Growing and Cooking with Herbs—Introduction

Dandelion leaves and heads make wonderful salad ingredients, teas, and even jelly

This subject might make you say, “who doesn’t know how to use herbs?” Truthfully, I didn’t have a clue about how to use herbs in meal preparations until I was an adult. Seriously!

Growing up, my parents were salt and pepper only type folks. No garlic, oregano, etc. Salt and pepper was all it. Needless to say, meals in our home were on the bland side. Once on my own, married with a family, I became interested in growing herbs and veggies to make flavorful meals from scratch and stretch precious pennies.

To get started on herb growing, i spent a bit of time online learning how about different ones, like the basic Italian herb blends, mints, and other easy to grow herbs that you can pick up at the local Home Depot or Lowe’s or even your local grocery store in peak season. I learned about what I thought were simply weeds in the yard that turned out to be beneficial herbs for health and healing. From there I bought used books and made use of Kindle Unlimited, and studied everything I could get my hands on.

My very first plot of herbs was in our front yard. I hand dug a plot probably 5 feet by 5 feet, and back filled it with a lasagna garden style of layers. I picked up simple but aromatic herbs from Home Depot and Walmart, and also picked up seeds to start and made use of old pots. I started out with a few starters of various mints, some parsley, oregano, thyme, basil. I had no idea mint would explode and take over everything it merely looked at. That was an aromatic lesson! Our geriatric kitty absolutely loved rolling in the citrus mint! I dried the mints in the oven and made my own tea, and the house smelled heavenly during the cleaning and drying process.

It’s been over 10 years since I started those first plants, and I’ve learned so much since then. This series is what I’ve gleaned so far, and hope that you are able to use what I’ve learned along the way for your own home.

You have a wonderful day, and I’ll be back soon!