Making It Work: Fresh Herbs At Your Fingertips

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Nothing adds a personal touch to meals quite like the addition of fresh herbs. Even when making dinner from a box, I’ve found that using some basil or cilantro can make it into a completely original dish. You can find all sorts of herbs, whether fresh or dried, at the grocery store, but the quality and feel of those store-bought herbs just doesn’t come close to what you can find in your own garden. An herb garden can be large or small, indoor or outdoor. Tending to these plants is just as easy as it is rewarding.

When starting your own herb garden, there are two primary things to consider: what you’ll grow, and how you’ll grow it.

What will I grow?

With all the possible herbs that are out there, it’s good to narrow things down to the ones that you most enjoy and that you’ll use the most often. Start with two or three varieties and work your way up as you feel more comfortable and interested. Here’s a short list of herbs to consider:

Bay leaves
Chives
Lemongrass
Mint
Parsley
Coriander
Oregano
Rosemary
Thyme
Basil
Cilantro
Sage

How do I start, and how can I have success?

Starting your herb garden in a good location is key to success. Many people enjoy having their herbs growing in the kitchen, in a few individual pots by a window. If you don’t have sufficient light in your kitchen, think about opting for a small garden on your porch or patio, in a corner of your yard, or in a special habitat called an Aerogarden (small, portable gardens that have their own light). Herbs need a good amount of light, but be careful to keep them from the kind of prolonged, scorching sunlight that comes on summer afternoons.

As far as supplies go, it’s pretty simple. Equip yourself with pots (if necessary), some kind of soil mix, plant food, and seeds or sprouts of the herbs you want to grow. It’s best to have a separate pot or container for each plant variety, since this will allow you to give the herbs the specific kinds of care they require. Make sure your pots have drainage holes on the bottom. When purchasing soil mix and plant food, check for special directives on using them with edible plants.

There are plenty of websites and articles to give specific tips for growing your herbs, but I’ll give one last warning of my own: regardless of the herbs you grow, it’s much more common to use too much water than to use too little. This is why it’s so essential to have drainage holes on any pots or containers you use. To see if your herbs need watering, stick the tip of your finger in the pot’s soil. Wiggle it down about an inch. If the soil is dry at that level, then it’s time to water your plant. If it’s moist or wet, no watering is required.

An herb garden is one of the simplest, most useful ways to try your hand at gardening, and it will give more flavor and aroma to a wide variety of recipes. Give it a try! Have any tips or questions? Leave them in a comment below.

Thanks for reading!