Guide to Cultivating Culinary and Medicinal Herbs at Home
Newbie gardeners often start their journey by cultivating kitchen herbs. Since most herbs are easy to grow in a small space and many are ideal for containers, herb gardening is perfect for those with limited outdoor area. Plus, growing herbs can save you a bundle compared to store-bought!
In this guide, we'll show you how to grow 11 essential kitchen herbs and 4 medicinal herbs that I grow year after year. We'll also share tips on their uses to inspire you to give them a try.
If you'd prefer to watch a podcast about herb gardening and usage, check out this episode.
The Art of Growing Herbs Successfully
Before we delve into the herbs, let's first clarify the difference between annual and perennial herbs:
- Annual herbs: These plants must be planted every year since they grow, flower, produce seeds, and die as part of their life cycle.
- Perennial herbs: These hardy plants come back year after year, though some may only act as annuals depending on your gardening zone.
Now, let's get growing!
Annual Herbs 🌱
Annual herbs are an excellent starting point for newbies as they're easy to cultivate and care for.
Basil 🌺
- Use: Perfect for making pesto or adding fresh flavor to dishes
- Grow: Sow seeds indoors or outdoors after last frost, harvest leaves regularly
Parsley 🌋
- Use: Garnish, salads, soups; rich in vitamins
- Grow: Sow seeds in spring; prefers rich, moist soil
Dill 🌿
- Use: Pickles, fish, salads; aids digestion
- Grow: Sow directly in garden; self-seeds easily
Cilantro
- For those starting out in herb gardening, annual herbs are an excellent choice due to their ease in cultivation and care.
- Basil, a popular annual herb, is perfect for making pesto or adding fresh flavor to dishes when grown at home.
- Parsley, another annual herb, is not only great for garnishing and adding to salads and soups but is also rich in essential vitamins.
- Dill, useful for pickles, fish, and salads, also aids digestion and can be grown directly in the garden, self-seeding easily.
- To further enhance your lifestyle and save costs, consider growing cilantro at home, which adds a unique flavor to many food-and-drink recipes. Additionally, gardening can extend to home-and-garden hobbies, and for the fashion-and-beauty conscious, garden printables and garden planner tools can provide a touch of personalized style in your herb garden.
