How did you start your herb garden?

[ZacchaeusCrawford]

I started my herb garden from seed packets in the $1 bin at Target. My 10 year old sister and I were prousing through the goodies, and I stumbled upon oregano, chive, & basil seeds. (and spruce tree seeds)

As a child I was given a pink-polka dot plant from a family friend with piglet on it, which I grew to an enormous mass of plants above the kitchen sink. Finding indoor gardening restrictive I moved to planting different types of flowers around the perameter of our house of bulbs and seeds. Now having learned the greatness of cooking and the glory of an herb baked dish I have combined my love for growing with a useful culinary skill.

My basil plants did amazing, they are about 3 feet tall, are busy and gigantic. This amazed me. Thinking they would have died from the monsoon like florida rain we had this summer, I moved the plants I thought were going to die from being waterlogged underneath our glass outside table, and accidentally created an insta-green house! The basil plants flourished like some alien plant with the will to take over the planet. They are now divided between five very large flower pots, and I am just starting to harvest the pods for the seeds for my next summer's grow. (any storage tips? I'm using a baby food jar)

My oregano had started out extremely slow. even now after seven months I still haven't had enough of a production to use them regularly in my cooking. I transplanted one of them in the sandy ground when I broke the pot it was in with the water hose, and immediately the leaves are three times bigger, much darker and growing more rapid than ever. All but one are now in the ground. I am surprised these have survived.

My chives are coming along, I should have kept them together after transplanting (really what happened, the giga-basil killed most of them, starving them of their light), only a handful remain alive from the several hundred that seemed to have sprouted initially, but just like my grandpa, I like to eat them right off the garden (pruning!). Yummy!

I invested in buying rosemary and thyme from wal-mart. Overall my project has costed me all of $60 or so. A small price to pay. I have wowed my family and friends with unique dishes each with a story to tell, and have even had the opportunity to share my wealth of knowledge in culinary arts with my sister, of whom I have come to expect a delicious and creative meal from. Her 11 month old baby LOVES the basil! In her walker the plants tower above her. Very amusing.

I love watching the bees pollenate my basil plants. I feel so in tune with nature!

-+thanks for reading+-



My Rosemary with dangly shell(ETA)
[img]https://img8.imageshack.us/img8/672/1110090221.jpg[/img]

[SP8]

Sounds like you've got a good thing going there, well done!

My basil plants did amazing, any storage tips?

If you like pesto you can always make up a heap of batches and freeze them.

My oregano had started out extremely slow. even now after seven months I still haven't had enough of a production to use them regularly in my cooking.

Yes oregano is notoriously slow to mature. I've had mine going for 5 months and it's only now just getting to the stage where I fell confident that it will survive a pruning.

Keep up the good work and remember the old line that 'a picture paints a 1000 words'

[rainbowgardener]

Re storing the seeds, glass jars and plastic tend to accumulate moisture and then your seeds rot or mold. Try just putting them in paper envelopes, then put the envelopes in the frig til you need them.

Re storing the basil. I love pesto and I have 8 dinner size baggies of it in my freezer right now. But I also dry some of the basil for winter use. Rubber band the cut stems together and hang them upside down inside a paper bag. I hook the rubber band over a regular clothes hanger, then put the top of the hanger through the bottom of a grocery bag. Voila the herbs are upside down inside the bag and I can easily hang them in the laundry room. In a few days the basil should be dry (once it feels crisp). Then you can pull the leaves off the stems and store them (the leaves!), which I do use regular glass spice jars for.

[SP8]

But I also dry some of the basil for winter use. Rubber band the cut stems together and hang them upside down inside a paper bag. I hook the rubber band over a regular clothes hanger, then put the top of the hanger through the bottom of a grocery bag. Voila the herbs are upside down inside the bag and I can easily hang them in the laundry room. In a few days the basil should be dry (once it feels crisp). Then you can pull the leaves off the stems and store them (the leaves!), which I do use regular glass spice jars for.

Yep easy-peasy to do:

https://veggie-might-sp8.blogspot.com/2009/08/drying-and-storing-herbs.html