Five great herbs to grow at home

Keen to do more in the garden? Herbs are a great way to start having homegrown produce. These are five great herbs to grow at home.

Do you love to use fresh herbs in your cooking, but find the price of them too expensive? Even if you only have a small windowsill or a few pots outside I have five great herbs that you should grow at home.

When my children were younger they loved gardening with me and even with their ‘help’ we managed to successfully grow these five herbs in our garden. Some are in pots and some in the ground but they would all survive in pots if needed.

There is nothing better than fresh herbs to lift a dish, plus they are great for lots of other uses around the home.

Mint

Best kept in a pot as it is so easy to grow it will spread around your garden if you plant it out. I love mint so much we have two varieties, sweet mint and peppermint outside my kitchen door. I love using mint in pea soup, mixed with cucumber and sparkling water for a summer cooler and chopped and sprinkled over strawberries.

Bay

So simple to grow. I had a bay tree at our old house and was sad to leave it. So before we moved I took green cuttings of it. Sniped off a couple of inches, removed some of the leaves, dipped them in rooting liquid and potted them up. We’ve been in out house for four years now and I have two splendid bay trees, which would have cost me a fortune if I’d bought them from the garden centre.
Bay is great fresh or dried for cooking. I also love using it in flower arrangements and wreath making.

Chives

My children were not onion fans when they were young and would often spend ages picking onion out of dishes I’ve cooked them even if I chopped them really small. Yet, they loved chives. I used to find them regularly chomping on them in the garden or smell their breath and know the chive patch has been attacked. They have a mild onion flavour and are great in cheese sandwiches and potato salad.

Oregano

This is probably my most frequently used herb, it reminds me of summer in Greece and I use it so much in my cooking as I love Mediterranean food. Best to have it planted somewhere where it gets a lot of sun as this helps bring out the flavour more.

Lavender

Not only is it lovely to look at with beautiful purple flowers, it smells amazing when brushing past it. Plant in near a path to get wafts of scent every time. I like to pick and dry it for lavender bags in the cupboards and drawers. I have also used it to make lavender sugar and shortbread.

Do you have any recommendations for other herbs I should try and grow?

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