Kitchen Herb Gardening

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.

Basil

Start with seeds or seedlings. See Getting Started below.

Start with seeds.

Start with seeds.

Start with seeds or seedlings.

Start with seedlings.

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

Start with seeds or seedlings.

Start with seedlings.

Start with established plants.

Start with seedlings.

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.

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!