 |
seeds |
| fennel |
6 |
seeds |
| garlic |
--- |
plant
cloves |
| lavender |
--- |
plants |
| lemon
balm |
7 |
seeds/cuttings/plants |
| mints |
--- |
plants/cuttings/runners |
| nasturtium |
5 |
seeds |
| oregano |
30+ |
cuttings/plants/seeds |
| parsley |
20+ |
seeds
(presoak)/plants |
| rosemary |
20+ |
seeds/cuttings/plants |
| sage |
28+ |
seeds/plants |
| summer
savory |
5 |
seeds/plants |
| tarragon |
--- |
plants |
| thyme |
20+ |
plants/divide
plants/seeds |
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Copyright©
2004 National Gardening Association
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