Avant Gardener: Plant an indoor herb garden

  • By Kyle Valentini
  • December 19, 2011
  • 313
                        
Summary: Plant an indoor herb garden. Pinching off leaves here and there will keep the plant in a constant state of growth and your recipes will taste better and be more nutritious when you cook with herbs. The potted plants can be placed in the garden this spring when the temperature warms. It is official, it’s winter. Despite the colder temperatures and the noticeably paler skin on most of us, the Earth is actually closer to the sun now than it is in the summer. In our region it is not the time of year to start a garden, unless of course, it’s an indoor garden of healthy and delicious herbs. Now that we have passed the official solstice which is the shortest day of the year, we can look forward to the days becoming incrementally longer as winter turns back into spring through Earth’s rotation. Patience is required in winter for several reasons, namely being unable to garden, waiting for spring can seem like an eternity. Fortunately the seed catalogs have already begun to arrive and it is not too soon to plant some herb seeds that can later be added to the garden. A sunny window sill should be enough to keep potted herbs happy enough to grow indoors. Herbs grown indoors are never as lush and bountiful as those grown in the garden but they will seem Heaven-sent when the ground is dusted with snow and the only herbs available from your local grocer have been in the back of a tractor trailer for the last four days. Another reason I don’t like to buy herbs from the grocer is they tend to be sold in bunches that are simply too large to be used in the amount of time their freshness, albeit questionable, remains. When a recipe calls for two tablespoons of fresh parsley what am I supposed to do with the rest of it? Now, granted, most readers know exactly what I would do with it. I would preserve it by drying or freezing or sticking it in some olive oil but not everyone has the time, space or inclination to do such things when all they wanted was a couple of tablespoons of fresh parsley. Growing herbs in winter is easy. All you will need are a few pots, a bit of potting soil and the seeds. Seeds are another one of those items that are always packaged in a way that makes no sense. Unless you have nine acres and a sign at the end of your lane advertising fresh herbs, it is unlikely you will plant 120 parsley plants. This dilemma can easily be remedied, however through sharing. Nothing pleases a gardener more than to share ideas, tips, advice and seeds. I can’t recall ever turning down a seed. Deciding what to plant shouldn’t be too challenging. Most herbs require as much sun as you can possibly give them, an ambient temperatures that is as warm as you can make indoors when it is freezing outside and enough water to keep the soil in the pots moist without making them soggy. An indoor potted herb garden is no different than an outdoor herb garden in that we should always grow what we will use. Some possible suggestions for growing herbs this winter might include basil. Basil is not the type of herb that can be tossed into every dish. It has a flavor so distinctive it is best suited for specific dishes like pesto, pizza and even in Thai cooking. Parsley, of course should be grown year-round. I prefer Italian flat leaf parsley and find the curly-leaved type to be more decorative than tasty. Around here we don’t decorate our plates so much as we fill them with food that is meant to be eaten. Parsley goes with everything. Chop it and sprinkle it on eggs, chicken, fish or vegetables. Add it to dressings, sauces or use it to finish a pasta dish. Parsley knows no boundaries and it can eliminate foul breath. With parsley, we all win. Other herbs to consider are thyme which goes well with meat, vegetables and in sauces. Sage, which when used in moderation, can be so much more than an herb used under the skin of the holiday turkey. Try mints, oregano, rosemary and cilantro. They all grow well in pots and can add flavor and nutrition to your cold-weather cooking. And let me know your best methods for keeping the cats out. They’ll like them too.


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