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Why You Only Need to Spend One Hour a Year on a Herb Garden

Herb Garden Requires Little Work
Low Maintenance, High Yield: The Herb Garden Photo: Getty Images
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May 30, 2023, 3:58 am | Read time: 2 minutes

Gardening isn’t among the most popular tasks. If you’re not keen on it, consider setting up an herb garden–you’ll get plenty of greenery with minimal effort.

Only about an hour of gardening throughout the year? With an herb garden about one square meter in size, that’s exactly what’s possible, according to the Federal Center for Nutrition. Caring for herbs is relatively easy, as many of these plants are quite hardy–especially Mediterranean varieties like sage or thyme. This means only about an hour of work per year for an herb garden.

Minimal Effort for Maximum Greenery–The Herb Garden

To minimize garden work, an herb garden about one square meter in size is worthwhile. It yields a lot without much effort. The work is spread throughout the year:

March

The soil is loosened and fertilized. Mid-month, you can start sowing or planting herbs–but initially indoors or in a separate cold frame with a lid. It’s usually still too cool outside for the tender young plants.

From Mid-May

Alternatively, you can now sow seeds directly into the garden’s herb bed. Or you can move pre-grown herbs outdoors and plant them.

March to September

Occasionally weed and maintain the soil. Otherwise, just water as needed and possibly fertilize twice. Most garden soils already contain the nutrients herbs need, according to the Federal Center for Nutrition. If necessary, the aromatic plants should only be fertilized once in mid-March and again in mid-June.

From Early September

Now is the time to transplant existing herbs in the bed or redesign it if you’re not satisfied with the herb garden.

October to March

Herbs remaining in the bed now need protection from frost. And with that, the work in the herb garden for the year is complete.

With material from dpa

This article is a machine translation of the original German version of MYHOMEBOOK and has been reviewed for accuracy and quality by a native speaker. For feedback, please contact us at info@myhomebook.de.

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