Culinary Herb Gardening

Culinary herbs are herbs used in cooking to add flavor. Because they’re strong, culinary herbs are generally used in small quantities. Popular culinary herbs include: parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, chives, savory, marjoram, mint, and basil.

Imagine being able to walk out your kitchen door and pick all the herbs you need to make a tasty, gourmet dinner. A bit of rosemary for your lamp chops, fresh dill for the fish you're baking, oregano leaves for that spaghetti sauce, or basal leaves for your tomato, mozzarella cheese and basal salad. Fresh herbs can make an ordinary dish, extraordinary, and make cooking more exciting. You don't need to be a gourmet cook to enjoy an herb garden, but you may become one if you have the herbs to entice you!

Herb Gardens Take Very Little Space

If you haven’t much space, or are new to gardening, try growing just two or three of your favorite herbs. Plant them in a window box or in planter pots on your porch. Strawberry pots, with their warren of little openings, make great planters when you want to have a tiny, but varied garden.

If you do grow in containers, remember that most herbs won't survive a cold winter outside. Like any container plant, their roots will freeze if the temperatures drop. Most herbs are perennials, which means once they’ve been planted, they will come back year after year, so if you have enough light, try wintering them inside. If that’s not possible, herbs are inexpensive and you can start anew each spring.

Herbs are generally very easy to grow and do well with little care. As they mature,  you’ll probably need to thin them out. They become fuller and produce more, the more you use them.

Drying Herbs

You can also dry herbs for use during the winter. Fresh dried herbs are more flavorful than store-bought herbs because they haven’t been through any commercial processing.

Harvest your herbs just before their flowers first open. It is best to gather them at midday, after the morning dew has evaporated. Gather them carefully so that you don’t bruise the leaves.

Tie them together in bunches and hang them upside down inside where it’s dry and well ventilated. Do not use the sun, your oven or a dehydrator as it tends to weaken their flavor and color. Once they are dry they can be stored in zip lock bags in a dry, dark area. Don’t crumble the herbs until you are ready to use them.

You can also dry the leaves separately. Remove the best leaves from the stems and place them on a paper towel, making sure the leaves do not touch. Cover them with another paper towel and another layer of leaves. Up to five layers can be dried at the same time using an oven that is heated ONLY by the oven or pilot light. Leave them overnight. This works especially well for the large-leafed herbs like mint, bay leaf or basil.

Remember: when you cook with dried herbs, you’ll need less than you do with fresh herbs, because dried herbs tend to have a stronger flavor.