Start a Kitchen Herb Garden
home remodeling articles and tips
by Kathy Hester
There's no better way to show off your deck or curb front renovation than a beautiful herb garden, and nothing is more practical than creating a kitchen herb garden. You get to enjoy the beautiful colors and fragrances on a daily basis, and you get to cook with them too!
If you have a small plot of yard you can place the herbs directly in the ground or in an attractive raised bed. Even if you have a tiny space, you can still arrange a variety of pots and fill them with cooking herbs.
Some herbs are annuals, like basil, and you will need to replant them every year. Other herbs like rosemary, mint, and lavender will come back year after year if they are hardy in your planting zone.
One of the main benefits of growing your own herbs is that you can try varieties you can't buy in any grocery store. I plant pineapple mint, orange mint, and chocolate mint, as well as the typical peppermint and spearmint. The types of basil are amazing: Thai, lime, lemon, purple and more.
Make sure to plan out a place for your most used herbs and try a few new ones while you're at it. Make sure to read up on the herbs you like so you know if they do well in cool weather or warm weather. You can always bring these in or root some cuttings during the seasons they don't do well. Cilantro does great in early spring and late fall, but basil loves the heat which is why pesto is so popular in the summer.
You may just want to add a container of arugula (also known as rocket) to your herb garden. It's a miracle green. You can cook it, make a salad out of it or make pesto with it. In fact, one of my favorite dinner party dishes is arugula pesto made with pistachios over a whole wheat angle hair. I serve it on mix and match square dinnerware to give it a more dramatic feel.
Your herb garden will continue to be a great addition to your home season after seaon.
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