MedHed

Why Grow

Besides the obvious health benefits of growing your own edible plants, it also gives you access to more exotic spices, year round, for less money. You don't need a lot of space to grow herbs or veggies, but you will need direct sun for a good part of the day.

Here are just a few things I grow that you should have a lot of luck with.

Sage (3 varieties - including Golden and Pineapple) - great for cooking, sage is delightful fried in a pan with butter to make the Italian staple, sage and brown butter sauce. Sage will grow all year round if you have the climate for it. Otherwise, just bring the plants inside during winter.

Coriander/Cilantro (2 varieties - North American and Vietnamese) - cilantro has a fresh taste that adds a lot of flavor to just about any dish. Used a lot in Mexican and Vietnamese dishes. If you let cilantro continue growing and go to seed, the seeds can be harvested as the spice coriander. Three to four plants generally give me enough coriander for an entire year. Vietnamese cilantro doesn't go to seed, and will grow all year round, if you bring it inside. It is a beautiful plant with rich green leaves and makes a nice houseplant. You can cut it back to keep it healthy and can grow additional plants from those cuttings.

Oregano (multiple varieties) - a staple spice in Italian cooking, oregano is easy to grow and thrives if you keep it trimmed by harvesting it. Simply cut it down and dry the leaves on the stem for oregano all winter long.

Basil - easy to grow and a wonderful addition to any meal. It is a strong but fresh flavor, and you can cut and dry it to use throughout the year. When basil goes to seed, simply collect the seed to start new plants. Three to four healthy plants should keep you in pesto all summer long.

Lime Thyme - From Wikipedia:

Thyme is widely cultivated as a herb, grown for its strong flavour, which is due to its content of thymol. It retains its flavour on drying better than many other herbs.

Thyme is often used to flavour meats, soups and stews. It is used in French cuisine, where it is an important element in a bouquet garni, as well as in herbes de Provence. It is also widely used in Caribbean cuisine. In some Middle Eastern countries, the condiment za'atar contains thyme as a vital ingredient.

Ancient Egyptians used thyme in embalming. The ancient Greeks used it in their baths and burnt it as incense in their temples, believing that thyme was a source of courage. It was thought that the spread of thyme throughout Europe was thanks to the Romans, as they used it to purify their rooms.

Mint (6 varieties) - who doesn't love mint? Whether for cocktails or as a garnish, mint varietals are easy to grow and most mints will survive the winter. You can plant more than one variety of mint together and I personally grow many different types including pineapple mint, apple mint, corsican mint (what creme de menthe is made from), spearmint, peppermint, and chocolate mint. I use a lot of mint in iced tea and other drinks in the summer, and I cut a large amount of mint each year and dry it for use in my own homemade teas in the winter. Nothing makes a cold feel better than hot mint tea with honey.

Rosemary - a little goes a long way when cooking with this herb. Easy to grow and a beautiful and lush plant.

Lavender (3 varieties) - I grow a lot...and I mean a lot of lavender each year. In fact, I am able to grow it all year round. I harvest it regularly and it flowers all the time. The hummingbirds love it!

Here's some interesting info from Wikipedia on Lavender
:

The Lavenders Lavandula are a genus of about 25-30 species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, native from the Mediterranean region south to tropical Africa and east to India. The genus includes annuals, herbaceous plants, subshrubs, and small shrubs. The native range extends across the Canary Islands, North and East Africa, south Europe and the Mediterranean, Arabia, and India. Because the cultivated forms are planted in gardens world-wide, they are occasionally found growing wild, as garden escapees, well beyond their natural range.

Lemon Verbena - one of my favorite plants, lemon verbena has a soothing scent. In fact, each day as I water my plants, I always run my hands through it...it is remarkably soothing. Here's another good bit of info on it from Wikipedia:

A deciduous perennial shrub native to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru. This plant was brought to Europe by the Spanish in the 17th century. It grows to a height of 1 to 3 metres and exudes a powerful lemony scent. It prefers full sun, a lot of water, and a light loam soil, and is sensitive to cold. The light green leaves are lancet-shaped, and its tiny flowers bloom lavender or white in August or September.

Lemon verbena leaves are used to add a lemony flavour to fish and poultry dishes, vegetable marinades, salad dressings, jams, puddings, and beverages. It also is used to make herbal teas and can make a refreshing sorbet.

Peppers (2 varieties) - I grow spicy peppers and green/red peppers. If you like the refreshing and crisp taste of green peppers, nothing beats your own home grown...if you love the juicy and sweet red peppers just leave them on the plant until they ripen. As for spicy peppers, they tend to have nice fragrant flowers and area a beautiful explosion of green and red.

Tomatoes (2 varieties) - Not many people know this, but you can grow tomatoes in planters. It is best to have well drained and spacious planters, and don't crown plants together. Tomato plants start off small but they grow quickly...and they grow big...don't forget to get some tomato cages as well. Tomatoes are delicate plants and as they get heavier, they will break and snap.

Each year I experiment with tomatoes. Last year I simply grew big beefy tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. In fact, three or four cherry tomato plants will likely give you more tomatoes than you can eat. This year I'm branching out into some more exotic tomato varieties, and I'm looking into using upside-down hanging planters.

When trying to find plants to start your garden, try looking for farmer's markets. You can buy seeds and try to start from scratch, but it can be tricky and requires some experience to do it successfully.

You may need to lightly water your plants each day, depending on what type of weather and climate you have. When planting my seedlings or starter plants, I use a mixture of pebbles on the bottom, a little bit of sand in the soil, and a soil with a bit of mulch in it. If your soil is too dense, you make have trouble keeping it from draining, and your roots might drown or rot.