Growing A Herb Garden

Herbs are a great addition for every house and for every cook. Fresh herbs are fragrant, tasty and healthy. Fresh herbs hold many more essential nutrients than many vegetables and are also easy to grow. If you think that you might not have the time to grow herbs, think again.

The most commonly used herbs in cooking are also easy to grow. You can just plant them in a container, keep them in a sunny and warm spot and water them regularly and you will end up with fragrant lush green herbs. Growing herbs can be as easy as one-two-three and there are also a variety of easy set up kits that makes it even possible for busy people to grow herbs.

There are herbs that can be planted and used for cooking or just as an ornament by everybody. These herbs include parsley, chives, rosemary, basil, dill, thymes, lavender and sweet marjoram.

Many recipes call for these herbs and once they reach there full grown height you can harvest and prune these herbs all season long.

All of these herbs can be sprouted from seeds in either the pot you want to grow them in or in special peat pellets and starter soil. Garden centers also sell little plastic greenhouses to make your seed sprout faster and guarantee a young plant within a certain amount of time, as long as you water the seeds regularly. When planning on planting any of these eight herbs into containers, make sure that you use good soil. Besides a good soil, regular water and some feed here and there these herbs are very easy to grow and do not need much maintenance and are therefore perfect herbs even for busy people to grow.

These herbs can also be bought with a growing kit. The kit will generally hold everything you need to start the seeds and sprout the plants. This kit usually includes a small plastic greenhouse like container, peat pellets, the seeds for the different herbs included in the package as well as step-by-step directions. To follow the directions and grew herbs with these kits is so easy, that even your children can succeed.

Just as easy as the herb seed kit to grow is the garden in a bag. Gardens in a bag have everything you need already in the bag and the bag can be used as a container for the plants. The bag will have a soil and fertilizer mixture as well as the seeds already in the soil. Just add water and within a short amount of time your herbs will start growing. The herbs than can be kept in the bag and there is not need for buying pots or other containers to grow the herbs. These bags can sit on the counter or hung from certain spots almost like a hanging garden or basket.

If you do not have the time to wait for the seeds to sprout and the plants to grow, there is always the possibility for busy people to buy the fully grown plant at your local garden center. Even supermarkets nowadays offer certain herbs such as Parsley, Chives and basil as a fresh plant in their fresh produce section. Recently there actually appeared a hydroponics version of basil on the market that can be grown in water and does not need to be transferred into soil for weeks.

Therefore, it does not matter how busy you are, you should be able to grow one or more of these eight easy to grow herbs in containers for your everyday joy and cooking.

One of the greatest joys of being a gardener is sharing your bounty. Most gardeners are proud to show off the fruits of their labor, and it can be so much fun putting together your very own homemade, garden-inspired gifts. If you are fortunate enough to have your own thriving herb garden, here are a few inspired gift ideas that will have your lucky recipients enjoying the aromas and flavors straight from your garden.

Design Your Own Herbal-Inspired Garden Candles

Candles are one of those versatile gifts that you can give to close friends and family. They are both practical and luxuriant, providing warmth (literally) and imparting a sense of hearth and home. If you have experience with candle making, this can be a fun and creative way to treat your family and friends to a handmade gift. Use your own herbal garden to infuse your candles with special scents from your garden. Use flowers, herbs and leaves to meld them directly into the wax. You can create stunning results with minimal effort. Even if you have no candle making experience, you can purchase high quality plain candles and add your own herbal touch, directly from your garden.

Create Personal Herbal Satchels

For those family members and friends who love potpourri and all good things nice-smelling, create personal herbal satchels. This is a great way to keep dried flowers and petals that still have plenty of aroma and life left in them. Plunder your old flower arrangements, bouquets and your own blooming garden for dried flowers, herbs and petals. Toss these wonderfully aromatic dried herbs and flowers together and package them in pretty satchels, bowls or jars. It may take a while to determine which herbs and flower scents work well together, but it is usually a pretty safe bet that most recently fresh flower petals will create a delicious aroma. Tie a pretty bow around your satchel, and watch your recipients faces light up. This makes the perfect gift for your favorite romantic or flower-lover in your life.

Bottle Up Your Own Herb Infused Oil Concoctions

Do you have a gourmet cook in the family? If so, here is a perfect gift idea for those appreciate the finer things in life. One of the best ways to preserve fresh herbs is to save them in herbal oils. Use a high quality cooking oil, such as cold-pressed olive oil. Use a decorative kitchen bottle and fill it with high quality oil. Then add a sprig or two of your favorite garden herb. Good choices include fresh rosemary sprigs, thyme or other fresh herbs growing in your garden. Tie a pretty bow on the bottle, and you are set. This makes a great housewarming gift, too. Inform your recipient that your herb-infused oil concoction will be at its prime in two months time.

More Fun and Easy Gift Ideas for the Gourmet on Your List

For those in your life who appreciate good cooking, here are a few more ideas on how to turn your fresh herb garden into wonderful gifts. You can create herbal vinegars that your recipient can use to flavor salads and create their own salad dressings. You can also create spicy and fresh herb seasoning mix packets. This is a great idea if you grow regional herbs and you want to share your area's flavors with an out-of-towner. If you have a favorite martini-drinker in your family, consider making flavored vodka. You can brew your very own flavored vodka, infused with such fragrant herbs as lavender or rosemary. This is a unique and wonderful hostess or house-warming gift that will surely wow even the most discerning friend or family member.

Involving kids in gardening can be a great experience and educational resource for children. If you do not have the time to have a big garden or the space, there are other options you can use. How about planting a herb garden with your kids?

There are many different possibilities on the market for planting herb gardens. The probably oldest way is to get a pot or container and fill it with potting soil. Then add some seeds that you can buy at many garden centers or even at your local department or grocery store sometimes. Spread only a few seeds per pot and then cover with about one inch of soil. Water carefully; try not to reveal the seeds. From there a consistent watering and some patience will bring up the herbs you are looking for within a couple of weeks.

If you are looking for an even easier way, there are other options available. How about an herb kit? An herb kit generally comes with a small green house made from plastic, special growing pads and all the necessary seeds. The kit also includes easy directions and descriptions of the necessary steps. This is so easy, that your children might even be able to grow the herbs completely themselves with little assistance from you. This kit is generally used to sprout the plants and grow them to a certain size, then the plants need to be transplanted into a small to midsize pot. Generally you should have one plant per small/medium pot. Garden stores also offer special herb pots that have several opening on the sides and the top so that you can grow more than one herb in the pot. Your children will most likely need help for the transplanting process, since the still young plants can snap easily.

Another easy way to grow herbs is to buy one of the gardens in a bag. These gardens in a bag come in many varieties and also include herb gardens. A garden in a bag includes everything necessary and all you have to do is add water to the bag. The bag can be used as a pot for sprouting and then as a pot for growing the herbs. No messy pot filling, no getting your fingers dirty and no potting. Gardens in a bag are available at many gardening stores and online.

If you do not want to sprout your herbs from seeds you can always buy the herb plants already grown. Most garden centers offer herbs all year round and nowadays even supermarket offer a select amount of fresh herb plants. This way all your children have to do is keep the plants in a sunny bright place and water the plants. This is one of the easiest ways of herb gardening available. These wonderful herbs are then used in the daily cooking and enhance the flavor of your dishes.

An herb garden can be an easy garden for your children to take care of and a great addition to your household. Herb gardens disburse great fragrances throughout your house and are beneficial to your diet. Cooks all over the world swear on fresh herbs and dieticians will tell you just how great the nutrients in herbs are for your body's health. Herbs are fairly easy to grow, as long as they have a good amount of sunlight, water and some plant food herbs will grow nicely almost anywhere were it is warm enough.

Include your children and try to make the experience a fun and educational one and they will thank your for it later in their lives. Gardening, and if it is just an herb in a pot can enrich your child's life more than you know.