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Kitchen Herb Gardening

By:   Tammy Weisberger

Bring a little life to your windowsill and reap the culinary rewards of a kitchen herb garden.

Herbs are especially agreeable to indoor cultivation because most require plentiful sunlight and a warm climate. If your kitchen isn't the sunny place herbs demand, take a walk around your home and decide upon the most amenable place to start a garden growing, and get started!



Decide on a Selection of Herbs: A Matter of Taste

Selecting which herbs to grow may be the most difficult aspect of beginning an herb garden. One way to decide which herbs to grow is to consider which dishes you like to eat best and choose herbs that are integral or complementary to those particular dishes. Italian parsley can be added to almost any dish. If you're a big pizza eater, fresh basil is excellent layered between the sauce and cheese or sprinkled over the baked pie for extra punch. Cilantro is a must in Mexican, Indian, and Southeast Asian cuisines.

To help you narrow down the choices, we've put together a chart listing easy-to-grow herbs, the best ways to start growing them and recipes for dishes commonly made with the herbs. Take a trip to your local garden store and see which herbs they have available as seedlings, or start your favorites from seed.


    Herb Varieties, Growing Tips and Recipes

    Basil

    Start with seeds or seedlings. See Getting Started below.






    Parsley

    Start with seedlings or established plants, as this is a often-used herb.






    Gather Your Materials

    Besides seeds or plants, you'll need soil, containers and the promise of warmth and lots of sunlight.

    Soil: The best type of soil to use for window herbs is a mixture of potting soil, peat moss and perlite. This mixture, or one very similar, is available in most garden stores.
    Containers: Plastic window boxes, clay window boxes and clay pots of an appealing weight, size, shape and color are only a few possibilities. Visit your local garden store for inspiration or look around the house for unconventional containers like a retired teapot or broken mugs. These unorthodox planters can make visually pleasing gardens that reveal your personality. Punch drainage holes into their bases and plant an assortment of herbs and edible flowers such as nasturtiums.
    Sunlight: All of the herbs listed above require at least four hours of sunlight every day, so be sure you have a sunny window sill somewhere in your home, or a fluorescent light that can be set up to shine on the herbs for at least four hours a day.


      Getting Started

      1. Before planting seeds in the soil, soak them in water or place them between wet paper towels and into a plastic bag for 2 to 4 hours.
      2. Fill the containers with potting soil. If planting seeds, sprinkle seeds over the soil and cover them with approximately ¼ inch of additional soil. For seedlings, dig a small hole and bury their roots in the soil and water thoroughly. If you are planting multiple seedlings in one container, plant them 2 to 3 inches apart.
      3. If you are planting a variety of seeds in one pot (or in a long window box), designate areas of the container for each different type of herb. Garden markers can be used to name each herb.
      4. Water your freshly potted garden thoroughly, so that moisture escapes from the drainage holes. Place the plants in a warm spot; the top of the refrigerator is often a good place to store them while waiting for them to sprout (germinate). And be sure to water them again whenever the soil feels dry to the touch.
      5. When the herbs germinate, move them from their warm spot to their sunny new home. Again, water them whenever the soil feels dry to the touch. A spray bottle is a good way to add moisture without knocking over the delicate seedlings.
      6. If a large number of seeds germinate, use kitchen shears to snip unwanted plants at soil level, rather than pulling them out of the soil. This thinning is integral to avoid overcrowding, which prevents the herbs from growing well. Once your herbs are established and growing, don't be afraid to harvest them, but always leave at least a sprig of each herb so that the plant can continue to grow. Trimming herbs encourages them to grow bushy--and gives you the perfect excuse to cook with your freshly grown herbs!

        Comments
        Jun. 19, 2009 1:33 pm
        thanx for the tip and advice! hope i can grow some herbs in our house when i get back in the philippines!keep up the good work!
         
        Jun. 27, 2009 3:24 am
        I love herbs and have 5 or 6 out in our back yard where sun shines on them part of day. They are growing beautifully. I love going out back and snipping them to cook with. Good advice on this page
         
        Jul. 22, 2009 7:41 pm
        i am sick of buying dried herbs and having low class meals. im just a beginner but i can tell the difference. im buying a whole bunch of seeds and planting a huge garden... cant wait. thanks for the advice! im bookmarking this page!
         
        Jul. 27, 2009 1:19 pm
        I'm very happy with this tips&advice. I'm going to have my own herbs. WOW.
         
        Aug. 17, 2009 5:48 am
        I planted a few herbs this year from seedlings that I purchased from Home Depot. It's amazing how much I've used them and how much $$ I've saved. I purchased just 1 container each of thyme, oregano, mint, basil & parsley for $3 each. The return on them has been incredible! I know a few friends who are constantly buying fresh herb packets from the grocery store for $3 each herb! (compare that to my one time investment of $3/herb!) I got one of the long rectangular windowsill planters & planted 4 of my herbs in there and have kept them out on my small deck. I'm actually getting ready to do a summer planting for a new set of herbs from seeds so that I can have some fresh dill & parsley & basil for the fall. I highly recommend growing your own herbs.
         
        Sep. 4, 2009 7:14 pm
        WONDERFUL! This website just gets better and better! I have been needing this advice. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
         
        Ann Supporting Member (Click to learn more about Supporting Membership)
        Dec. 27, 2009 12:27 pm
        I have a lot of windows in my dining/kitchen area, I grow basil, parsley, lemon balm, rosemary, garlic chives, sage. Did you know you can make a sage rinse for brunettes and it colors the gray without all those chemicals from hair color? and you can make drinking soda from lemon balm? and just to add fresh herbs to all your cooking dishes. I love it. Thanks allrecipes for posting this herb subject.
         
        Jan. 12, 2010 7:40 pm
        i love putting herbs and spices to my food when im cooking especially turmeric in my soup or some potato dish coz its helps in a way in my asthma.
         
        Feb. 7, 2010 7:57 am
        Thanks for all of the great advice. I picked up a few packets of seeds last week. Ready to get started. I also picked up catnip seeds so my little indoor buddy can have a little treat as well as it helping her stay out of my patch.
         
         
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