slo’s FRIDAY 6/12 poll - Herb Garden 🪴

[LoveSpringsteen]

I don’t currently have an herb garden, but have grown basil, parsley and cilantro in the past. Like @ronandannette, I’ve picked up a basil plant at the grocery store and kept that going for several months. The plant is about the same price as the packaged basil at my store.

 

[bettertheangel]

I grow an herb garden in pots on my apartment balcony. I have basil, Thai basil, lavender, rosemary, and thyme right now. I use the basil for margherita pizza or pesto, the Thai basil for drunken noodle, lavender to keep the mosquitos away, and rosemary and thyme for pot roast or Shepherd's pie. It can be easy to overdo it, but it's just like learning to use dried herbs--you get a feel for it with repeated uses.

 

[E&Cmom]

We have a herb garden in a raised garden bed. DH bought it a few years ago at Costco and loves it. He grews several type of herbs in it.

 

[leebee]

I always say I'm going to have an herb garden but never get around to it. I usually pick up a pot of basil at TJ's (which I can keep growing for 6 or more months) and that's it. I have some chives in the garden, but we rarely eat them. I keep them because they remind me of my mom, and because the purple flowers in May and June are pretty. DD has mint at her house, planted in a barrel so they have some sort of control over it!

 

[RedAngie]

I have basil, oregano, rosemary, and marjoram growing in pots on my back deck.

 

[easyas123]

We have had herbs planted in previous garden areas, and they've come back (mostly cilantro, rosemary and parsley I think) that my husband will look for and try to baby along every year. For a while he remembers not to mow them and then one day...all gone.

 

[TippyThomas]

My mom always had one but I don't cook enough to need one these days.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I love fresh herbs but we don't do as much these days, it is mostly basil and oregano. I do love a nice spearmint and rosemary too but they are tough to keep alive indoors. These 4 are the spices I use most frequently that are easiest to keep alive. A bit of oregano goes in nearly everything from taco to chicken, it is much lighter and less pungent when fresh so a pinch never tastes out of place. Fresh rosemary has really grown on me too, it smells lovely and adds nice flavor to most baked dishes, is great on potatoes in the oven, a pork loin and I even save the stems for flavor in my chicken soup. Basil is lovely in tomato sauce or in a summer salad with tomato and cucumber and Pesto is easy peasy no cook sauce great with pasta, over zoodles or rice with a protein - even on a baked potato. The mint is yum in a mojito but also in any kind of greek or middle eastern dish like a tabbouleh, even to just crush it and drop into a glass of water - the smell is so calming.

 

[CGB]

I've had a herb garden in the ground for years. Right now, I have cilantro, basil, parsley and oregano. The cilantro and oregano grow without any help from me. The cilantro is fussy and grows when it wants to. It should be dying soon. It doesn't like hot weather.

I plant several parsley plants because the Black Swallowtail butterfly lays its eggs on the parsley plants every year. It takes a lot of parsley to feed the hungry caterpillars. And I need parsley, too.

I had butterflies invade my parsley one year and almost demolished my plant. I was worried about the caterpillars, so I actually bought bunches of parsley to feed them. DH thought I was crazy!

 

[CGB]

I've had herbs growing in pots for a few years. My parsley is in a hanging basket and I've already had two harvests from it this year! I also have rosemary, oregano, thyme and basil. I usually bring my herbs in during the winter and near a sunny sliding door. Fresh basil is by far my favorite. I've recently had to take my herb pots out to the vegetable garden because the deck just doesn't get enough sun these days.

Another easy "herb/seasoning" are celery leaves. I like to use younger-but-mature leaves from celery (when I'm chopping up a bunch) and dry them in the oven. They're great to add to soups that use chopped celery.

 

[amcnj]

I had butterflies invade my parsley one year and almost demolished my plant. I was worried about the caterpillars, so I actually bought bunches of parsley to feed them. DH thought I was crazy!

Ha ha! I used to get the same thing. Mine were black swallowtail butterflies. They also liked the dill and fennel plants I had. And one fall we bought several marked down plants in pots because the caterpillars ate all I had and hadn’t started to pupate yet.

One year I brought a pot of something in over winter, and apparently a chrysalis was hiding under the rim. Eventually a swallowtail hatched inside the house.

 

[HopperFan]

I have herbs in pots out back, in pots out front, in my garden in front of my house and starting some of them in my hydroponic system. The plus of filling my front garden with all different herbs is not only is is pretty with different colors and textures but my deer do not eat herbs like if I had planted flowers. Some of mine have pretty flowers so I still get colors too. We cut and use them in cooking, super fresh and much cheaper. I have herb savers for my fridge. Things like lavender I use for the fragrance. Each year I grow more, trying new ones.

My rosemary, lavendar, Texas Sage, lemon balm and others come back every year.

 

[BayouQueen]

I really enjoy growing herbs and using them in my cooking. Summer is a joy for that. I use pots, raised beds, and the ground. Right now I have lavender, basil, Bay tree, sage, Mexican oregano, cilantro, parsley, Greek oregano, rue, rosemary, thyme, chervil, tarragon, summer savory, lemon verbena, spearmint and peppermint. I think that's it. A lot of them land in marinades or salad dressings.
I love herbs!

 

[ronandannette]

I've had herbs growing in pots for a few years. My parsley is in a hanging basket and I've already had two harvests from it this year! I also have rosemary, oregano, thyme and basil. I usually bring my herbs in during the winter and near a sunny sliding door. Fresh basil is by far my favorite. I've recently had to take my herb pots out to the vegetable garden because the deck just doesn't get enough sun these days.

Another easy "herb/seasoning" are celery leaves. I like to use younger-but-mature leaves from celery (when I'm chopping up a bunch) and dry them in the oven. They're great to add to soups that use chopped celery.

LOVE celery leaves!! I make sure there are some (usually on the smaller, tender stalks in the middle) on every bunch of celery I buy. Chicken soup just wouldn't be the same without them and they're that "special little something" when chopped and added fresh to a salad where chunks of actual celery won't do.

 

[HopperFan]

I really enjoy growing herbs and using them in my cooking. Summer is a joy for that. I use pots, raised beds, and the ground. Right now I have lavender, basil, Bay tree, sage, Mexican oregano, cilantro, parsley, Greek oregano, rue, rosemary, thyme, chervil, tarragon, summer savory, lemon verbena, spearmint and peppermint. I think that's it. A lot of them land in marinades or salad dressings.
I love herbs!

I love all this, inspired to expand. This year's new project was the hydroponic and I am learning, and getting excited about being able to easily start given plant prices at nursery.

Goal this year is homemade dressings. I bought the glass bottles, just need plants big enough. Maybe some pickles when the cucumbers come in, I planted dill for the first time.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I have never tried gardening myself. I don't think I have the patience.

 

[Sweettears]

Combination of pots and ground..


Ground

Dill
Parsley
Sage
Oregano
Chives
Thyme

Pots

Basil
Rosemary