It's Herb Garden Planting Time!

I'll have almost 300 varieties this year from around the world. They include returning perennials, new plants, cuttings, and seeds. Many are rare, all with exciting culinary potential to discover!

This is going to be a fantastic year in the herb garden. Among my largest categories this year are 44 new basils, 51 mints, 26 scented geraniums, and many more, including both common and rare types of global culinary herbs. I’m excited to share their incredible flavors and uses with you, both here and on my blog, Shovel and Crunch!

I’m always thrilled when the warm weather returns each spring, so I can get my hands back into the soil. But my herb garden planning starts much earlier, when the fall arrives and the next year’s plans begin. I start compiling lists in multiple spreadsheets in September. Each year I maintain separate ones for herbs, veggies, flowers, and fruit. It takes months to research rare and exciting new varieties, compare prices and vendors, and to place my orders.

I start the seeds under my grow lights in winter, adjusting the timing based on the needs of each herb, vegetable, or flower variety. There’s no better way for me to beat the winter blues than to tend and nurture these priceless vibrant tiny seedlings while they await spring planting.

After months of growing under the lights this winter and spring, my new seedlings, along with cuttings from some of last year's plants, are ready to be planted! I’ve now finished hardening them off, which means spending about a week gradually acclimating them to the real sun, wind, and outdoor temperatures. Or if I have several fully cloudy days in a row, it can take less time.

It’s difficult to determine an accurate count of the herbs I’ll be growing each year. It depends on how I decide to use them. Herbs are generally plants whose leaves or stems are eaten, while spices typically come from other parts of plants, such as roots, bark, seeds, or fruit.

For some herb types, I make sure to list each variety that I’m growing. I do this especially with types of herbs that are less familiar to me, so I really want to understand the differences among the varieties. This includes herbs like calendula or echinacea. Or there are some like dill or chervil where the differences are to me not as striking. So I’ll just lump those varieties all together and count them as one.

Some plants on my list can fit both categories, such as nasturtiums. I use both the flowers and the leaves for the delicious peppery flavor they can lend to a salad. Plus, the flowers make such a beautiful presentation:

Here’s my master list this year. It’s likely too small to read here, but this illustrates how I manage the delightful insanity of it all. If you’re interested in seeing this entire list in a more legible format, you can see it below!:

I use color coding to show which plants I’m growing in the 5 main ways I include herbs in my garden each year:

• Perennials/biennials that resprout in my herb garden from the previous year

• Starting from seed under my grow lights: I have 2 shelving units with six T5 grow light fixtures, one on each shelf. This gives me room for 24 flats of 18 starter pots each, for a total of 432 herb, flower, and veggie plants. Every year I do a huge self-imposed, sweaty spreadsheet battle with the numbers to fit in as many of my varieties here as I can. And then I get really greedy by adding more cold-weather varieties (like lettuce) that can go outside quickly, and will allow me to get more flats in with quick succession. And then my plant greed escalates even further when I spread out the seedlings into multiple additional flats, which I start to hoard on the floor around the light fixtures. And this year I’m planning an additional round of veggie seeds under the lights for the fall, which I normally sow directly in the ground. I don’t have a long enough growing season in my cold climate for this to be really successful for most varieties. I’ll try to get these fall seeds planted under the lights as soon as I get my spring crops in the ground. What I really need is a greenhouse!

• Buying as plants: This includes varieties that may not grow from seed (like many mints, French tarragon, etc), or because I’ve run out of room under my grow lights. Sigh.

• Direct sowing: herbs that grow well when planted as seeds directly into the garden

• Cuttings that I take from my plants in the fall and bring inside to root over the winter and plant again in the spring

• Wait-and-see varieties that haven't sprouted yet but may still appear in the garden or under the lights.

• Varieties that don’t sprout, are canceled in my orders, don’t survive the season, or find some other way to make me wait another year to grow them. This is such a challenging and humbling life lesson each year! It certainly makes me appreciate the varieties I have even more.

Seedlings and cuttings I’ve started inside this year under my grow lights:

Here are 44 types of basil seedlings that I’ve grown from seed this year under my lights. These varieties are from all over the world, and are all different from those in my post last year: 38 Types of Basil You Need to Grow in Your Herb Garden. This year, I’m thrilled to introduce even more new varieties, each with unique flavors and uses in my recipes!

Annual and perennial herbs that are hard to find:

Every year I seek out rare and exciting types of herbs that are generally hard to find as seedlings in nurseries or at farmer’s markets. When possible, I order and start them from seed. This is so much more economical than buying them as plants. And it’s only way some of them are available. It’s such a delight to watch them sprout and grow under my lights during the freezing winter months.

Cuttings of scented geraniums that I grew last year to create new plants for spring. This can really save money on plants that don’t grow reliably from seed, and really help to multiply the quantities of plants.

Some flowers, many of which are edible, and which may or may not be shared my herb list (depending on their level of culinary potential):

Ok, if you’ve made it this far, I’m beyond grateful for you bearing with me! And if you’re a glutton for punishment, here’s the entire list of herbs I’ll be growing this year from the color-coded spreadsheet above. It’s going to be a thrilling year in the herb garden! (The ones with an asterisk are varieties I’m growing for the first time this year.)

Agastache:

• Anise hyssop

• Apache sunset

• Arcado pink

• Korean green

• Raspberry daiquiri

• Rose mint

• Texas hummingbird mint

Angelica

Balm:

• Lemon limoncello

• Lemon Quedlinburger Niederliegende*

• Lime

• Orange

• Variegated lemon

Basil:

• African nunum*

• Amethyst improved*

• Ararat*

• Besobela coarse*

• Camphor kapoor*

• Charamel chianti*

• Christmas*

• Crimson king*

• Dark opal

• East Indian (tree basil)*

• Everleaf lemon*

• Feleny*

• Fino verde*

• Floral spires*

• Golden mountain sweet Thai*

• Green (viride)*

• Green globe

• Green pepper*

• Green ruffles*

• Holy (This is so vague that I’m intrigued as to which one this is compared to my previously-grown specific holy ones from both India and Thailand.)*

• Italian mountain sweet*

• Keira*

• Malawi camphor*

• Mammoth sweet*

• Married man pork (???)*

• Napoletano

• New Guinea (from 2 separate vendors with photos that look like different varieties; it’ll be fun to compare them!)*

• Opalescent*

• Ouzo*

• Peruvian*

• Punsch*

• Purple delight*

• Purple tulsi*

• Red Freddy genovese*

• Red Rubin

• Reyhan Sabz*

• Sacred purple (It’ll be interesting to compare to purple tulsi above, as well as my previously-grown tulsi varieties.)*

• Scent leaf*

• Siracusa*

• Snowball*

• Toscano*

• Valentino*

• West African*

Bay laurel

Bergamot/monarda/bee balm: (I’ve ripped out several beautiful but powdery mildew-prone varieties from last year. I’m so done dealing with this! Hopefully these ones will be much more resistant.)

• Bergamo

• Grand marshall*

• Judith’s fancy fuchsia*

• Lemon mint

• Purple rooster*

Betony*

Borage

Burnet, salad

Calamintha/calamint:

• Common

• Dark blue panther

• Grandview

• Marvelette blue

• Pink panther

Calendula:

• Alpha

• Oopsy daisy

• Orange king

• Pacific beauty mix

• Zeolights

Catnip:

• Common

• Lemon

Chamomile:

• German

• Roman

• Zloty Lan

Chervil, various types

Chives:

• Common

• Garlic

• Nira

• Profusion

Cilantro/coriander:

• Rak Tamachat*

• Various other types

Clove pink

Culantro (Mexican coriander)

Dill, various types

Dittany, American*

Dock, bloody

Echinacea: (I planted these last year, but they haven’t flowered yet; so I’m counting them as new to me. It’s hard to wait for that second year for perennials like this. I’m so excited to finally see the flowers!)

• Cheyenne spirit*

• Double decker*

• Paradiso mix*

• Paradiso super duper*

• Pow wow wild berry*

• Prairie splendor deep rose*

Elecampane, Julie’s*

Epazote:

• Common

• Oaxaca red*

Fennel:

• Bronze

• Sweet

Fenugreek:

• Common

• Iranian Shambalileh*

Greek mountain tea* (I tried growing this last year, but it didn’t survive into the summer. So I’m counting it as new and crossing my fingers this year!)

Horehound (a beloved nickname I like to bestow on garden-savvy friends)

Huacatay (a culinary marigold like those below, but I like to list separately)

Hyssop

• lemon* (technically an agastache, like those listed above)

• true*

Lavender

• Ellagance pink

• Ellagance purple

• Hidcote

• Lady

• Munstead

Lemongrass

Lemon leaf*

Lemon verbena

Lovage

Marigold (Culinary varieties; this also technically includes huacatay above.)

• Lemon mint*

• Mexican mint/tarragon

• Tangerine gem

Marjoram, sweet

Meadowsweet* (This took the all of last year to really get established, so I’m counting this as new.)

Mint: (These will make a fantastic taste test this year!)

• African potato*

• After eight chocolate*

• Amsterdam lemon*

• Apple

• Arabian

• Mint, Balkan*

• Banana

• Berries & cream

• Black mitcham peppermint*

• Blackcurrant*

• Chewing gum*

• Chinese*

• Chocolate

• Corsican

• Costa Rican/Jamaican*

• Cotton candy

• Eau de cologne*

• Egyptian*

• English

• French peppermint*

• Fruit sensations

• Fuzzy Chinese*

• Ginger

• Grapefruit

• Hillary’s sweet lemon

• Iced hazelnut*

• Inguano*

• Japanese

• Julep

• Kentucky colonel

• Lavender*

• Lime

• Margarita

• Marley*

• Marshmallow*

• Mojito

• Moroccan

• Hairy mountain*

• Orange

• Orange bergamot*

• Pineapple

• Scotch

• Strawberry

• Sweet pear

• Swiss*

• Thai

• Vietnamese

• Virginia mountain*

• Water*

• Wintergreen

Mitsuba:

• Common

• Purple

Nasturtium, several varieties

Ngo om (rice paddy plant)*

Oregano: (Please also see za’atar varieties, which I’ve listed separately below.)

• Golden

• Greek

• Herrenhausen

• Italian

• Mexican*

• Mexican bush*

Papalo, butterfly* (Quillquina below is also a type of papalo, listed separately.)

Parsley, Italian flat-leaf

Pepicha/pipicha*

Pelargonium (scented geranium):

• Angel’s perfume*

• Apple*

• Apricot

• Ardwick cinnamon*

• Attar of roses

• Chocolate mint

• Cinnamon

• Clorinda*

• Frensham lemon*

• Ginger*

• Grey lady plymouth

• Lemona*

• Lemon crispum major*

• Lime

• Mabel Grey

• Nutmeg

• Orange fizz*

• Peppermint

• Prince of orange*

• Prince Rupert*

• Quercifolia*

• Rober’s lemon rose

• Scarlet unique*

• Select northern pine*

• Strawberry

• True rose*

Quillquina (A type of papalo, which I like to list separately)

Rau ram (Vietnamese cilantro/coriander)*

Rosemary, arp

Rungia klossi (mushroom plant)*

Sage:

• Clary*

• Common

• Extrakta*

• Purple

• White dalmatian

Salvia: (Some have survived and are resprouting from last year, but it’s too soon to know which ones these are. Time will tell!)

• Amore purple

• Blue monday sage

• Rose rhapsody

• Sirius blue

• Sky dance

Savory:

• Lemon*

• Summer (aka Lebanese za’atar)

• Winter

• Winter lemon

Sculpit (bladder campion)*

Shiso/Perilla:

• Green ohba ao

• Hojiso*

• Kkaennip Korean*

• Purple (I’m still waiting on both these and the Vietnamese ones below; they didn’t sprout under my lights this year, but some may be coming up in the herb garden from last year’s plants reseeding)

• Red

• Vietnamese

Shungiku (edible chrysanthemum)*

Sorrel, profusion

Stevia, common (This year I didn’t also plant improved varieties like candy or sweetie star like in previous years, as there were too many other new things to try out and fit under my lights. Plus, stevia can be a finicky germinator.)

Sweet cicely

Sweet william

Sweet woodruff

Tarragon, French

Thyme:

• Caraway

• Creeping lemon

• English (German, common)

• French

• Lavender

• Lemon variegated

• Lime

• Mint

• Orange

• Orange spice

• Purple carpet lemon

• Rose petal

• Royal

• Spanish*

• Spanish lemon*

• Spanish red*

• Spiked

• Wild

Watercress

Za’atar: (I’m still waiting to see if these may have reseeded/resprouted from last year’s garden.)

• Syrian Cleopatra oregano

• Wild oregano

Wow, thanks for making it through this huge list! I’ll keep you posted on how these varieties grow, smell, and taste, with photos and recipes to include them in on the blog.

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Shell