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How To Plan Your Herb Garden
 An herb garden can bring a person a lot of pleasure because there's so many things that can be done with herbs such as herbal crafts, herbal teas and herbal seasonings. On top of this, you get to care and tend for the plants which, if this is all you do, is enough reason to grow an herb garden. Seeing how the herbs mingle together and enjoying their fragrance are other benefits.
By planning your herb garden, you will eliminate any frustration that may arise from planting an herb in the wrong area. For example, if you plant Basil in a very shady area, it will not grow as well as if it were planted in a warm, sunny area. Also, your herb garden will bring you more satisfaction If you plan which herbs you will use.
The first thing to think about when planning your herb garden is location. Full sun is the best for herbs, but it has been my experience that most herbs will grow in partial shade. If your herbs are planted in partial shade, they may not grow as fast as when planted in full sun, but they will do just fine. The place to avoid is full shade, herbs simply will not do well in full shade.
When you have decided on a location for your herb garden, it's time to figure out which herbs you'd like to grow. To figure this out, ask yourself why you want to grow herbs. Is it for cooking, teas, potpourri, fragrance, or a combination of all these? Whatever reason you decide you're growing herbs for will help you decide which herbs to grow. If it's for cooking, which herbs do you currently use? You could grow these, plus others that have caught your interest in the past. If it's for any of the other reasons, do some research first to find out what herbs are good for that interest. Visit the library and choose books on that subject, or search the Internet for information. Ask your herb growing friends.
You will also need to find out if the herbs you have chosen will grow in your zone and soil type. Again, the library and Internet will be good sources of information.
Now that you have chosen the herbs you want to grow, it's time to put them into a plan. First, make a list of the herbs you will be using, leaving a space for its' description of height, foliage and/or flower color, and spacing requirements. To find these requirements, look these plants up in a gardening reference book. Decide what shape of bed you'd like and what size. Keep in mind that to be easily accessed, an island bed (a bed that can be accessed from all sides) should be no wider than 5 feet, and a border bed (a bed that can only be accessed from the front) should be no wider than 2 1/2 feet.
Now take a piece of paper and a pencil and sketch in the shape of the bed. Look at your list of herbs and place your herbs according to height, and which plants would compliment each other. You can do this by sketching or writing in the names of the plant. If you change your mind about something, simply erase and change. As you are placing your plants, make notes of how far apart the plants should be spaced. You may even want to go as far as using colored pencils to do some color coding or to color in the color of the plants. This sketch is your rough draft. You can use this as your planting guide.
The planning process can be just as enjoyable as planting and caring for the herbs. It also enables you to get to know your plants before they are even planted. Finally, as mentioned above, it will save you a great deal of frustration, so take the time to plan your herb garden.
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The Complete Book of Herbs : A Practical Guide to Growing and Using Herbs
 Look no further, this book will give you everything you ever wanted to know and more about herbs. The only thing else you might want is a more elaborate book on herb garden design...but don't be dismayed the section on herb garden design is very complete and inspiring.
ACTUALLY TELLS YOU HOW TO USE THEM! My wife and I love to use herbs particularly culinary, tea, and medicinal. This was the only book we came across that had detailed and useful information that was easily understood on how to use herbs in practical ways.
The book covers garden design, making herbal decorations, use in the kitchen with many recipes, household uses of herbs, beauty care use of herbs, essential oils, health uses of herbs, cultivation and harvesting of herbs and a very complete index of over 100 herbs. The herbal index is great. It contains full color photographs of the foliage, flowers, seed, dried leaves, and roots as applicable to each herb. A short history is given along with cultivation, harvest information, and uses (including what parts for what use).
It has a nice section on making potpourri. The beauty use section is complete with recipes. The table of essential oils is very complete and useful. The health section describes different general preparation techniques and an A-Z guide of ailments with accompanying herbal remedies. The herb cultivating section is complete and useful.
The title says it all, get this book and you will learn something new about herbs every time you pick it up. We reference it all the time. It is invaluable to any gardening or health library. (Courtesy Amazon)
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