7 Key Herbs for Container Gardens

Oregano in my recycling bin on our balcony.

One of the benefits of having your herb garden in containers is the ability to bring them inside when the weather turns cold.  Fresh herbs are a necessity in the kitchen.  Keeping them on hand will not only save time and the hassle of going to the grocery store, but money.  I don’t know about your store, but mine charges $1 per small bundle of fresh herbs.  The plants I bought at my local nursery were $1.99 and have lasted me 10 months now.  Another good reason to keep your herb garden containerized is because some have the tendency to overtake their area once they get started in a good spot in the garden.  For instance my thyme that I allocated about a 12″ x 12″ area for in the garden is easily 18″ x 18″ now and my mint is sprawling out all over.

7 Herbs I can’t live without

Here are just a few herbs that I started growing in March and now can’t imagine living without.

1. Thyme
2. Oregano
3. Marjoram
4. Basil
5. Mint
6. Bay Laurel
7. Garlic Chives

I usually use thyme, oregano or marjoram in the same general cooking practices.  Be it creating a marinade for my grilling, or cooking with my black eyed peas for flavor.  When creating a meal  I usually theme everything I’m cooking around an herb or combination of herbs.  Even though thyme, oregano and marjoram all have different flavors, to me they fall into the same general category and I use them interchangeably as well as together to create variations when cooking the same grilled veggies.

Basil is always fun to use.  Its an awesome addition to the frozen cheese pizzas we buy.  I usually try to keep about 3 or 4 different types around so I can make different flavored pestos for pastas and sandwich spreads.

When cooking soups, beans and peas Bay Laurel is a necessity.  I just wish I had bought a bigger plant to start because it grows so slowly.

Garlic Chives are fun to have around for garnishing baked potatoes and soups with.

Since I had such good luck and fun with these 7 herbs last year I am looking forward to expanding my herb repretoir in this gardening season.  This weekend I plan to order seeds and start some of my own transplants for my garden, some clients and friends.  I am looking at The Herb Bible by Peter McHoy & Pamela Westland, Heirloom Herbs by Mary Forsell, and trying to remember what some of the chefs’ gardens I saw last season were growing.

Today at Olivia

Olivia Vegetable Garden 11.17.09

This morning Tara and I went to Olivia to check on the vegetable garden, plant our weekly seeds, and water.  It’s always fun to check on a garden after not seeing it for a week; sometimes I want to go by and peek before Tuesday comes around again.  Since the garden is at a restaurant, sneaking a peek is easy, but I generally force myself to wait, which makes the impact of a week’s worth of growth more satisfying.  I do believe that the English peas have grown about a foot since last week.  We also have a few broccoli florets peaking out and two zucchinis forming.

Maintaining a vegetable garden for a restaurant is intriguing.  Some of the items I noticed missing or cut off, I never would have thought of using.  Olivia’s team seems to love the leaves from the broccoli plants.  One week I showed up and they were all almost naked.  Morgan, the chef de cuisine is also obsessed with broccoli raab.  And they take the tips of the English pea vines for garnishing on the plate.  Not to mention showing up every other week to a few rows worth of beheaded lettuces.  Its definately fun, and I never know what to expect.

My New Garden

So, I’m starting a garden.  And have plans for a kitchen gardening business called Seedlings.  Yeah.  So far I’m in a learn as I go stage.  I am so excited though.

I started a small 4′x4′ square foot garden, and I built a larger 9′x9′ garden that I split in half.  I wanted to plant some plants in half of it that is ready tonight, but it was raining.  I bought bone meal for the phosphorus and blood meal for the nitrogen.  I’m not sure where the potassium will come from, but I’m going to try that combination and see if it works.

I also got two books in the mail that I’ve started to look at.  One is called Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening by J. Howard Garrett and C. Malcolm Beck, and the other is Edible Estates:  Attack on the Front Lawn A project by Fritz Haeg.  Edible Estates was recommended to me by the Tipsy Texan who was telling me about his new Bar Landscape.  It looks like a completely different approach to the average garden book.