Know your tastes, grow your tastes. Step one is all about herbs; decide what to grow. This should be determined by your cooking preferences and tastes. A great way to get ideas is to open your cookbooks. Look at what you and your family enjoy eating, the ingredients in the recipes are good herbs to start with? If you check the ingredients, you will find the herbs you use most often listed there. Another idea starter is to check the spice shelf at your local grocery. If you still aren't sure, a good bet is to go with some of the more popular herbs. Parsley probably tops the list. Used mostly as a garnish, it has a mild flavor and can be used in almost any dish. The best herbs for starters are chives, thyme, sage, mint, marjoram, basil, cilantro, and savory.



Seeds or seedlings?

You can buy herbs two ways. If you prefer to start from scratch and have the patience, seeds may be purchased. If you want to get off to a quicker start, you can buy all herbs as seedlings.

Site selection.

Herbs can be grown no matter where you live. When you grow herbs indoors, you don't have to worry if it is too cold or hot to grow herbs at home. You can plant a garden outdoors, or on a baker's rack in pots, or for a nice effect, in flower boxes or small containers indoors. Drainage is an important consideration in site selection, whether you grow herbs outdoors or grow herbs indoor. Herbs will not grow in wet soils. You want the soil to be moist, but over-saturation is harmful to the plants. If planting outdoors in the ground, you will want to dig about a foot into the soil. Layer the bottom with crushed stone or pottery shards. Then mix some sand or compost before filling back with the removed soil. This will improve drainage. For growing indoor herbs, make sure your location gets lots of sun. In winter, or for lack of sunlight, "grow lamps" are helpful. For drainage, place small pebbles at the bottom of the planter then fill with potting soil, mixed with a little sand. Make sure you have a container under the planter to catch the runoff water. You can grow better herbs by making sure they get plenty of sunlight, 6 hours per day at least.

Care for your herbs.

Keep the soil moist, not drenched, by watering every few days. Bring plants indoors when frost is expected, or cover with a sheet. Don't drench the soil since this will make the roots soggy and stunt the growth. For outdoor gardens, make sure to weed as they appear. You may use a fertilizer every couple of weeks if you wish, but it is not necessary. If you are growing indoors, you may want to move your plants to a garden outside in spring for best results.

The easy way to get started.

If growing herbs at home sounds like too much work, you can find starter kits to make it easy. Once you get started, have fun...if you do, you'll learn why it is hot to grow herbs at home!