Moving to Flagstaff more than 20 years ago, I was initially too intimidated by stories of high elevation conditions to try vegetable gardening. My first foray here was with a few kitchen herbs planted near my front door. I highly recommend herbs as a great introduction to gardening for anyone, no matter the size of their growing space.
Culinary or cooking herbs are rewarding 鈥渟tarter鈥� subjects for beginning gardeners. Many are easy to grow, and seeds and transplants are readily available. One can put together a nice little assortment at a small scale, without enormous investment or access to a large growing space. Even a small window box or set of pots can provide a delightful and useful herb garden.
I had a small nook tucked next to a masonry porch and patio. This was an ideal spot for a herb garden, because it is near the front door and kitchen, and because it is somewhat warmed by the masonry and sheltered by afternoon shade. Several of my favorite cooking herbs have survived there through numerous winters (rosemary, oregano, thyme, sage, chives), coddled by the absorbed heat given off by masonry and the help of a frost cloth covering in winter. There鈥檚 also enough room there for herbs grown as spring annuals -- dill, basil, parsley, and cilantro, among others.
Many cooking herbs are easy to propagate. You can buy a small pot of living basil, chives, or the like at a nursery or grocery store, and divide it up into multiple plants. In late summer one can also take cuttings from basil or oregano, and place in water for a few days or weeks, potting them up after they form roots, so that you can have fresh herbs from your windowsill all winter long.
Growing those herbs got me hooked on trying to incorporate something I had grown myself into each dinner I cook -- even if it is just chopped chives topping a baked potato. Experiencing success with the herb bed coaxed me into trying a real vegetable garden next. I joke that the herbs were my 鈥済ateway drug鈥� into larger scale gardening.
Although perhaps less widespread than culinary herbs but just as rewarding are medicinal herbs such as chamomile, feverfew and echinacea. Medicinal herbs are nature鈥檚 original biochemists. Plant species have evolved to produce thousands of compounds with varying effects on living systems. Most of these chemical substances serve the plant as defenses against herbivores, from deterring a grazer with an unpleasant smell or flavor to poisoning a caterpillar or grasshopper. Some plant compounds, though, have beneficial effects on one or more physiological process in humans when consumed at an appropriate dosage or in the right form.
From both European and Asian traditions, we have received huge bodies of herbalist knowledge about using plants to treat various health ailments or conditions. In our region, Indigenous people have developed a deep understanding of the values and uses of native Southwestern plants. We鈥檙e fortunate to have the opportunity to learn about some of these from our neighbors. One way to get started learning about medicinal herbs is talking with the vendors and speakers at the Master Gardeners Plant Sale (10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 24) at the Colton Gardens at the Museum of Northern Arizona. You might also visit MNA鈥檚 Moore Medicinal Garden, which highlights plants with beneficial properties, especially those native to the Colorado Plateau.
A very quick internet search reveals scores of ideas for creative and pleasing designs for herb gardens, from an assembly of potted herbs to exquisite geometrical layouts. The Arboretum at Flagstaff has a beautiful Herb Garden area, which can give home gardeners plenty of ideas for garden design that work well in our climate and in a woodsy type setting. Thanks to easy maintenance, low water requirements, and their small footprint, herbs are a rewarding way to get started with outdoor gardening in the Flagstaff area.
As an added bonus, many herbs also attract and feed pollinators 鈥� if you let them flower. My patch of oregano is constantly covered by small native bees all summer, and both dill and the pretty purple chive blossoms attract butterflies. Moreover, my herb garden serves as home each year for several lizards and garter snakes! I love the idea that I am encouraging wildlife in even the most domesticated of my gardening spaces.