Garden In Kitchen? Homegrown Plants You Can Use In Cooking!

Are you thinking about growing a kitchen herb garden so you can eat tastier meals that are more beneficial to your health or perhaps just as an interesting hobby? Well, there is certainly no lack of herbs that you can grow right on your windowsill. In fact, you may be overwhelmed by all of the choices available to you.

While growing an herb garden may seem like a nice, domestic thing to do, there are other advantages to it besides improving your health and adding flavor to your meals, two of which are lowering your grocery bill and ensuring that all of your herbs are fresh. Once you start your herb garden, you will be glad you did and you just may want to expand to an outdoor garden.

Cultivating Your Kitchen Herb Garden

Herbs are surprisingly easy to grow indoors either in fabric containers or window-boxes. The important thing is to make sure they have plenty of sunlight and the soil is not water-logged.

You’ll find that herbs can usually be grown from seed collections or transplants either bought at a garden center or given to you by fellow herb enthusiasts. Here are some of the herbs you should make sure to have in your culinary garden.

Parsley

Parsley is an easy to grow herb that can increase the flavor of your foods. People don’t usually think much about parsley, considering it merely a decorative herb you sprinkle over food, but you’ll find that it can be useful as more than a garnish in certain foods, such as stews, salads, potatoes and pasta aiding in balancing the taste. It isn’t very particular and can be planted in either full sunlight or partial shade.

You may not know this, but parsley can help with digestion too and provides Vitamins A and C.

Basil

Basil is a widely used culinary herb due to its warm, sweet flavor. It goes well in salads and sauces and is a staple in Italian cooking. There are many types to choose from and it can be grown either from seed collectionsor garden center seedlings.

Basil also is beneficial to your health carrying antioxidants and helping to prevent low blood sugar.

Rosemary

This is a remarkably tasty herb with a wonderfully aromatic scent, ideal for adding to foods such as meats, poultry, and vegetables. Unless you’re extremely patient, however, it’s best not to grow rosemary from seed because it grows very slowly. Keep the soil a little dry and don’t overwater and your plant should thrive.

Chives

Chives belong to the garlic family, have a mild onion taste and make an excellent addition to eggs, potatoes, fish, and soups. They have plenty of beta carotene and Vitamin C. Because chives take months to grow from seeds it’s best to buy some plants from a nursery and grow them in a container.

Thyme

Because it’s low-growing thyme is ideal to raise in a container. It’s very popular in the Mediterranean, and the best types for culinary purposes are lemon thyme and common thyme. Lemon thyme, as you might expect has a sharp citrus flavor, smells wonderful and is ideal for any type of chicken or roast vegetables.

Oregano

Belonging to the mint family oregano is native to the Mediterranean and Eurasia. It is used primarily to add flavor to Italian American cuisine. Should you want oregano with a stronger flavor you can try growing Greek Oregano.

This plant is ideal for growing in containers and goes well with salads and pizza.

Sage

This is a fragrant herb that makes a fantastic seasoning for sauces, meats, and vegetables. While it is a great herb, you do need to be careful about how much you use because sage can overwhelm other flavors. Sage isn’t at all difficult to grow and is basically easy to take care of.

It aids in relieving inflammation, healing cuts and helps improve memory.

Cilantro/Coriander

Other names for cilantro are coriander leaf or Chinese parsley. Its intense flavor makes it ideal for putting into many spicy foods such as Mexican, Indian, and Chinese dishes and chili. The seeds of this plant are called coriander.

Dill

If you love its distinctive smell and flavor, this aromatic plant is a must for your culinary herb garden. Dill leaves are finely chopped and put into soups, fish, potatoes, and even eggs, while the seeds are used in pickling.

You can plant seed collections in large containers and have a large supply. One variety that is compact and thus perfect for containers is ‘Fernleaf’.

Dill has several health benefits. Besides helping with digestion, it gets rid of bad breath and lessens the effects of swelling and cramps.

Mint

Mint comes in different varieties and if you grow it you should keep in mind that it’s called an invasive plant. It will spread far and wide outdoors so the best place for it is inside in containers. It makes a tasty addition to drinks such as mint juleps or iced tea.

It makes a great freshener for bad breath and can also calm and soothe the stomach.

Growing culinary herbs inside is a truly great idea and one that can be very successful without requiring a large amount of time and effort on your part. Whether in a variety of containers both small and large, or sunning themselves on your windowsill, they make an attractive and often fragrant addition to your kitchen. Plus, it’s a lot more convenient to have your favorite herbs nearby and available for adding to cooking rather than having to go outside and collect them whenever you want to use them.

Another convenience is the fact that you can cultivate fresh herbs all year long, so you never have to worry about using dried or frozen herbs in your meals. It’s fresh all the way and the enhanced taste it provides for you and your family. So go ahead and start your own herb garden right there in the kitchen and enjoy its many benefits.