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Organic Herbs: Your Indoor Garden

Organic herbs are the perfect recipe for your indoor garden. Most herbs are small and will grow very well in pots or window boxes that you can place in a sunny spot in your kitchen, living room or bedroom.

Others, like bay, need a larger pot but will happily grow indoors and provide a beautiful leafy corner in your home. With the wider spreading large herbs like rosemary and lavender, you may be able to find dwarf varieties that will grow in pots on the window sill.

Even if you have a big garden outside, there are advantages to growing your herbs indoors. First, you do not have far to go when you want to add a taste of your favorite herb to a dish that you are cooking. You do not have to brave the cold or wet weather, either. Just pluck a few leaves and throw them in the pot.

Second, some herbs such as mint can be invasive and take over your whole garden if you are not careful, popping up all over the lawn and overwhelming their smaller defenseless neighbors. You have to grow them in a pot if you want to be able to control them at all, so you may as well have them in the house where you know they cannot cause any trouble.

Growing herbs in the house will also bring their fresh natural fragrances into your home. It is like having your home permanently scented with essential oils. You can put plants that smell good together into the same room. Almost every herb can find a place in your house.

Lavender is traditionally used around clothes and in the bedroom. Stronger smelling herbs that you often use in your own cooking will be best in the kitchen, both for convenience and to give the room the scent of your own cooking. Some plants will prefer the damper atmosphere of the bathroom, some will like to be where it is warm, others prefer cooler spots and part shade.

It is fun, too. You will naturally take good care of the plants because you will see them every day. If you have kids, you can involve them in the process and have them look after some of the plants or help you water or pick them. You may find that your cooking becomes more adventurous as you are tempted to use more of the new and different herbs that you are growing.

And since you are growing them in the house, why not go organic? This is the best solution for all of your food and it is easy enough to do. Most of the pests and airborne diseases that can plague your garden plants will not be found in the house. So all you have to do is buy organic herb seeds and potting soil, avoid using chemical fertilizers, and you have your indoor organic herbs.

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To think of walking in an herb garden, with the delicate scents wafting up with each step is something out of a fairy tale. You can create your own fairy tale setting right in the back yard.

There are so many things to consider when you decide to plant an herb garden. The first is location. You need to remember that most of the plants in this garden are going to be used in the kitchen. The best place to put them would be by the kitchen.

It is always best to choose a section in the yard close to the door. You may want to have the fresh herbs available for cooking but easy access is always a key role in how many of them actually make it to the stewing pot. When the herbs are right within walking distance of the kitchen you are more likely to run out and pick a few leaves to use. If you have to go all the way to the back of the yard, you may not feel so inclined to add that particular flavoring to your dish.

You do not need acres of land to have a fantastic herb garden. You can have more than enough space for the most common herbs in a five foot square area. You must remember the fact that herbs tend to spread rapidly when growing. You can start out with five feet and within a few short months have the entire section full.

A sunny location is a good choice for your herb garden. One that gets partial shade in the afternoon is best. Herbs love the sun, but too much can make them wither or sprout up and go to seed quickly. Once an herb goes to seed, it can become woody. However when you do not allow the plant to have the light of the full sun, you can have spindly little plants. This is not what you want in an herb garden.

Along with proper growth is the essential oils that give the herbs their wonderful flavors and aromas. In the full sun the plants are able to develop luscious green foliage and intense oils. The flavors will come bursting out when you use them in the kitchen.

The bottom line to choosing where your garden is going to go is location, location, location. The right one will make all the difference.

You will find that because most natural herbs were once weeds, and in some cases still considered as such, they will grow in almost any soil. You must remember that they are plants and as such must be treated accordingly. You should use a natural fertilizer if you can. The herbs like to have a more neutral type of soil. Just by adding some dead leaf compost and tilling it under when planting can make the herb garden grow better than ever.

The better quality of the soil, the better your herb garden will grow. However, most herbs will grow anywhere. As a matter of fact, you may find they will grow right out of the nice bed you have prepared for them and into the lawn. There is an actual benefit to this; the smell is fantastic when you are mowing the lawn. Just walking past and brushing up against the fragrant leaves releases a wonderful aroma into the air.

The main problem many new gardeners face is what to plant and what to leave out. It is not advisable to try every herb all at once. The best way to enjoy your culinary garden is to choose four or five hardy varieties of an herb you will use in the kitchen. This will allow you to get started with the basics of growing an herb garden. It is a great experience which you will be able to enjoy year ’round.

Some of the more hardy varieties include basil, oregano, and mint. Most herbs are hardy enough to be grown anywhere in the country. There are some which are only going to grow in the more tropical climates. You should check the hardiness zones of the plants you want to grow before you purchase them. This can save you from disappointment.

Growing your herb garden is not hard at all. Most of the herbs tend to themselves.

When you finally decide on a sunny area for the garden, make sure it is tilled up smoothly. The rich dirt can be bolstered with nutrients if you like. A standard garden fertilizer is all you need.

You can either start the plants in the house during the winter, six weeks before the last frost, or you can sow the seeds directly into the ground. You must make sure if you start the seeds in the house, the plants are hardy and can take being transplanted.

Many herb gardeners often discover themselves with many more herbs than they know what to do with throughout the growing season. Sometimes this happens because it was the first time herbs were planted, and the gardener didn’t realize just how quickly and prolifically herbs can grow. Other times though, experienced gardeners simply can’t resist adding new plants to their gardens, so they too find themselves with many more herbs than they can actually use.

There are many things which can be done with the extra herbs you’re growing though, and one of the easiest and most popular is to simply make flavored oils and salad dressings from them. You can then store these away in your own pantry for use throughout the year, or you can give them away to friends and family for holiday gifts too.

Herbal flavored vinegar is one of the easiest things to make from your home grown herbs, and these can be used for salad dressings, mixed into mayonnaise or butter to create different flavors, and used in sauces and on all kinds of different appetizers. Herbal vinegars can even be spread on bread themselves, to create a different taste than just putting plain butter or margarine on the bread.

Some herbs need to be dried before you make flavored oils or dressings with them, and others can be used fresh. You can dry herbs by putting them into a brown paper bag, and hanging them upside down in a cool, dark place such as your pantry. You can also just use a food dehydrator too.

To use fresh herbs for flavored vinegar, just wash them and then dry them well with a paper towel. Chop or crush them up a bit, then put them into sterilized jars or bottles. Fill your jars or bottles about one third full with your fresh herbs.

Boil either regular or apple cider vinegar on the stove, then pour that into your bottles and jars carefully. Fill the jar to within a fingers width or so of the top, then set it aside to cool. Once it’s cooled some, then seal your jars and bottles tightly, and sit them in the refrigerator.

You’ll leave these jars in the fridge for at least one to two weeks so the herbs have time to fully release all their flavor. After that you can strain the herbs out so that your flavored vinegar will last longer. Keep the final results refrigerated and use for whatever you’d like. The newly flavored vinegar should last several months… unless of course you use it all up before then!

Planting a themed herb garden is another excellent way to start your own garden without too much fuss or hassle. And you can reap the rewards by eating the herbs you choose to grow. These are great gardens to help children grow as well, since herbs tend to grow quickly and can be used from the time they’re small sprouts.

You can grow herbs based on your own personal preferences of course, such as those you like to cook with or those you like to put into your own salads and other meals. Another fun way to grow an herb garden though, is by creating themes.

You could for instance, create an Italian herb garden for use in your Italian based meals and sauces. An Italian herb garden could include basil, garlic, onions, sage, chervil, parsley, and other herbs which are commonly used in Italian meals.

Another excellent themed herb garden might not seem like an herb garden at first, but it is: A spicy herb garden, or a Mexican herb garden. This theme would include herbs which tend to be very spicy and hot such as green and red chili peppers such as cayenne, jalepeno peppers, horseradish root, cilantro, coriander, cumin, and any other spicy or hot herbs you can think of. This type of herb garden is also sometimes called a chili garden, because it’s often used for making soup and Texas-style chili.

Then there is the herbal tea garden theme, which is another very popular one to grow. An herbal tea garden grows a wide variety of herbs which are often used for making tea. You can grow standard tea itself, along with flavored varieties such as lemon grass or lemon balm, spearmint, peppermint, chammomile, Echinacea, Angelica, Anise, catnip, red clover, lavendar, rosemary, thyme, and too many others to list in just one article. Generally, any herb can actually be used for tea, but not all of them will taste well as a tea of course. So select a few to start with, and grow your tea garden as you desire.

One other type of herb garden you might want to try is a medicinal herb garden. Just about all herbs which are used for foods and teas have medicinal properties of some kind, and many are excellent for a wide variety of purposes. Garlic is a must grow herb for any medicinal herb garden, and you’ll love having Echinacea on hand for the cold and flu season too. Try your hand at a variety though, and again, just expand your themed herb gardens as desired.