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| Photo Credit: Megan Bame |
| The size and shape of your herb containers don’t matter much, but be sure to place your herbs where they’ll get a lot of sun. |
Nothing spices up your meals or gives you greater gardening pride than growing your own fresh herbs. Herbs are generally easy-to-grow, and they give, give, give all season long – that is if you routinely harvest snippets for the kitchen.
With most common culinary herbs, like rosemary and basil, it’s the leaves, rather than the flowers or seeds, which are used for flavoring. That’s why it’s important to keep cutting back the plant tips as you harvest. This deters flowering that may delay the growth of new leaves. Cutting back also encourages your herbs to send out new branches, which ultimately produce more leaves for harvest and keeps the plant compact. | Add Photo to Journal |  | | Photo Credit: Megan Bame | | Select your herbs based on your culinary uses and palate preferences. |
Though you can certainly grow herbs in a traditional in-ground herb garden, they make ideal container plants, too. To get the most out of your herbs, gardening chefs say the key to using them is making them easily accessible to your kitchen – just outside your door, they recommend. Containers can make this possible! But remember, most herbs prefer full sun, so keep that in mind when selecting a location.
When choosing which herbs to grow, try to think of what ingredients you use most. My mother-in-law loves baking rosemary chicken. My husband wouldn’t dream of making salsa without cilantro. I harvest dill seed as a key ingredient in my pickled okra. Consider adding a flavor kick to your favorite sandwich by replacing the lettuce with sweet basil. Of course, this awesome herb is also revered for its place in easy-to-make pesto. And just think what a sophisticated treat it would be to add a sprig of parsley to your guests’ entrées.
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