Four Herbs Everyone Should Grow

April 30th, 2012

It has been a horribly cold April here in Michigan, after a blissfully warm March. I haven’t wanted to go outside, let alone do any gardening, I hope May is better. I have, however, wanted to do a post on herbs for awhile and since I’ve got nothing else to post about (except maybe to complain again about late frosts) I thought I would do so now.

I really enjoy growing herbs for a few reasons. I like to cook, and no matter how you slice it fresh herbs generally knock the pants off of store varieties. I like to save money, and herbs are pretty expensive in the store, especially fresh ones. They also make unique and interesting plants, at home in the vegetable garden or the ornamental garden. If you only grow four herbs, these are the four I recommend.

1. Mint

Mint is awesome, I personally love mint flavored deserts, shakes, chocolate, etc. In the summer I like to make a cool cucumber salad with a little mint and cukes from the garden. Mint also comes in a wide variety of flavors. Spearmint and peppermint are standard, but gardeners have hybridized a whole variety of other cultivars with hints of various flavors like pineapple, apple, even chocolate. Plant them all.

Kids like mint too. My son, who is almost three now, spent all last summer eating mint out of hand when he was outside. He would take a little chair over to the mint container, put it right in front, sit down, and spend 20 minutes picking and eating leaves. He really likes it, and like most herbs it is healthy for you.

Mint is versatile and very easy to use in the kitchen, it is also really easy to grow in the garden. It is hardy in most places and so you only need to buy it once and it will keep coming back. It is such a good grower is can be invasive, so most people plant it in large containers. Dig and divide your plants as the containers will up, using the divisions to start new pots, or give to friends and family so they can enjoy fresh mint too. Like most herbs, mint likes sun, and well drained soil.

More on how to grow mint.

2. Thyme

Thyme also comes in many varieties and flavors, and just to confuse you more, there are many non-culinary varieties as well, though I’m not sure eating them would hurt you, they’re just not typically eaten.

Thyme, like mint, is also a perennial ground cover that spreads, however, it isn’t as vigorous and is not invasive, so you can safely plant it in and among your garden. It does like well drained soil, and seems to do well in rocky areas, between cracks and crevices. It can even take some foot traffic.

My favorite is lemon thyme, which is hardier than some of the others and has a nice lemony hint to it. I use it in the kitchen either by chopping it up fine and adding it to dishes, or sometimes I’ll just tie a bundle of sprigs and let it simmer in a pot (soup usually), removing it as I would a bay leaf prior to serving.

Thyme, in my opinion, does not provide as much bang for the buck as other herbs. Dried time is still pretty expensive at the store, on a per pound basis, but it at least works decently well. Thyme is one of the few herbs that doesn’t lose too much flavor from drying or aging. Recipes also rarely specifically call for fresh thyme, though I enjoy having it on hand. I also enjoy the ability to grow more varieties than can be bought at your local super market.

Even if you do not plan to use it in the kitchen, it makes a durable and attractive ground cover, and some variety of thyme should exist in almost every garden.

More on how to grow thyme.

3. Basil

Basil is perhaps the ultimate chameleon in the garden. Mint varieties still taste minty, thyme varieties still taste, well, thymey, but basil varieties can taste like almost anything. There are almost too many types to mention, but I find pineapple basil particularly good, as is cinnamon basil. The most common basil is usually labeled just basil or Italian basil. When a recipe calls for it, this is the one they mean.

Basil is an herbaceous annual with small leaves the consistency of young spinach. It likes moist well drained soil and full sun. Basil is not bothered by many pests, and indeed supposedly wards off some insects. It can get leggy and so you should pinch, cut, or eat terminal growth regularly to promote a more bushy plant.

It is an annual, so you do need to plant it every year. However it can grow well inside. It is what I grow in my aerogarden, and when I have a greenhouse some day I plan to make big use of it. When grown outside it will last until cold sets in, when grown inside it can last much much longer so long as you keep it fertilized and give it lots of sun. I’ve had it last almost a full year before, and I think it merely outgrew my aerogarden or it would have lasted longer.

I do prefer growing perennials because I feel they give you a nice bang for your buck, having to only buy them once. However basil is very very very easy to grow from seed, and seeds are cheap. Also, basil is ridiculously expensive at the store. A couple bucks for a few sprigs. It has a really short shelf life so you pay a premium for it. Anyone who has ever made pesto at home and thought to buy the basil at the store probably knows what I’m talking about. Most pesto recipes will call for one or two cups of packed basil leaves, you might as well be buying lobster and tenderloin for what that can cost.

As for dried basil? I never touch the stuff, I find it disgusting. The essential oils in basil must go rancid really fast or something because dried basil both does not taste good, nor does it taste like fresh basil. I like fresh basil.

Basil is very healthy for you with a bunch of antioxidants and everything else, and it goes well in many foods. Most Italian dishes can take it from pastas to casseroles to pizzas. It goes well with fish. It goes well with roasted potatoes, it goes well with anything you would add garlic to. Pesto, is a very heart healthy condiment that you can easily make with basil. I also happen to like basil in scrambled eggs. When I grill steaks I like to put basil leaves on top, and then parmigiana cheese on top of the basil.

There are also some very attractive varieties of basil with interesting leaf colors that would be stand out plants in an ornamental garden, and you can still eat them too. It is a nice dual purpose plant, even if you do need to start it from seed again after every winter.

More on how to grow basil.

4. Parsley

No, I do not mean the curly leaf parsley used as a garish in so many restaurants. I mean flat leaf Italian parsley which is a great addition to many dishes. To my knowledge, parsley does not have many flavors as the other herbs I mentioned above, there is pretty much just the standard variety, and yes flat leaf italian parsley does have a taste similar to the curly leaf parsley, but they’re not quite the same.

I like parsley because it is a biennial, which means it lives for two years. Not quite an annual, not quite a perennial, but it can survive outdoors in a pot in my zone 5 garden. Like the other herbs it likes sun and well drained moist soil, and it grows pretty vigorously once established, to the point where you can harvest it heavily and it’ll keep growing back.

Parsley, like basil, is used in many many Italian dishes, but it has a particular affinity for potatoes. Almost any potato dish is improved with the addition of chopped parsley. This includes soups, mashed potatoes, fries, roasted potatoes, scalloped potatoes, and potato casseroles. During summer when I am growing it I will add it to anything that has potatoes in it. Parsley is in the carrot family and it also compliments carrot dishes very well.

Like basil it is easy to grow and easy to start from seed. I usually take a large container, 18-24 inches across at the top, and just sprinkle parsley seeds randomly on it, then sprinkle a handful of potting mix on top of the seeds, and water well. Soon enough the entire container is full of parsley.

Also like basil it does not store well. Now you can store fresh basil and fresh parsley via freezing, but it is very expensive when bought fresh at the supermarket and the dried stuff is horrible. Parsley suffers from the same taste failure as basil does when dry. I would not ever recommend buying it.

Parsley is significantly more hardy than basil, it dies after two years but not because it got too cold. You can often harvest it still in the winter when snow is on the ground, I often find it still green, and frozen, buried beneath some snow. Other times it will die back to the roots, like a perennial, only to come back in Spring.

More on how to grow parsley.

Honorable Mention: Rosemary

I like Rosemary, I do, but it isn’t as hard to grow as the above, nor is it as expensive. Like thyme, rosemary takes well to drying, so you can reasonably buy it dried, unlike thyme it is not as fast a grower, or hardy for much of the country. Someday, when I move to zone 7, I will grow rosemary year round outside and be happy with it, but in zone 5 I need to buy it every year. I can’t even start it from seed because it is a woody shrub and so grows slowly at first. For me to get the volume I need for cooking during the Summer I have to buy an established plant every Spring.

Rosemary does not come in a variety of flavors, but it has a very strong and recognizable scent and flavor and certainly is attractive in the garden both from the silver-green evergreen foliage, as for the scent which is strong enough for you to pick up without sticking your face right down into the plant. It does very well in the kitchen in many meat dishes, stews, and it also likes potatoes (is there anything better than herb crusted potatoes roasted with salt and olive oil and garlic?). You can take a little rosemary, a little garlic, and a little olive oil and mash it up into a paste in a mortar and rub it on practically anything as a flavor booster. I sometimes like to season the oil in our deep frying with some rosemary just to add some hints of that flavor to everything I might fry.

It can grow into a very large shrub if you live in a warmer climate, but for us northerners it will not do that well. Some people do take it in the house or in a greenhouse during the winter, and if you have one, and you keep it water, and you keep humidity up, and it gets enough sun (it needs a lot of sun) it can survive the winter indoors, but you really need the right setup. If you don’t have a humidifier and a big southern facing window to put it in though, it tends to suffer and die.

So Rosemary didn’t make the list because it is too slow to start from seed, doesn’t last through the winter for many people, and is able to be used in dried form from the supermarket. However, I do give it an honorable mention and I do recommend it for gardeners in the South.

More on how to grow rosemary.

I received a review copy of this book called Herbs, The Complete Gardener’s Guide and I do think it would be a useful purchase if you wanted to learn more. It isn’t perfect, it is written by a Canadian who seems to have written for a Canadian audience which means he often assumes you’re in Ontario like him and doesn’t address the variety of climates in North America that much. It is, however, comprehensive, covering all aspects of herb gardening, and includes many large photographs and illustrations.

Posted in: Edible Gardening, Gardening » 

17 Responses to “Four Herbs Everyone Should Grow”

  1. Alma  Says:
    May 1st, 2012 at 8:07 am

    Yes I have to agree there is nothing like going out to pick your own herbs from the garden whilst cooking, it is very satisfying. Don’t know if it makes you feel any better but we’ve had a horrible month weather wise here in the UK too 🙁

  2. Ladybug  Says:
    May 1st, 2012 at 8:15 pm

    Thanks for the information. It has helped me narrow choices for my garden.

  3. Daniel  Says:
    May 2nd, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    I had no idea chocolate mint existed, but it sounds delicious, now I’m on ebay looking at plug plants.

    I’ve already got a couple of types of basil growing, but they’re only small so I can’t comment on them yet.

    I had some lovely potatoes a few days ago that had parsley on them, so I think I’ll add that to my collection.

    Great post, thanks for giving me ideas 🙂

  4. Catherine Banks  Says:
    May 3rd, 2012 at 10:40 am

    One issue with growing herbs is that many people don’t know how to actually use the herbs.

    I know that has been a challenge for me, but I’m learning!

  5. Scott  Says:
    May 3rd, 2012 at 3:44 pm

    Thank you for mentioning the invasiveness of mint. Four years later and my yard has swaths of mountain mint so wide the only way to keep the invasion at bay is with a lawn mower. Even then my battle with mint feels like one of attrition. Long after I’m gone it will still be there.

  6. gary  Says:
    May 4th, 2012 at 4:39 am

    Your readers may want to visit http://www.AmpleHarvest.org – a non-profit that helps diminish hunger by enabling backyard gardeners (and others) to share their excess garden produce (herbs too!) or store bought items with neighborhood food pantries.

    The site is free both for the food pantries and the gardeners using it.

    Backed by Google.com and the USDA, more than 5,000 food pantries nationwide are already on it and more are signing up daily.

    See http://www.AmpleHarvest.org/press for press and media information.

    If your community has a food pantry, make sure they register on http://www.AmpleHarvest.org.

  7. Phillip W Higley  Says:
    May 11th, 2012 at 4:00 am

    Great post! Chocolate mint is very good.

  8. Ashley  Says:
    May 15th, 2012 at 11:39 am

    I love growing my own Basil and Thyme, but have never tried growing mint nor did I realize children find it to be such a delicacy!

    I am definitely going to head out and purchase some seeds to grow my own.

    Also, I was glad that you selected Rosemary as your Honorable mention rather then one of the top 4.

  9. Cynthia  Says:
    May 17th, 2012 at 5:08 am

    I do love growing thyme in the garden. It has such a pretty look to it.Of course the cook in the family likes to have fresh herbs right from the garden.

    I too have had a lot of trouble with mint. I could not seem to control it in areas I have lived in before. So when I moved into this house that was definitely on the do not plant list!

    I really enjoyed the article and did learn a thing or two about herbs!

  10. Angie  Says:
    May 17th, 2012 at 8:17 am

    I grow 4 types of mints in the middle of my yard (in one big circle)within some big rocks. I let it grow at will and mow around it with my rider. It keeps it in check and I make great mint lemonade and mint jelly during the summer and dry the leaves for hot tea for the cold winter months in northern IL. I’m going to add some bee balm to it today (bee balm is a type of mint whose leaves can be used too).

  11. Melanie  Says:
    May 17th, 2012 at 12:39 pm

    Thank you for the info on herbs. I have tried chocolate mint and it comes back every year and spreads like crazy. It’s also great in mojitos!

    On another note, anybody have any hints about growing potatoes? Tried and true that is. I have read about many different ways, but I sometimes think people haven’t really tried what they are writing about. Thanks for any help.

  12. Kate  Says:
    May 20th, 2012 at 7:53 am

    My rosemary is huge and I cut it back regularly and give it away. It is a 5′ tall bush and rosemary can make a beautiful hedge. We are in zone 8-9 on the SC coast.

  13. Kurfman  Says:
    May 21st, 2012 at 8:42 am

    Oh my godness, my mom used to apply Pee mixed with water around her vegitable bed when I was growing up, I completely forget about until I read your blog. Thank you so much for the details that I had no ideas, how woderful that pee can be fertilizer that we did not have to buy.

  14. landscape architects cape town  Says:
    May 31st, 2012 at 1:49 am

    I am glad you gave Rosemary a mention – It’s very easy to grow and can be used in many different ways… may favorite way? Take a small bit and put it in the fire of your BBQ… when it burns it releases that great smell 🙂

  15. Kate  Says:
    June 4th, 2012 at 8:27 am

    Thanks for this wonderful post. Herbs are delicious!
    This year I grow thai basil for the first time (it tastes a bit less intense than the ordinary basil). It keeps growing and growing!
    I also love sage. Melt a bit of butter and add chopped sage leaves: pour over pasta and enjoy. This is so delicious and simple!
    A couple of weeks ago a friend gave me an unusual herb I have never heard of: green santolin (santolina viridis). It tastes a bit like olives. Believe me, it is well worth to give it a try if you are a herb lover!

  16. Betsy  Says:
    December 1st, 2012 at 8:55 pm

    I have been searching everywhere for pineapple basil. Do you have a source for seeds or plants that you would be willing to share? I would be so grateful.

  17. Carla  Says:
    December 24th, 2016 at 4:26 am

    Im looking for pineapple basil seeds can someone please help.

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