I'd suggest starting from plants instead of seeds ~ starting herbs from seed is most often more difficult and not worth the hassle when you can pick up perfectly good starter plants from the local nursery for about the same price as a packet of seeds. Just look for plants that have a thick base stem coming up out of the dirt, and obviously looks healthy - not yellow, wilted, or broken. Usually Home Depot, Lowe's, Fred Meyer or even your grocery store will have herbs for sale like this during the summer in 4" pots that you can pick up for $3-5. (Not sure what equivalent stores there are out East.) The 4-inch size is perfect for the window-sill.
The next step is deciding what herbs to grow. When I began growing herbs I thought I should just grab one of each willy-nilly-style and ended up with things that had names I couldn't pronounce and smells I wasn't sure I wanted in my food! I suggest starting with herbs that are familiar to you and that you know you will eat. Of course, the Italian trifecta of basil, oregano, and thyme are very popular, as are sage and rosemary.
Basil is my favorite herb, and I think the easiest to grow. I love basil and will definitely be picking up a few plants as soon as I see them on the shelves at the local nursery. The thing to know about basil, though, is that it will eventually die-off and you buy new plants each year. You can keep it going quite long if you continue to pick leaves off of it, though, because that promotes new growth. Just pick off the largest leaves, leaving the rest to continue growing. Repeat every week or two. Just buy more plants if you think you'll use a lot. You don't want to strip the plant of all of its leaves - it will take too much energy to grow that many at a time and might be the end of your yummy plant.
Oregano is another that is pretty easy, but whereas basil is soft through the stem Oregano becomes woody and is like a small bush. It can get pretty big if it has room to grow, so you can put it in a 12" pot on your porch and have a nice little topiary-looking plant that you can take clippings from for your Italian-flavored dishes.
Thyme is very a similar type of plant to Oregano. Sage I have always found odd because the leaves are a little fuzzy and, like Rosemary, it really has a particular flavor and therefor is only used for certain types of dishes. I rarely cook with Sage or Rosemary, so it probably isn't worth my time to grow them. Rosemary is very woody and will grow into large bushes, like Oregano.
(Crocus growing up in my thyme right now...)
Obviously, it depends on the area you live as to what will survive outside, but plants can always be put outside during the summer and brought indoors during the cold months.
The next step is starting your own salad garden... I'll blog on that next time!!
Today I'll leave you with a simple recipe for Bruschetta, which is my favorite way of enjoying fresh Basil!
BRUSCHETTA:
Ingredients:
- Fresh Basil leaves
- Olive oil
- Minced or chopped garlic
- Tomatoes
- Salt
Directions:
- Stack basil leaves on top of each other, then roll lengthwise into a tight little roll (think cigar). Slice thinly starting at the end. The result is wonderful little ribbons of basil and the whole lot is cut up in 30-seconds!
- Chop the freshest tomatoes and garlic you can find and throw them into the bowl with the basil.
- Drizzle olive oil over the whole lot of it, salt it good, and let it sit to meld all the flavors.
- Pile into crisp or grilled bread slices... heaven.
*I didn't include any amounts because I really think this recipe depends on taste, so eyeball it and experiment for what you prefer.
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