Start Growing Herbs for Your Kitchen
We all use herbs in the kitchen in our cooking and baking. Almost every recipe calls for a pinch of this or a sprig of that herb. If you love cooking as much as I do, you will definitely agree that fresh herbs, just picked from the garden, have much better flavor than commercially dried and bottled ones.
Herbs are quite easy to grow, can thrive in most soils (excepting soggy ones), and will not take up much space. Why not plant a collection of herbs, just for kitchen use, either in their own special garden, or in containers just outside the kitchen door. You will use them more often if they are close by. Choose a spot with about six hours of sun, and near a source of water. Plant the herbs you use most often in your cooking, and soon you will be picking fresh herbs all summer.
If you are a beginner, you can start with purchased plants, although many herbs are easy to start from seed. Farmers markets and roadside stands, as well as nurseries are all good sources. Buy enough to get you started, and include your favorites for different combinations of herbs for your kitchen creations. Include annuals like dill, coriander and basil, and perennials such as thyme, oregano, sage and chives. Parsley, a biennial, is a must have herb as well.
These can be potted up in containers, or put directly into the garden space close by the kitchen. There are certain advantages to growing herbs in containers. If you don’t have the garden space, you can keep your herbs on a patio, plant them in a windowbox, or keep them on a sunny windowsill in your kitchen. They will be easy to move around for the best light, it will be easy to water and feed them, and they will be right at hand for use. Perennial kitchen herbs will, however, grow better planted directly into a garden. Know the growing conditions best for each herb, and its mature height and spread before you plant.
You can also integrate cooking herbs into your flower or vegetable beds if you can not find space for a herb garden near your kitchen door. Many culinary herbs, such as variegated sage, thyme and parsley make attractive additions to your landscaping. However, if you are going to use them in cooking, never use pesticides or chemical fertilizers on or near them. For this reason alone, culinary herbs are best located in their own area.
Most herbs have the best flavor just before they flower, so keep using and pinching off the growing tips of your kitchen herbs. This will delay flowering and also encourage the plants to branch out and grow more full. If the plants do decide to flower, then just cut the whole plant back by about a third, and this will encourage new foliage growth. And, start using them more!
For best flavor, harvest your kitchen herbs just before flower buds open, when the concentration of essential oils is highest. This is especially important if you are harvesting to dry them for the winter. Whether you are going to dry them, or use them fresh, pick them in early morning, after dew has dried, but before the sun warms them and disperses the essential oils.
