Spring is my favorite time of year. It not only means warmer weather and sunshine, but it’s planting time!!!! As I have already mentioned in previous posts, gardening is such a meaningful activity to do as a family. Growing an herb garden is such a great activity for so many reasons.*

Growing herbs is reasonably priced
Growing an herb garden is an activity that doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. You don’t have to have a huge garden space, in fact you can easily grow herbs in pots or other containers. I even have some herbs located within my landscaping. You need a container or space to grow, some potting soil for gardening, a small hand shovel, gardening gloves if you don’t like getting dirty and some seeds or small plants depending on which way you choose to do it. I do a little of both — I like the satisfaction of growing things from seeds, but sometimes it’s hard to be patient and sometimes getting seeds to germinate can be tricky. Yes, you do need some supplies, but think about what it cost for the family to go out for dinner and maybe a movie.

Family Activity
Having an herb garden is a really fun family activity. Regardless of age, all children can help plant and maintain the herb garden. From pulling weeds and blooms to watering, there’s always a job for everyone. You can even make your family’s dinner menu based on the herbs you are growing in your garden. Meal planning can be a lot of fun, especially when the kids can go out and pick items from the herb garden and come in to help make dinner. Being invested in the process of making and planning dinner can make mealtimes a lot more fun too.

Back to Nature
Herb gardens can be a wonderful way to get into the science aspect of gardening as well as composting, talking about waste, and how the life cycle of plants work. I often pick off the blooms on my herbs so they’ll keep producing and then if I don’t use what I just pinched off, I will put it in the compost bin.  There’s so many aspects to gardening that can be educational for kids.

Which Herbs Should I Grow?
Choosing the herbs you want to grow should really be based on what you think you will use and what your family’s needs are. For me, lavender is essential. I love the way it smells, it’s beautiful, and I have it everywhere — in my garden, in pots on the patio and even in the landscaping. It’s easy to grow and it comes back on its own every year. I haven’t had great luck getting lavender seeds to germinate, so that’s one thing I will go on and buy small plants to plant.

What does your family like to eat? Do you fix a lot of Italian food like pesto, pasta dishes, and red sauces such as bruschetta? If so, you might want basil. It’s fragrant aroma makes me think of harvesting basil in the fall. Basil is easy to grow, but it won’t come back unless you let it go to seed in the fall and then seeds fall onto/into the soil and germinate in the spring. There isn’t any guarantee that will happen though, so you might have to replant each spring. You might also want oregano — it’s used in  a lot of recipes for pizza, sauces and other Italian dishes.

Does your family enjoy Mexican food? Do you make your own salsa or guacamole? I do. And then I freeze it. Once I started making my own salsa, I don’t care for salsa in a jar anymore. If you like that type of cuisine, cilantro is definitely a must. It smells amazing and I often have it regrow in the spring from where it went to seed in the fall. Making your own salsa is really satisfying and it tastes soooooooo good!

I also like growing rosemary. I use it in bread, on chicken and seafood and I love the way it smells. It’s another one I buy each year as a small plant, but it holds up well in the heat and doesn’t need a whole lot of care. And there’s always mint, which I put in most of my infused water recipes. Just make sure it doesn’t overtake your whole garden because it can!

Part of the fun in choosing herbs is to do some research. If your child is old enough, have them do some research and come up with three or four herbs they would like to grow. Or you could look up different herbs as a family and decide together what to choose. There are so many herbs and they have other uses besides cooking and they have interesting histories. They’ve been used for thousands of years to help heal, calm and yes, season.

Happy Growing!

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