Are you thinking about growing fresh herbs at home? Not sure which ones to choose? The good news is that we have details on five of the best herbs to grow at home. You won’t need to worry about any of these going bad before you have the chance to use them. Before you know it, you will have fresh herbs aplenty for all of your cooking needs.

Oregano

Oregano is one of the most versatile herbs you can grow fresh—which makes it a perfect choice for you to cultivate at home. Oregano is particularly popular in Greek and pasta dishes. Other uses for cooking include in eggs, as a seasoning for poultry or beef, and even in bread!

Traditionally, you would start growing oregano from seeds inside your home and transplant the young plants to an outdoor garden in the early spring. This was very important since your oregano would needs lots of sunlight. However, with new technology, such as the Danby Fresh herb grower, you can grow your oregano inside your home throughout the entire year!

Water your oregano every couple of days to ensure the soil remains damp (but not wet). It can take from one to two weeks to germinate and up to 13 to be harvest ready. If you need to boost growth, put high nitrogen fertilizer in the soil once in the spring.

Peppermint

Are you a fan of tea or desserts? If you are, peppermint is perfect for your home herb garden. Once grown, you can pluck the leaves and brew them to make delicious herbal peppermint tea. Not only is peppermint tea delicious, but it is also effective at calming an upset stomach. If you enjoy dessert, try adding the peppermint (or infusing its flavour) into chocolate fudge, chocolate cake, ice cream, et cetera.

We recommend growing peppermint in its own container, since this herb can be invasive. Peppermint needs lots of sun to grow properly, so like oregano, it would traditionally be grown near windows for the first few weeks and then transplanted outside (or moved out into a separate container).

But once again, the Danby Fresh herb grower comes to the rescue, since the LED lighting actually mimics the full colour spectrum of the sun. Thus, you can have your traditional outdoor garden inside your home without any restrictions—including no seasonal limitations! Just be sure to water the peppermint so the soil remains damp. You’ll need to sprinkle a high-quality fertilizer on the soil every so often to boost growth. Germination for peppermint takes 10-15 days.

Thyme

Thyme is an excellent addition to help flavour soup stocks, poultry, and other sauces. You can combine it with other herbs and wrap them in cheesecloth to help infuse flavour without leaving any thyme sprigs behind. Keep your thyme growing by regularly pinching off the tips and pruning the plant periodically. You can expect to see germination in 14-21 days and it will be ready for the first harvest after 14 weeks.

Basil

Ever had pesto? The majority of pesto recipes incorporate fresh basil—so why not try making your own pesto and growing your own basil at home? This herb has a delicious and simple flavour. In addition to pesto, it makes a good complement to tomato sauces on pasta and pizza—a great Italian flavour! Clip off the flowers once they appear to encourage additional growth, and water every so often to ensure the soil remains damp. You should be able to harvest basil ten weeks after planting if you take good care of it. Basil, like the other herbs on this list, requires good sunlight. You can set a timer on your Danby Fresh herb grower to ensure all your herbs, including basil, get both good periods of sun and breaks in the shade.

Rosemary

Want to have delicious chicken? What about nice roasted potatoes? Try growing some rosemary for both of these! Rosemary is yet another great herb you should consider growing at home, especially when you pair it with the previously mentioned herbs on this list. They all require similar growing conditions, which means you can more easily raise them all together. It takes roughly 11-14 weeks for rosemary to be ready for harvesting.

Image: loonara

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