If you love to cook, you will probably want to start you own kitchen herb garden. I keep my kitchen herbs clustered near my kitchen door so that I can step outside and clip off a leaf, stem, blossom or other piece for my meals.
So when you are planning your culinary herb garden think about what you love to cook and start with the herbs that are listed in your favorite recipes.
These are some great herb plants for your kitchen garden:
- Chives: These are one of the simplest herb plants to grow and cook with. From seed to cooking pot, these are simple all the way around. You can snip off the tops of the herb and it can keep on growing. Chives will certainly wake up the other tastes in your foods.
- Dill: Anyone can grow dill—you do not even need a green thumb. They like full-sun and well-drained soil, but be sure to snip off the tops before they go to seed so that they will not spread all over your yard. The leaves, stems, and seeds are all nice to eat. Add a little dried dill seed to your tuna or chicken salad.
- Cayenne Pepper: Because this sizzling hot plant will grow to more than three feet high, you will want to plant it so that it doesn’t block the sun for another plant. If you live in a climate that has frost during the colder time of year, you will want to bring your cayenne pepper plant indoors. When starting out with cayenne pepper, you do not have to get it, you can start with seeds inside and then plant the young pepper plant outside. As your herb grows and begins to bear its fruit, keep an eye on it so that you don’t let it over-ripen.
- Tarragon: Tarragon has a brilliant taste and aroma. I make a scrumptious mayonnaise-based vegetable dip with tarragon that never fails to please. Don’t worry about buying seeds, get young plants from the nursery, greenhouse or home improvement store and go from there, clipping off leaves as you need to use them. You will also want to keep the plant trimmed back, so if you need to give it a manicure and do not have anything on the menu that calls for tarragon; you can also freeze it for the future.
- Cilantro: This star of Mexican cooking can add a lot of flavor to your next salsa, tacos or Mexican chicken dish. You can successfully grow cilantro from seeds and harvest leaves in any month of the year, which you can add to your mouth-watering Mexican entrees. Cilantro will also grow well inside during the colder time of year. The leaves near the bottom of the herb have the best flavor, so begin here when you harvest the leaves for your next Mexican dinner.
- Welch Onions: Although these onions are small, don’t count them out, because their mild taste is reminiscent of scallions. Like pearl onions, I use these in dishes to add a bit of visual appeal. These onions grow in clumps, so be sure to leave plenty of room in your pot.
Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.
Here is more information on Fresh Herb Gardening. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.
