Herb Garden Secrets

Herb Gardens Attract Butterflies

• Gardeners don't have to choose between designing a butterfly garden and an herb garden. Butterflies are attracted to many herbs in both their butterfly and larval stages. A yellow and black butterfly darting about your early spring herb garden is likely a black swallowtail butterfly. This colorful winged insect, lays its eggs on the underside of young dill plants. Since butterfly larva are hearty eaters, plant extra dill so there will be some left for you to use while providing for the larva. Parsley is a favorite of monarchs, so keep a sizeable clump of this easy-to-grow herb to entice them to your garden. Avoid the use of insecticides to protect the larva of these colorful garden visitors.

Herbs Double as Cut Flowers

• Sage and lavender are herbs that blossom with spikes of purple. Dill blooms with flat, yellow, edible blooms -- the cultivar Bouquet is bred for its flower production. Yarrow can be downright invasive in the herb garden and finding practical uses for it gives you a reason to thin it out. Flowers can be harvested for dried flower arrangements. Arrange them in a vase or jar with 1/2 inch of water in the bottom. Allow the water to evaporate and the flowers to then dry. For variations of color floral paint can be used to tint them. When thinning yarrow, add it to the compost pile an accelerator for decomposition.

Hidden Pots Extend the Season

• When space is at a premium and cold weather cuts the growing season short, plant herbs in clay pots sunk into the ground. Weeding and thinning are as simple as pulling up the clay pots and turning the soil over with a shovel, then re-inserting the pot in the loosened soil. For northern gardeners you can pull up the pots to take in for the winter. To prep plants for the transition to growing inside, place crumpled plastic wrap between the base of the plant and the soil. Lay the pot on its side and scrub the sides of the pot with a mild dish soap solution. Dunk the herb top first into a bucket of mild soapy water to remove bugs and residue then rinse. Allow to dry in a shaded area and bring into the house for winter.

Undercover Herbal Root Control

• If you are containing invasive herbs such as mint, look no further than your car. Used tires make great containment systems for plants that spread from their roots -- these also include bee balm, lemon balm and comfrey. With tires tapered sides from tread to rim, roots are unable to escape into the surrounding garden. Dig tires into the garden so that the tread edge is even with the surrounding ground. Tires are fairly easy to obtain. Ask your local tire shop if you can keep your old tires the next time you get new ones for the car or ask if you can purchase old tires that are in the recycling pile.