Herbs - Store Bought or Home Grown?

When you grow your own herbs, you pick the exact quantity you need, when you need it.

There is something extremely pleasurable, and practical, about walking outside to pick your own herbs for dinner. Just cutting exactly what you want and being able to go back for more, if you didn’t quite cut enough the first time, is immensely satisfying. Having herbs on hand means you free to choose which herbs to cook with, rather than having to use up herbs before they wilt.

Some gardens or window ledges receive far too much intense afternoon sun for some herbs to grow. Unshaded, Genovese basil leaves wilt and brown, tarragon and parsley struggle, but rosemary, oregano and thyme are quite happy basking in seven plus hours of hot sun. And when temperatures take extreme dips into ice and snow, not all herbs love the cold.

If it’s a goal to have fresh home grown herbs on hand, one of the best things about growing herbs, is that you can dry them for use year round, in the comfort that there is another season right around the corner in which to try again.