Grow Your Own Countertop Herb Garden
From zinlumi 12 years ago
- 20min to make
- Serves endless
If you've had dishes made with fresh herbs as opposed to dried ones, you'd know the difference is like eating cup-o-noodles v.s. grandma's pasta. A problem with buying fresh herbs at the market is that they're no longer alive, and spoils if you don't use them. Read more I've tried drying them, but who has the time to keep an eye on the dehydrating so it doesn't mold. Solution : Grow a tiny herb garden that keeps giving, and giving, and puts air fresheners out of a job. It looks great, smells great, and best of all… tastes amazing. What's better? Because they sit next to your sink. You'd never forget to water them. Just give the little guys a splash or spritz every time you do the dishes and they're good to go. See less
Ingredients
- Home Depot or Local Nursary shopping list
- - Buy your herbs of choice. They should not cost more than $10 a pop. Pick ones that fit your kitchen's space. shopping list
- Choosing a Healthy Plant shopping list
- 2. A healthy plant might have little holes in the leaves, that's not a problem since it only means that particular plant lacks certain pesticides. Its a good thing. shopping list
- 3. Avoid plants that has brown, orange, or yellow spots or rottings. That's could mean disease that will kill the plant sooner than later. shopping list
- 4. Pick plants that have young fresh upper stems but solid older roots & lower stems. It means this plant is experienced enough to know how to survive but is healthy enough to sprout new younglings for you to pick and cook. :) shopping list
How to make it
- Taking Care of It
- 5. Make sure there's a hole on the bottom of your pot. It drains excess water so your plant doesn't die from root rot. There IS a crime against plants called "Over Watering".
- 6. If you live in a dry region, pick pots that are glazed. If you live in humid regions, pick a pot that is porous and unglazed, like an old fashioned orange clay pot.
- 7. If you live in very crazy dry places such as California, Arizona, etc… Water your plants at night. It will have more time to absorb the water before evaporating into oblivion. If you live in humid areas, keep this in mind… if the soil is soggy and sinking into itself or leaking from the bottom. You've watered too much. Hold it over your sink and let the excess drain out before setting it back in its place.
- Picking, Grooming, & Cooking Your Herbs
- 8. There's no rule to how you cook your herbs or how often you can do it. But did you know that picking leaves or flowers off your plant actually helps it grow? Here's why :
- - A plant only has as much nutrients as the size of the pot allows with its soil. If you let it grow like crazy, eventually stems would start to wilt and die.
- - Flowers are a plants way to spread it lovely pollen so it could reproduce. But since your plant lives in an apartment, it only wastes precious nutrients that could benefit the leaves. Which… is the crop of our harvest. Its nice to have a few little flowers to look at, but if your plant starts blooming like spring in the English countryside, pluck them off. (Like my Basil plant in the picture)
- - Most herbs should grow SIDEWAYS not UPWARDS with the exception of Rosemary. Encourage your plant to grow new stems instead of shooting upwards. Lower plants are more stable in a small pot and produce more leaves.
- - Rosemary's is the cockroach of herbs. You can pretty much leave it to its own device and it will not only survive with flying colors but probably take over your entire apartment. Just remember it needs very very little water. Another GOOD thing.
- I hope this helps and Bon Appetite!
People Who Like This Dish 3
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