Growing TipsGrowing Tips
Herbs grow naturally in many different soils and climates. They thrive in almost desert conditions, tropical rainforests and temperate woodlands.
Renaissance Herbs have divided their herbs into three main groups of DRY, WET and FERTILISE. You can easily identify them by the colour on the bottom of the label.
By following our simple growing tips you can select, or create, the optimum conditions to grow a flavoursome, fragrant and healthy herb. To make tour herb garden visually attractive with flowers and foliage and easy to maintain, divide your area into the three main categories.
These herbs thrive in dry, exposed, well drained sunny spots. They need little fertilising, and benefit from raised beds and regular dolomite dressings in acid soils.
The majority of these herbs are woody shrubs or long lasting perennials. They have dark green to olive and grey coloured leaves, which have a similar shape and texture to natives of drier regions. Their decorative foliage, colours, textures and long lasting floral displays can form a permanent feature in your herb garden.
These herbs love constantly moist conditions, and can survive in low light situations. They need moderate fertilising, and are at their peak in summer when they need extra water or mulching.
In the main these herbs are perennials. Those that aren't are self seeding. They have the largest leaves of all three groups and present a very attractive, lush look. At their peak during the warmer months, they lose lots of water through their leaves and need extra watering to prevent wilting and maintain full flavour.
These herbs need generous fertilising. They enjoy reasonably moist conditions, and thrive in vegetable gardens.
These are a mixture of long season annuals, biennials and perennials. They display finely divided feathery leaves and are richly textured. They come in a range of brilliant greens. Extremely rapid growers, they have a voracious appetite for foor and water. Some will grow 10 to 20 times the foliage of dry herbs in one season. Tend to seed early unless constantly fertilised and watered.
To develop full flavour, dry and fertilise herbs should have at least 5 hours of sunlight a day or 16 hours under fluorescent lights (placed 5-10 cm above plants).