Gardening with Vegetables,
Herbs, Fruits and Flowers

Herbs

Basil, Dill, Rosemary, Cilantro, Parsley, Italian Parsley are our favorite herbs to grow.

We start all of our herbs in the greenhouse to give them a head start except for the horse radish which is a root vegetable and not a herb, we planted it and it is a permanent part of our garden but we use it like a herb. I do not know anyone that just chows down on a hunk of fresh horseradish like other vegetables.

Basil

Basil is very easy to grow and comes up fast, we like to grow the larger leaf variety because it is easier to pick.

You can just pick the leaves and chop them up and freeze them, then break off a piece as needed. Or you can pull the whole plant, roots and all and hang it upside down to dry, in a shady but warm spot, as with all herbs, basil will loose its color, flavor and nutrients if it is dried in the sun.

Italian Parsley

Parsley was one of the first herbs I ever grew, I think my mom thought it was a safe plant that I could eat when I was in the garden. Parsley is on the easy scale to grow, we like the regular curled variety and the non curled, Italian variety. We harvest it all summer and dry it for a little color in our food in the middle of winter.(Click on the image for a larger one)

Dill

Dill is also easy to grow, we dry the dill and use it on fish and on our fresh cucumber salads. We save the seeds for next years crop, dill can spread easily through out the garden so care is needed to keep it in one area.

Dill can be harvested in the green stage for pickles, cooking fish or on top of a fresh cucumber salad. We usually wait a little longer until the seeds mature or even wait until we dry them.

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Rosemary

Rosemary is a little harder to germinate, it must be on top of the soil because light has to hit the seed in order for it to pop out of its shell. Usually out of 1 package we get just 4 or 5 plants. They take longer to grow, they will over winter if our winter is not to harsh. Rosemary is actually a evergreen bush, so you should take limited cuttings from it. We use it fresh and dried.

Cilantro

Another easy herb to grow from seed, we cut it back and dry the leaves to use in our salsa. If you let it go to seed you can use them as they are called coriander seeds.

Horseradish

The first recommendation I would give about horse radish is NOT TO PLANT IT, horse radish is like a giant dandelion, all you need is a little piece of the root and you are off and growing, trying to get rid of it later is very hard, I have dug a hole 2 feet deep and about 6 feet in diameter to try to get rid of it, but it has not worked. The roots are all very long and get moved around when we till the garden.

Since we have it, we use it, of course we might only use a small root maybe 1 inch in diameter and 1 foot long all season long.

Gardening with Vegetables,Herbs, Fruits and Flowers