Kitchen Herbs

Popular Kitchen Herbs

Creating a kitchen herb garden is another popular activity for gardener's new and experienced alike. One of the reasons herb gardens are so popular, is because the plants can be grown quickly, and most of them can be clipped and used any time you want them. There's little to no preparation in most cases.

Kitchen herb gardens are wonderful for sprucing up a kitchen window ledge, or placing on a shelf in front of the window too. Many people like to have their kitchen herb gardens right outside the kitchen door instead though, and there are a variety of ways these outdoor gardens can be designed as well.

One popular way to create an outdoor kitchen herb garden is by using an old wagon wheel. By laying the wagon wheel on its side, you can then use the pie shaped wedges between the wheel spokes, to plant different types of herbs for use in your kitchen. This is not only a very quick and simple way to create a garden bed, but it's very helpful for keeping all of your edible and cooking herbs away from other plants in your garden too.

Now, the types of kitchen herbs you choose to plant can vary widely, and usually the decisions are based on what you plan to do with them. If for instance, you really like cooking italian foods, you might choose to plant herbs which are commonly found in spaghetti and marinara sauces. If you like to cook spicey mexican food though, then you might choose to plant herbs which fit more with those types of food dishes instead. Here are a few ideas that may get you started...

Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, and Chives are all popular herbs to plant for use in Italian style cooking and sauces. All of these herbs grow quite quickly, and they're very aromatic and attractive as well. You might also want to try garlic chives too, because these can really add punch and flavor to soups, stews, and even just for creating flavored butters too.

Cilantro is on the spicey side, so this herb can be grown for various types of food cooking. Fennel and dill are two other popular kitchen herbs which have a wide variety of uses too.

Thyme is another wonderful herb to grow in your kitchen herb garden, and English lavendar is another excellent herb to grow for your kitchen. Both of these herbs are also excellent to plant between walkway flagstones too actually, because they give off wonderful smells as they're brushed up against when someone walks along the path.

When growing herbs to use in your kitchen, keep in mind that they're best used often. If you pluck leaves off the plant regularly, the taste is much better. Trying to use herbs after the plant has started flowering might result in a bitter or grassy taste.