Herb Gardening

Lesson 2: Lesson Two - Raised Beds, Invasive Herbs & Weeds

Ideas for keeping invasive herbs in their own territory.

If you have opted for the container or raised bed gardening solutions then your problem with invasive herbs are half solved.

It will be no trouble to keep the mint family from mixing together and destroying their unique flavors because you will simply not put them together in the same spot. If you are gardening in an open plot you will have to take into consideration the planting combination in order to avoid this family from becoming intermingled.

Plant your mints are far away from each other as you can, or even devise another garden plot for your favorite flavors that is away from your main herb garden.

Another trick is putting metal lawn edges around your plants to keep them in their place. Be sure you go into the ground at least a foot or the roots will find their way out of your barrier.

You will also want to keep the various basil plants in separate areas. Just use some common sense and realize that plants in the same families will intermingle if given the opportunity and destroy individual tastes.

Several herbs are rapid growers and not only desire a lot of space, they will take it. Tansy is one of those invasive herbs you will definitely want to keep confined.

When you research your herbs pay particular attention to their growing patterns and plant accordingly. Catnip comes to mind when I think of plants that like to take over in my garden. To prevent more catnip than I can use, I cultivate around the plants clumps on a regular basis keeping new ones to a minimum. You might try the lawn edging for this problem too. If you are planting in raised beds watch for escapees and keep them pruned back or you will soon have a lawn full of herbs.

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