So you don’t think you have a green thumb and you have even been know to kill a fake house plant or two? Have you ever priced out buying dried herbs and your mouth fell open? Have you ever tasted the difference between fresh and dried herbs and wondered where they’ve been all your life? Anyone can grow them easily and everyone should. Here are 7 Easy Herbs For Beginners To Grow and may use everyday while cooking.
Basil- Basil is very easy to grow. It can be grown in containers or directly in the ground. It prefers a rich, average moisture content and loves full sun.
If you want a bushier more full plant, pinch off the top leaves at about 6 inches in height. Keep in from flowering as long as possible to make it’s flavor and smell more intense.
Mint- Mint usually grows like a weed in most places and is one of the easiest herbs to grow. Decent soil and full to partial sun is best with occasional watering if it looks a bit wilted.
Like basil, just nip off the top leaves if you want a bushier more full plant.
It’s one of those must have herbs that you’ll use all the time.
Lynne says
If you decide to grow mint, best to do so in a container and not in the ground. It can get very invasive left to its own devices.
Nikki Krakauer says
Trust me….Lynne isn’t kidding!!! My neighbors mint *invaded* our yard, and eradicating it was a *major* undertaking!!!
Tracy Rainey says
I heard mint should be grown in containers for that very reason
Dee says
I bet the yard smells good once the grass is cut, and you don’t have to be worried about mosquitoes
SB says
My sister gave me some chervil plugs to plant a few years ago and it was delicious! It’s like a delicate parsley and was so good in eggs. I highly recommend for something slightly different. It did great where she lives in VT and where I live MA. I need to look for some again this year!
Jamie says
Nasturtium are also very easy to grow, the peppery taste is excellent in salads!
Kathy says
Have you ever eaten chive flowers? They have a light oniony flavor and are great in salads!
Torry says
One really good thing about mint is that ants don’t like it! I swear I am going to put it all the way around my house as a “hedge of protection.”
Karen says
My favorite and most frequently used in my cooking are thyme and rosemary!
HollyG says
We use quite a bit of thyme, rosemary, dill and bay in addition to some of those you mentioned.
Cindy Brick says
I bought a few mint plants, and was cautioned by the seller that they were very “delicate.” So I planted them by the downspout, and lavished TLC until they were established.
Ha.
By the end of the first season, they were beating up the rest of the plants in that bed. By the second, they were heading for an adjacent bed, to bully THOSE plants. (Including Queen Anne’s Lace my dad had brought for me from Michigan, while scoffing that those were “weeds.”) By season three, we got the uneasy feeling that they were applying for statehood…and trying to figure out a way to get in the bedroom, so they could choke us in our sleep.
So much for delicacy.
I gave a few plants to our daughter, who lives up in the mountains — those plants somehow found an open spot on the cabin foundation, and ended up growing into the bathroom! These are sneaky stuff.
Catmint is just as bad, though yes, the cats love it. And it is easy to grow.
On the plus side, I would say rosemary is quite easy to grow, especially if you live in a warmer state and plant it by a brick or stone wall. When we were in southern Arizona during the winter months, I saw huge bushes of blooming rosemary doing just fine, snuggled up against adobe.
We generally have too-cold weather to get away with this in Colorado, though it grows well in the summer. I did leave a bush in place, surrounded by big rocks, to see if it would survive. Not sure yet whether it did…or not.
DC says
You are hilarious. You should write more commentaries about various herbs & their habits.