Parsley, Sage, FoxFarm, and Thyme

You're grilling dinner outside, you're making fresh salads from the garden, and before long, you'll be canning your own tomatoes.  So what's missing? If you've never grown your own herbs, you're in for a treat.   Herbs are surprisingly easy to grow as long as you can answer this question: are you growing an annual or a perennial?

Annual herbs include basil, cilantro, parsley, and dill.  They thrive on warm weather and plenty of sun.  If you're lucky, some of them may set seed and grow naturally in your garden, but for the most part, you'll need to start with fresh plants every year.  The easiest way to grow annual herbs is to plant them together in a container in a location where they will get plenty of sun.  Annual herbs do best in a high quality potting soil like Ocean Forest, and they will benefit from regular feedings with a liquid fertilizer like Grow Big, which will encourage a leafy green growth but will not force them to bloom.  Pinch off buds as soon as they begin to form in order to encourage more leaves.  If temperatures get above 90°, move the pot to a shadier location.

Perennial herbs include rosemary, sage, thyme, and lavender.  These herbs thrive in warm, dry, sunny Mediterranean climates and they do best in poor soil with no fertilizer at all.  That's right, you heard us, we're telling you not to fertilize.  Perennial herbs grown in poor soil have to struggle to survive, and that just concentrates the flavor in their leaves.  Just make sure that they are planted in well drained soil and give them plenty of water during their first year while they are getting established.  It's okay to let perennial herbs bloom, but at the end of the growing season, sheer those blooms back to encourage new growth for next year.