GardenMaid| An Introduction to Herb Gardening

An Introduction to Herb Gardening

Herbs have practical value, serve a purpose, and with herb gardening you can actually use your plants. When most people think of herb gardening they automatically think of cooking, but herbs are also grown for their pleasant aroma and their beauty.

Herbs are versatile. They adapt to a wide variety of growing mediums. The flourish in the garden, as an add-on to a flower bed, and most of them do quite well in containers.

My personal favorite is Chives. Chives are very petite looking and resemble a blade of grass. They are much stronger than they look, however, and will grow well through a drought. Their toughness and sturdiness makes Chives a perfect plant for herb gardening, especially if the gardener doesn't want plants that require a lot of hassle. Chives are good used in salads, egg dishes, and many different sauces. During their second year they will reward you with lovely lavender blooms.

Mint is also very simple to grow and is good to use in mint jelly, mint juleps, lemonade, and any other kind of fruity drink. Mint is also good in herb gardening for its unique minty smell. Mint can spread a little more than is desirable. So be careful where you plant it or grown it in a container.

Two herbs that appear in nearly everyone's herb garden are thyme and sage. Both of these herb gardening favorites are used for flavoring soups, chicken, turkey, pork, and other sausages. Sage is also grown sometimes for its beautiful blue spiked flowers.

Other types of herbs often grown in herb gardening include borage (used in salads), chervil (used in egg dishes), sweet marjoram (flavors lamb, fish, salad, and soup), sesame (flavors crackers, cookies, and bread), and dill (flavors meats and used in pickles). Herb gardening allows gardeners to use herbs from their own garden for cooking, looks, and smell. Herb gardening will produce much fresher herbs with more flavor than store-bought herbs, and are a lot cheaper.