Kitchen

[Carmie]

I grow herbs outside all summer long. In the fall, I cut them and dry or freeze what I can. My rosemary comes back every year and my parsley is good all the year around. I just remove the snow and snip whatever I need. I don't grow any herbs inside.

[Carmie]

On 2/7/2015 phoenixbrd said:

Mary...I LOVE fresh herbs. I keep buying lovely basil plants as I use them in fresh sauces in my blender. However, they seem to need to be replaced frequently as they sprout a flower like growth that is not edible. Am I doing something wrong. TJ's sells beautiful basil plants in season.

As soon as you see flowers on your basil, pinch or cut them off or the flowers will " go to seed" and your plant will dry up and wither. If you do this your basil will last until the first frost.

[auntiEM_1]

I do container herbs on the back porch, but I've never done them in the house. I live in IN so sometimes the herbs winter over and sometimes they are toast. I grow thyme, parsley, basil, rosemary, sage, and cilantro.

I love being able to snip some herbs and have fresh herbs in a dish. I also love just sniffing the thyme! The sage grows well but I use it in so few dishes. I forgot to mention my chives which is the one I rely on the most in cooking. If a recipe calls for green onions and I don't have any, I can always snip some chives and I'm good to go.

I've noticed this winter that the finches have enjoyed the dead basil plants. Apparently there are some tasty seeds on the basil. I'll just pretend I didn't clean out the boxes on purpose so the birds would have a treat!

[Katmary]

On 2/7/2015 phoenixbrd said:

Mary...I LOVE fresh herbs. I keep buying lovely basil plants as I use them in fresh sauces in my blender. However, they seem to need to be replaced frequently as they sprout a flower like growth that is not edible. Am I doing something wrong. TJ's sells beautiful basil plants in season.

Pheonix, in addition to pinching off flowers, I've found because TJs tends to put 4-6 plants per pot, they often do a lot better in a larger pot. It doesn't have to be huge, but a lot of time they tend to be root-bound. Then at the end of the season, you can let them go to seed (let them flower and develop seeds) and take the seeds out once they've turned dark. One flower will give you 4 seeds, more than enough for the next year if you get a dozen or so seeds! Just stick them in pots and you'll be surprised how many sprout. Also, what I tend to do is a final harvest and strip all the good leaves, leaving the flowers so they can seed. I like other flavors too, so I usually have a nice section of basil.

My perennials, thanks to living in Northern CA are Rosemary (have a big patch that came with the house), lemon and regular thyme, oregano, regular and pinapple sage, orange and pepper mints (my chocolate and spearmint died), garlic and regular chives, then annuals of varieties of basil and parsley. I love having fresh dill, but the bugs tend to take it over and after a few years, I finally gave up. I started my first year growing all types of herbs and then slowly learned that while I thought I'd use some, it's easier to buy as needed sometimes. I tried Stevia but the leaves aren't as easy to use in tea and foods than buying the powder, so things like that helped me stop over growing for the most part! There's always something new I want to try!

[Fressa]

I cook with a lot of herbs to cut back on the salt and pepper in our food. I started out with a small herb garden in the kitchen but it was just too tiny for my needs. I then moved the herb garden in a series of hanging baskets on our patio. It was great. I did parsley, oregano, basil, rosemary, sage, thyme, dill and mint. Just before winter I clipped the remainder from the pots and dried them. I had started to put aside empty spice jaws and once dried just put the herbs in the jars. The herbs that I had in large quantities I used my Lock & Lock containers. It worked great!

[Fressa]

I cook with a lot of herbs to cut back on the salt and pepper in our food. I started out with a small herb garden in the kitchen but it was just too tiny for my needs. I then moved the herb garden in a series of hanging baskets on our patio. It was great. I did parsley, oregano, basil, rosemary, sage, thyme, dill and mint. Just before winter I clipped the remainder from the pots and dried them. I had started to put aside empty spice jaws and once dried just put the herbs in the jars. The herbs that I had in large quantities I used my Lock & Lock containers. It worked great!

[jaxs mom]

mint, dill, thyme, rosemary, chives, sage and tarragon. I'd grow cilantro, since it's probably the most used herb at my house but it just bolts so easily that I gave up. Luckily it's cheap and easy to find fresh at the market.

[151949]

I have been growing my own herbs for many years. Parsley, chives, basil and rosemary every year. Occasionally I'll also grow dill and peppermint. My suggestion to anyone who wants to grow herbs is this - grow each one in it's own individual container as they do get rather large and don't be afraid to just cut them back harshly - they do best when being frequently cut. When you grow them together in one planter they tend to literally - grow together. I use a large copper long thin planter and put individual 6" pots in there. They behave better when they each have their own bed to sleep in than when they are all crowded into one.

[gloriajean]

I have an aero garden, and I like growing herbs there, right now I have some cherry tomatoes started - we'll see how that turns out. Last I had lettuce.

In the summer, we always have herbs in our raised garden. Basil, beets (we use beet leaves), collards, kale, mostly. Then I harvest the beet leaves, kale and collard - in the food processor I chop and cook for just a few minutes and freeze by cup fulls and it's great in soups and whatever I want to put it in!!! Tried it once, and will have to keep doing this as it's great! We planted lots and lots of basil, used it all up in tomato basil soup that we canned. Any basil left over, we hang up in the garage by the roots and let dry, then I get the basil off in a container for use.

Also we grow oregano, thyme, rosemary too. We have chives growing all summer long, they come up by themselves. They are also good to freeze with the herbs I freeze together.

[Marsha2003]

I have herbs growing year-round in pots on my deck. I have a bay leaf tree and pots with basil, lemon verbena, oregano, flat leaf parsley, chives, thyme and mint. I have quite a few rosemary and lavender bushes around the house as well as Meyer and Eureka lemon trees. I haven't been successful growing dill. I think it gets too hot on my west-facing deck. I'd also like to try growing some lettuces...maybe this year.