How to Start a Kitchen Herb Garden
Fresh herbs make a brilliant addition to almost any meal you cook at home. Many herbs contain medicinal properties and provide rejuvenation or calming effects just by their scent. The common kitchen herbs like rosemary, thyme, and basil are all pretty easy to grow, and by growing your own, you can have the freshest possible herbs for every meal. Additionally, it’s quite cost effective.
Where to Grow
Although it is possible to grow herbs in your kitchen window, most herbs require six to eight hours of sunlight to thrive. Therefore, you may want to consider keeping your plants outdoors. Herbs will happily grow in pots, but if you have the space, dig yourself an herb garden. Herbs prefer rich, well-drained soil. Make sure to plant your kitchen herb garden in a place that is easily accessible from your kitchen.
What Herbs to Choose
What herbs do you frequently cook with? What herbs thrive in your climate? It is a good idea to start with a few and go from there: get to know the plant from a gardening perspective as well as a culinary one. While you can grow some herbs easily from seed and others you can propagate by cutting, it will probably be easier to go to your local nursery and pick out the herb starts for your garden.
You will want to consider size and flowering season, if applicable. You do not want to plant tall herbs like rosemary where they will block the light of low-growing ones like thyme. Also, herbs that require different growing environments should be planted in separate areas. For instance, mint likes a rich, moist soil, and rosemary prefers a dry soil.
Other recommendable herbs: cilantro, chamomile, garlic, oregano, fennel, lemon balm, sage, chives, and parsley. Make sure to label your herbs when you plant them. You can do this by using a wooden tongue depressor or Popsicle stick and a permanent marker.
