The Benefits of Gardening With Herbs

by Joseph Stutzman

Herbs are amazingly versatile and wonderfully easy to grow, and if you have never cooked with fresh herbs, you are missing out on one of life’s greatest pleasures. But, did you know that herbs can also be beneficial to your other plants? They can be a natural repellent or attractant, depending upon your requirements and can add fragrance, beauty and architectural interest, either indoors or out.

First, let’s look at some of the largely unknown pesticide benefits of gardening with herbs.

Plant Dill, Cilantro-Coriander and Fennel to attract both lacewings and ladybugs. Aphids are one of the most common scourges of the back yard gardener, be it vegetables, flowers or ornamentals. But, rather than using harmful pesticides that can seep into the ground water, are dangerous to your family and pets, and to which aphids will eventually become immune, plant an herb instead! Lacewings just love to eat aphids and their eggs, as well as other minute insects that invade and munch on your garden. Other soft-bodied insects, such as mites, white flies and scale insects are devoured by ladybugs. Many farmers consider the ladybug to be their very best friend, just because they eat such a wide variety of damaging insects and their eggs. You will most likely know how to identify an adult ladybug, but it is actually the larvae that eat more pests than the adults. The larvae are black with orange markings and cannot fly. Watch clusters of yellowish colored eggs that are laid on the undersides of leaves to see if they might develop into ladybug larvae…then smile.

• Plant Parsley, Spearmint, Thyme and English Lavender to attract hoverflies which look quite similar to a honey bee, but without the stinger. Again, as with the ladybug, it is the larvae that eat the most pests, their favorite being mealy bugs and aphids. The eggs of the hoverfly are white, oval and are sometimes laid singly or in groups on leaves. They hatch into brown, green, orange or white caterpillar-like worms about a half inch long. These voracious carnivores rise up on their hind legs to catch and feed on those garden pests that would otherwise eat you out of house and home, which is very true if you are growing vegetables with which to feed your family.
• Plant Caraway, Fennel and Parsley to draw parasitic mini-wasps to your gardens. Though the name sounds horrible, they perform an amazing service when it comes to organic gardening and they don’t sting. They lay their eggs on various caterpillars and tomato horned worms. The larvae utilize the host caterpillar or worm for its food source, which kills it. There are two different types of parasitic wasps, both of which help to control moth, beetle and fly larvae, as well as the tomato horned worm.

Some or all of the above-named herbs will also attract Minute Pirate Bugs (control most small insects and mites, especially thrips), Damsel Bugs (aphids, leafhoppers, plant bugs & small caterpillars), Big Eyed Bugs (eat leafhoppers spider mites, insect eggs and both the nymphs and adult mites) and Tachinid Flies (corn earworm, cabgage loopers, cutworms armyworms, stink bugs, squash bug nymphs, beetles and fly larvae). By planting these herbs, you not only save money on the pesticides, but you save time, as well, and have you seen the cost of jarred herbs lately?

Companion gardening with herbs is also an organic gardening trick. It turns out that certain plants love to be planted next to each other (and some don’t tolerate each other well at all). When it comes to herbs, it is not necessarily known WHY they help; just that years of experienced gardeners can tell us that they do!

• Basil-tomatoes love basil, and vice-versa. When planted in close proximity, the recommended ratio being three basil plants to every one tomato plant, magic seems to happen for both plants. Additionally, basil repels flies and mosquitoes, so plant some near your patio and some in your kitchen as well.
• Chamomile-is loved by onions and cabbage.
• Dill-prefers the company of cucumber, lettuce, corn and cabbage, but avoid planting in too close proximity to fennel because they can cross-pollinate.
• Garlic-is not only friends with fruit trees and tomatoes, but repels red spider mites as well.
• Hyssop-loves cabbage and grapes.
• Lemon Balm-is another great companion to the tomato and attracts many of the insects listed above.
• Lovage, Marjoram and Tarragon-apparently love just about any garden plant, fruit or vegetable, and are all quite fragrant.
• Parsley-doesn’t give a hoot for mint, but will welcome the company of asparagus, chives, tomatoes and carrots.
• Rue-is partial to strawberries and figs, but despises basil. In addition, cats will steer well clear of it.
• Rosemary-has been seen consorting with beans, sage, carrots and cabbage but turns its nose up at cucumbers.
• Thyme-keeps worms away from the cabbage, as well as enjoying its company.

So, there is much more to gardening with herbs than you may have thought possible. I, for one, have always enjoyed my friends’ herb gardens, being the recipient of fresh herbs on a regular basis, but my research has revealed that I have many more reasons to plant some of my own.

I will not only plant herbs in my vegetable garden, I’ll look at using lower growing herbs for my flower garden borders and plant some garlic near my apple and pear trees. And I think I’ll start an indoor herb garden too or maybe get a small, portable greenhouse and grow them on my patio all year round. That means I’ll be able to toss those old tins of herbs that are ages old, taking up space and questionably within their shelf-life, using fresh herbs in my everyday cooking and passing them out to my friends.

I can’t wait!

About the Author:

For Joe, gardening is the second love of his life, after his wife and children. Living in the rural mid-west is the ideal place to raise a healthy family and in which to pursue your dreams. Joe believes that sharing his knowledge is just one way he can give back to his fellow man, especially when times are as tough as they are right now and when many more people are taking up gardening as a way to make ends meet. He buys all of his garden and vegetable plants at Garden Harvest Supply and will look to see their selection of herb plants for sale.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com

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