Some herb plants are better than others for germinating from seeds. Take the dill herb, for example, it grows like a weed and matures quickly too. It can grow pretty much anywhere. On the other hand, you will already be in herb gardener retirement when your thyme herb finally matures. You can cultivate most annuals from seeds and some perennials too. Since perennials keep coming back every year, they are real values for your budget.

I would rather not to start my perennial plants in a seed tray or in a regular herb garden bed; instead, I use a pot. They take some time to get going, so it is important that they have room to grow and not face competition from other herbs or even weeds. Most herb plants will begin to sprout within 3 or four weeks.

Depending on the climate where you live, you may be able to plant both your annual herbs and perennial herb plants at the same time, any time of the year. If you live in a colder climate, plant your annuals in the spring, summer or fall—all will work.

If you’re going to raise from seeds, you cannot miss with these:

• Anise: Also known as the hyssop, the anise herb has a nice licorice scent and has almost iridescent purple, green and blue notched leaves and spiked flowers of blue and purple. Most people use anise as a flavoring in many dinners and in teas. You can also add it to your potpourri. Begin these indoors in a small terra cotta pots at least six to 8 weeks before you plan to move this perennial outdoors.

• Caraway: The interesting looking caraway plant, which has a nutty, licorice taste that is just as interesting, is used in liqueurs, but also in sauerkraut, split pea soup and even goulash. The most often used part of the caraway is the seed, but the root is also edible. You can start your biennials inside as early as 6 weeks before the last frost, especially if you want to shorten the time you have to wait before you see the first flower.

• Coneflower: This easy-care perennial can be a great addition to your herb garden. Most folks think of it as a wildflower, but because of its healing qualities, it fits squarely in the herb camp. The healing name for the coneflower is Echinacea, which will hold your allergies in check and keep your immune system strong.

It can take about 6 weeks for your herb plants to sprout, get hardy and be ready to go outdoors in either pots or beds. This is especially helpful if you live in cold-weather climates—it’ll give you a jumpstart on the growing season.

Perennials do really well in warm locations. If you live in a warm climate, you can start them anytime.

Sowing seeds for your annuals is pretty easy. Just break up the ground a little and sprinkle the seeds on that place and cover lightly with earth. Most of your basic annuals can sow their own seeds if the growing season is nice and you’ll be off the hook for that.

Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.

Here is more information on Herb Garden Kits. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.

It doesn’t matter which variety of thyme you choose to grow, they all have a woody, twig like stem and little oval-shaped leaves.  In early summer or late spring, depending on where you live, your plant will bloom with little pink, purple or white colored blooms.

Among the many varieties, here are 3 you’ll probably want to know:

• Common Thyme: This type of thyme is the one that fills most of the small spice containers you can get at the grocery store.  This variety is taller than the others and is great to bake with because of the strong aroma and taste.  Among the common thymes there are at a minimum 3 kinds, which you can tell by examining at the leaves.  You will find that the French kind has narrow leaves as opposed to the German which has wide leaves, and then there is the English variety which has variegated leaves.

• Lemon Thyme: The smell of lemon thyme is evident in its name.  If you cannot figure that one out you might want to choose another hobby.  Yes, lemon thyme has a strong lemon aroma that you can’t miss.  Some kinds of lemon thyme even have tiny yellow flowers.

• Wild Thyme: This variety of thyme is not usually planted for use in cooking, so do not assume that every thyme plant is the same.  If you are seeking an interesting ground cover, this is a great place to start.

Cooking with thyme is as simple as clipping off a few leaves and tossing them to your other ingredients.  Thyme does well with pruning and there’s no better way to prune your thyme than to harvest some leaves for a yummy meal.  If your abilities are not found in cooking, you can still use your thyme to make health and beauty products.  You can use it in soaps and lotions, add a small bit in your bathwater or use it to make an sweet smelling potpourri.

The old folks will say to use it to cure several different ailments such as sleeplessness, gas, asthmatic breathing, headaches, poor digestion and coughing.  I guess it basically can do anything but bring in the mail.

Thyme is one of the easiest plants to raise.  It will succeed indoors or outside and does well in well-drained, rich dirt and full-sun.  Because it takes a long time to germinate your plant (a long thyme), I would suggest that you drive over to the discount store and pick up a few plants for your garden.  This plant has a nice ornamental quality and looks nice in an outdoor rock garden, on a patio or along a stone fence.

If you’d rather dry your thyme for use over the winter than bring your plant indoors, just snip off each branch at the stem and hang it upside down to dry.

It’s generally a sensible idea to store the seeds from your thyme herb.  These seeds will still germinate for up to 3 years.

Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.

Here is more information on Herb Garden Plants. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.