Here’s a question: what makes food good to eat? And the answer: taste! Fresh herbs like oregano (divine on pizzas), thyme (great with fish), basil (delicious in Italian food) and parsley (great on everything!) are a simple and healthy way to make your food taste great, and having a home herb garden is an easy way to have year-round access to your favorite herbs.
The best part of having ready access to fresh herbs in your home is that if you make the food you cook taste good, you and your family will be a lot less tempted to eat fast food or pre-prepared, packaged food, both of which are typically high in harmful salt and fat.
You don’t need a green thumb to grow herbs indoors. In fact all you need to do is follow a few rules. Here are some important ones:
Placement. Because most of the herbs you’ll grow are originally of sunny Mediterranean extraction, they need to be positioned near the brightest window in your house. On a window sill is usually a convenient place (put plates under the pots to protect the woodwork though). Be careful about them getting too much direct sun during hot summer months, but otherwise they will thrive on getting as much light as possible. You may need to install fluorescent grow lights to supplement the natural light if you find that your herbs are not thriving.
Watering. Potted herbs will need to be watered regularly (pour in water slowly until you see it coming out the holes in the bottom of the pot), but it’s very important to let them dry out completely between times. If they wilt, then you’ve let them get too dry, but water will revive them as long as you give it to them as soon as you notice them drooping. If you don’t let your herbs dry out, their roots will rot and they will die very quickly. This is the No.1 killer of all indoor plants. You’ve been warned!
Pest control. Plants get bugs on them from time to time – it’s just a fact of life. You don’t really want to be spraying anything on a plant that you’re planning to eat, so a really simple way to get rid of pests that doesn’t involve sprays is just to fully immerse the plant(s) in water, drowning the pets. Leave them underwater for about 15 minutes to ensure that all the bugs are dead.
So there you go: not too difficult! A little care and attention and you’ll be enjoying fresh, delicious herbs in next to no time. Your food will taste better, you won’t have to add as much salt or oil to your cooking, you’ll be able to throw out those little glass jars of dried herbs… and you’ll feel like a real chef!
Arthur McLay is a herb grower enthusiast and author of the book “The Secrets of Herb Growing”. To learn more about the home herb garden, visit http://www.herbgrowingcenter.com
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