Everyday dishes can be 'upgraded' with just a touch herbs - one or several, you decide. Small tip - top up dish with some sprigs or leaves to give it that refreshing and finished look. Having access to a just a few essentials will also see you experimenting with flavours and creating increasingly amazing dishes in a jiffy!
Almost any kitchen can accommodate pots or window boxes, many herbs don’t need to be grown in a garden; with the right care and attention, your herbs will flourish. Here are all the tips and tricks you need to take your kitchen garden to the next level.
START SIMPLE
It’s better to go easy and start with pre-potted herbs. These can be easily bought from garden centres and most supermarkets, and they’ll save you loads of time and energy. Growing from seed can be a bit of an art, and usually works after several rounds of trial and error, this can be frustrating.
PICK THE RIGHT POTS
Regardless of the type of pots, the most important thing is drainage. The herbs will drown if there's no proper drainage.
Pots comes in a few options: pots, window boxes and grow bags. Lots of plastic window boxes have a reservoir at the bottom for drainage. Grow bags are quite useful as well, if less pretty. Pots have the added benefit of being portable so they can be easily moved around the house to take advantage of the sunlight.
Terracotta pots are great because they’re heavy and porous, apart from looking great, they will be stable and won’t suffocate the soil. However, they conduct heat and can dry up the soil very quickly, so always keep an eye on them.
PLANTING
Herbs will need watering daily. In hot months, it’s better to water in the evening rather than during the full heat of the day. If using a pot, sit it on a plate or saucer – you can pour water into it and the soil will soak it up.
Use very coarse compost for aiding drainage in small pots and window boxes. Such compost can be found in garden centres (or you can make your own by mixing ordinary compost with some gravel).
Trimmed herbs regularly to stop them from bolting (producing flowers in an attempt to reproduce, thereby affecting the quality of the leaves). Herbs often need a great deal of light to remain healthy, so a windowsill is a good spot for your pots.
Give space for herbs to breathe and grow out – overcrowding your herbs will quickly kill them.
GETTING STARTED
Woody herbs – thyme, rosemary, sage – tend to benefit from a hot, dry location. They flourish in warmer weather. Even though these herbs are resilient, they need water too – the lower, woodier branches can get hard and dry out often.
Soft herbs – basil, chives, marjoram, coriander, and so on – are the ones that will have the biggest effect on your cooking when they’re home-grown and used fresh.
Soft herbs are delicate, they need care and attention when growing, and are usually only added to dishes at the end of the cooking process, or simply folded through salads, so as not to ruin their structure and subtle flavours.
Last but not least, the golden rules for success: keep the herbs watered, make sure they are able to drain, give each plant enough space to breathe, and prune them regularly. Enjoy fresh herbs right from you own kitchen!
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