Hi Sandie,

We have a small herb garden which has done very well with very little
effort on my part. My favorites include:

Chives. I prefer the onion flavored chives (Allium
schoenoprasium) over garlic. Here is a little article on chives
http://www.tripleoaks.com/articles/chives.html. Sunday breakfast,
eggs w/ fresh chives. Yum.

Rosemary. There are many different varieties. I wish I knew
which variety I have b/c it is incredibly hardy. We had centerpieces
made of herbs at our wedding reception (with an invitation for guests to
bring the plants home), and the rosemary in our
garden is from one of the centerpieces. Rosemary however will
get quite large and take up a lot of room in the garden. I love that it
is evergreen and creates year round beauty, as well as providing a
culinary herb. This is the herb I use the least
in cooking b/c of the strong flavor and woody nature.

Greek Oregano Also a hardy perennial, which will spread rapidly. 3
years ago I planted one tiny little plant in a 3 inch pot from the
farmer's market. The oregano now covers around 3 square feet. But we
love pizza, and we love oregano on our pizza.

Sweet Basil Okay, this is an annual, but it's worth it to buy a
small cheap pot of it at a nursery or farmer's market (I've tried to
grow it from seed, but find it takes too much effort. I'd rather spend
$2 on a 3 inch pot ready to go). The plants grow quickly
and easily in the summer. You must plant it after the
last frost. Basil does not like a lot of water, mine did really well
last year in the drought, but got off to a slow start this year due to
all the rain. Still, my basil is now quite large. I always make
huge batches of pesto, pour the pesto into ice
cube trays, and freeze my pesto cubes to use year round. Homemade pesto
is so easy to make, and so darn good--it is worth it to plant this
annual. It is said, by gardening gurus, that planting
basil near tomatoes can actually improve the flavor of the
tomato.

Parsley A bi-annual. I find curled parsley easier to grow
than flat leaf. I don't use parsley that often in cooking. I like
having a small amount of it in my garden for certain recipes. I'd
rather snip a little parsley from my garden that buy a huge bunch of it
in the grocery store that will go to waste
(well to compost..not really waste).

Thyme Super easy to grow. Fairly rapid spreader. Great
addition to so many dishes. Evergreen, but will winter over a bit.

Mint Vigorous grower, some people stay away from it b/c
it can take over your garden.. You could plant it in a container, and
keep the container near your other herbs, or even bury the container in
the ground. I don't contain my mint, and some day
I may regret this decision, but after 3 years, it really hasn't
taken too much space. I love using mint in ice tea, mint juleps, and
as a surprise flavor in spaghetti sauce. I like Spearmint.


Except for the basil, all of the above herbs could really be planted at
any time, you would just have to baby them a little to keep them going
if you planted them now. I would guess the optimal time to plant would
be early spring, which is also when you would have the best selection of
herbs at farmer's markets or nurseries, after a year, they should be
able to manage by themselves (mine do). Basil is the only one of the
above herbs that you absolutely have to plant at a certain time: after
the last frost. I usually wait until the first week of May to plant mine.

I went to Big Bloomer's this May and they had a great selection of cheap
herbs, much better prices than the farmer's markets or nurseries, or the
local home improv. stores.

Happy gardening and cooking!
Heidi





Sandie Hudson wrote:

My husband's veggie garden has done so well this year that I
plan to encourage him to keep it going every year. This
leaves me with a small square near the patio where I used to
grow a few tomatoes. I think I would like to try to grow
some herbs there. What advice do you have? I would like
perennials or self seeders that love sun and are easy to
care for. Which ones to plant and when?

Thanks