Herbs

Herb gardens are a wonderful addition to the edible landscape. Herb gardening in Sacramento County can be a rewarding experience when you consider a few basics. Herbs need at least 5 to 6 hours of sunlight per day. Fertilizing herbs should be done once or twice per season with a low nitrogen, organic fertilizer. Prune herbs to create an abundance of harvests throughout the growing season and to maintain their shape.

Resources

• Landscaping with Herbs, EHN 15 (PDF 77KB), covers planning and planting an herb garden.

• Culinary Herb Profiles, EHN 70 (PDF 82KB), shows a plant by plant profile of commonly used culinary herbs.

• Information from UC Integrated Pest Management online about herb pests and diseases including

aphids
thrips
snails and slugs
leaf spots
powdery mildew

• Lavenders for California Gardens (PDF 166KB) is an informative ANR publication directed to all those who wish to increase their knowledge of this wonderful plant.

• Sage growing is explained on this UC Integrated Pest Management online page.

• UC Davis Good Life Garden blog has an informative entry with basic information on growing herbs.

• UC Arboretum All Stars has a few wonderful herb choices such as Lavandula x ginginsii ‘Goodwin Creek Grey’, and Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Mozart’.

ANR= free publication to download from the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Catalog
EHN= Environmental Horticulture Notes from the Cooperative Extension Sacramento County

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