They are fragrant and pleasing to the eye and let’s not forget that they are also useful if we love to cook tasty dishes. It would be fantastic to have them on hand on our balcony and it can be done without being an expert in gardening with these 10 tips for growing aromatic herbs. Let’s follow them step by step, selecting the aromas that we prefer to smell in our home or at the table
Aromatic: what are they?
Before we get to work, let’s make it clear that aromatics are not spices, even if the name can easily mislead. These are plants containing substances with a pleasant smell, aromas, rich in essential oils. They are not created specifically for us who want to cook delicious dishes, the biological function of their aroma is to defend themselves from phytophagous insects and to stimulate plant metabolism. Making a list is impossible in summary but we find basil and coriander, parsley and sage, rosemary and mint.
10 Tips for Growing Aromatic Herbs
One after the other, following these 10 tips for growing aromatic herbs, we will be able to create a fragrant balcony or vegetable garden, a real pantry of aromas.
- Draining soil. It is essential to insert these plants in soil that does not favor the formation of water stagnation. If we want to be sure we can equip the vase or the hole well by placing draining material on the bottom, volcanic lapilli, expanded clay, gravel or pebbles
- Weeds , let’s get rid of them and be very careful that they don’t attack again. These weeds are dangerous for three main reasons: they steal nutrients from our aromatic plants, they promote humidity and create water stagnation. To discourage these plants we can wait until the aromatic plants have rooted well and then mulch with grass clippings or compost. You can also use some twig chips made by ourselves or purchased from someone who does professional pruning and has plenty of it.
- Health checks . Hoping that everything is going well, let’s not neglect our aromatic plants but let’s check that they are well and monitor their growth so as to notice if there are any negative signs, preventing any pathology. If we notice diseased parts of the plant in time, we can eliminate them, preventing them from infecting the rest of the aromatic plant with dramatic consequences.
- Supports for growth . Not all aromatic plants have a self-supporting structure and to facilitate their growth we can help them with tutors or supports. This is not true for all of them, but for example for rosemary and lavender it is, especially to prevent them from developing into improbable and disorderly shapes. It is also useful to carry out periodic pruning, twice a year is enough.
- Dead parts. If there are dry branches, dead leaves and withered flowers in the foliage of our aromatic plant, it is better to eliminate them immediately to avoid suffocating its living part. You do not have to wait for the moment of pruning but act immediately. Once a week we take a look at our aromatic plants and eliminate the superfluous.
- Generational change . If we have created a lovely corner of smells with these 10 tips for growing aromatics, let’s remember to introduce some new entries every now and then, new plants alongside the old perennial ones to always have leaves available.
- Invasive mint. It is one of the most loved aromatic plants and lends itself to many recipes in addition to having a good scent, but mint is decidedly invasive and tends to steal space from other aromatic plants. This does not mean that we should not take it into consideration and exclude it from our garden but contain it with plastic or tin borders inserted into the ground that block the roots. A similar problem can occur with fennel or leviticus flowers to be collected to avoid their unwanted spread.
- End of season cleaning. Towards late autumn, when the growing season is over, we need to tidy up a bit by eliminating dry plants, pruning and mulching the base of aromatic perennials. The annual ones should be eliminated with the roots because they have finished their life cycle and the following spring we can plant others. If there are perennials that are particularly sensitive to the cold, let’s protect them from the arrival of winter and we can bring them back outside when spring returns.
- Early season cleaning . Even when you start producing aromatics again, you need to tidy up, clean up and prune old vegetation. You need to do it decisively, almost razing the tufts to the ground so that the new plants arriving have space.
- Soil preparation. Before introducing new aromatic plants into our garden, we lightly work the soil near the plants that have survived the winter and fertilize them with organic material such as compost, well-rotted manure, earthworm humus, etc.
Recipes with aromatic herbs
If these 10 tips for growing aromatic herbs have been useful, we will have many fragrant leaves to cook with. Here is how explained in an excellent book : The power of herbs. It really works. Sometimes I myself do not include them in the various recipes, a bit out of laziness, a bit out of habit, but if you break it and start using them as a sort of magic touch, you will notice that the dishes come to life and become more interesting.
