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Herbs: Growing Tips And Uses

By Glory Lennon

If you like to flavour your food with herbs you probably already know that the fresher the herb the better it will taste. Knowing this it would no doubt occur to you that having your own herb garden would be the easiest and best way to get the freshest herbs for cooking. Having them growing right outside your kitchen door therefore makes the utmost sense. With this in mind, let us go over some growing tips and uses for herbs.

As previously stated the perfect spot for an herb garden is right outside the kitchen. This serves two purposes. One being you are more likely to run out there to snip at this parsley and that oregano if it is within easy reach while you are cooking. Secondly, the more you snip, the bushier the plants become and the prettier they look. There is nothing saying a useful herb garden cannot be as attractive a part of your yard as any other garden bed.

If the spot near the kitchen door is sunny and consisting of rich, loamy, well-draining soil you are halfway to herb heaven. If however you are not so lucky pick a place close by with amble sun and fix the soil using copious amounts of compost. Once the spot is picked clean of rocks, debris and unwanted vegetation you are ready to plant. What to plant is up to your personal taste. But here are a few of the more popular herbs and how to use them. 

Oregano.

As any Italian cook will tell you Oregano is indispensable for ziti, pizza, meatballs and spaghetti and virtually any Italian dish you can think of. Italian Oregano is the more likely cultivar available at garden centers or in seed form. It is easy to dry for winter use and keeps well. You may want to try some funky newer varieties like the Cuban Oregano which has more fleshy type leaves like those on succulents. These don’t dry well like Italian Oregano but it makes a great house plant so you can use these wonderfully pungent tasting leaves all winter long. Roots easily in water too. Always a good thing if you like making more plants to give away as gifts to other herb enthusiasts.

Mint.

There is a wide range of Mints including the peppermint and spearmint but now you can readily get pineapple mint, chocolate mint and apple mint plants at any good nursery. Needless to say your fruit salads, jellies, hot and iced teas will have a taste of the exotic with these unusual treats. All mints, however, should be placed in large pots set apart from the herb garden because they have a tendency of taking over entire flower beds. They like ample moisture but rampant growers that they are they do fine in hard, dry impacted soil too. There is no killing this once it’s established. Take heed or resign yourself to an herb garden consisting mostly of mint.

Basil.

This wonderfully and uniquely fragrant herb goes best in anything which also has tomato as a main ingredient. If planted near a tomato plant it will deter some nasty insects from infesting it keeping your tomato plant healthy and productive. The added bonus to Basil is its antibacterial properties which help keep your insides free from nasty infections. Who knew something as yummy as pesto, which uses vast amounts of Basil, was actually good for your health?

Chives.

This is such a pretty herb that it is often seen in other places than just the herb garden. It’s pretty purple or white blossoms are beloved by bees which make them good planted near the veggie patch to attract pollinators. Again this herb comes in many varieties including the regular purple flowered, white flowered, curly and garlic all of which are great for salads, in omelets, as a garish on soups and stews and for making chive vinegars. If you think making chive vinegar sounds difficult, think again. Merely loosely pack the pretty blossoms into a wide-mouth canning jar, heat some apple cider or red wine vinegar until just simmering then pour over the flowers. Allow this to steep for several weeks and you’ll have a lovely rosy colored, mild onion tasting vinegar great for gift baskets for that fastidious chef in your life. Word of warning; Chives will self-sow like mad so make certain you leave no flowers to drop seeds willy-nilly or you’ll be inundated with baby Chives the next year. Of course, you could always give those away to your friends too.

Chamomile.

Tiny as it is Chamomile’s light, apple scent and its delicate daisy-like blooms lends a softness to any herb garden but it is the soothing tea which you can make from these tiny flowers that will send you to La-La land even on nights your head is buzzing. There are two kinds of Chamomile coming in seed form, the perennial Roman and annual German. The better behaved and flavored is the German so make certain you get that one. It will self-sow if you allow a few blossoms to stay in the garden. That way you need not replant each year.

These are just a few of the many vastly useful herbs for the imaginative cook. The home herb garden is the best thing for enlivening food the natural way. Would you benefit from these plants if you had them right outside your kitchen door? The obvious answer is yes so do yourself a favor and plant an herb garden.

Author Glory Lennon Resource: Visit http://www.helium.com/users/32782 for more fascinating gardening lessons, amusing short stories and intriguing novel excerpts.

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