Adding a herb patch in your garden will fill the air with an aromatic breeze and it will also make you the king/queen of the kitchen! Nothing tastes better than freshly-cut herbs, added in sauces or sprinkled fresh on salads. All you will need is a few digging tools, some seeds and a watering can. You won’t even need much patience, as herbs grow fast!

As long as the weather is good and the soil is not too cold, you can keep growing your herbs outdoors. You can even extend the growing season by covering your herbs with a poly tunnel. As some herbs are easier to grow than others, if you are a beginner it is a better idea to start with the ones that won’t disappoint you. Here is a simple list and you can find a lot more by looking into gardening books at your local book store, library and of course online.

5 Easy-to-Grow Herbs for your Garden

Basil

Buy some seedlings and carefully re-pot them using a transplant trowel. As long as you keep cutting the flower heads, your basil plant will keep growing and offering you this amazing smell, that is also rumoured to keep mosquitoes away! Let some of your basil plants go to seed as well, this will attract pollinators to your garden.

Oregano

This herb hardly needs any fertilising and it is can also tolerate a bit lower temperatures. It is a herb that tastes equally good-if not even better- dried. To dry oregano, all you need to do is harvest it in the morning and hang it up side down in a cool and dry place for a few days.

Mint

Mint is a great herb to make beverages with. You can add a bunch of fresh mint in hot water, add a tablespoon of honey or sugar and a slice of lemon and voila! A great, caffeine-free beverage for the winter. It is also great served cold. It is a good idea to grow mint in containers, as it has the tendency to take up as much space as it can. And it can take over your whole garden really quickly!

Parsley

Apart from the fact that it tastes great, parsley is also rich in vitamin C and it is also said to help regulate the menstrual cycle. The only difficulty you might encounter with parsley is that it is a notoriously hard to start. You can help the seeds germinate by covering them with hot water and let them soak for 2-3 days. It is almost better to buy parsley as seedlings.

Thyme

This is a really hardy herb and grows low. All you need to do is plant it in dry soil, in a sunny place. You can harvest thyme when the first flowers appear. Much like with oregano, harvest it in the morning and hang it up side down in a cool and dry place. You can use it fresh or dried in salads, marinades and to give stews a special twist.

Other herbs that are easy to grow include sage, chives, lemon balm, coriander and rosemary. And if you are looking for a medicinal plant that requires really minimal care, then go for an Aloe Vera plant. They can grow in pots or in the soil and they will grow as much as you allow them. They might not be good for cooking, but you can drink the juice of the pressed leaves and use to pulp to treat skin rashes and sun burns! Experiment and find the herb that best suits your culinary and medicinal needs. Happy growing!

What herbs do you grow in your garden and why? Please share with us in the comments below!