Gardendaze

For the rest of April, I’m going to devote my posts to herbs. Why herbs? Well, a couple of reasons. For one thing, I think that if folks are trying to incorporate some edibles into their gardens, herbs are a good way to start. They might be more forgiving than some of the other edibles, at least in terms of space and watering.

And even if folks don’t feel confident of their abilities to grow full blown vegetables (maybe I’ll devote next month to why you don’t need the back 40 to do that), most anyone can keep a pot of thyme alive on a deck or windowsill.

And best of all, while vegetables have a distinct season, herbs can be grown most of the year (with the right light, some can be grown year round) and can be used to flavor almost every kind of food.

So why herbs? Because they are the easiest, most forgiving kind of edibles to grow. Some will even take a good deal of shade. Many are quite forgiving of watering lapses. Most have some alleged kind of health benefit (although wait a minute–that too may change and next year they’ll all be horrible for us!)

Best of all, fresh herbs make whatever it is we’re cooking–even store bought food straight from the box or can–taste better. So what’s not to like?

And while we can all disagree on what our favorite herbs are, we have to agree that they’re readily available–even supermarkets sell pots of organic herbs.

So don’t be timid about trying some of these–they really are easier to grow than you think!