Basil: The Gateway Herb to Fresh Cooking
There’s something almost magical about tearing fresh basil leaves and watching them release their intoxicating aroma into your kitchen. Basil is considered one of the easiest herbs in the mint family to grow from seed, making it perfect for newcomers to herb gardening. This tender annual thrives in warm conditions and rewards you with continuous harvests throughout the growing season.
The more leaves you cut from basil, the more it gives you, and it likes consistent but not excessive water. Basil prefers soil that stays more consistently moist and needs six hours of sun, well-draining soil, regular pruning to avoid flowering, and a warm environment. When watering, only water the base of the plant, not the leaves, as wet leaves can attract fungal problems.
Rosemary: The Robust Mediterranean Marvel
Rosemary adds great depth to dishes and should be added early in the cooking process or as part of a marinade, making it excellent for roasts and grilled meats while pairing well with citrus and honey. This hardy perennial can practically ignore neglect once established, making it a favorite among busy home cooks.
Rosemary tolerates hot, sunny, dry locations in summer but prefers cooler temperatures between 45 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit in winter, and should be planted in a blend of equal parts cactus mix and regular potting soil. Plant rosemary on the outer edges of containers where soil dries out first, as it likes to stay dry and benefits from free-draining soil with judicious watering.
Thyme: The Versatile Flavor Powerhouse
Thyme is a versatile herb with small, aromatic leaves that pack a flavorful punch, ideal for seasoning meats, soups, and stews, with its subtle flavor enhancing various dishes without overpowering them. The versatile flavor of thyme and its many varieties make it a key ingredient in nearly every cuisine worldwide, with its tiny leaves and trailing stems giving it natural houseplant appeal.
Growing thyme requires a sunny spot and well-drained soil, with regular trimming to keep it healthy and prevent woody growth, and this perennial plant can be harvested year-round. Pot thyme in a fast-draining soil mix and place it in a warm, sunny window, watering when the surface of the soil is dry but don’t let it wilt.
Oregano: The Pizza Herb That Conquered America
Oregano gained popularity in the United States following World War II as soldiers returned home with a desire for the “pizza herb,” and it’s used for flavoring as a staple herb of Italian American cuisine. Oregano brings a warm, peppery flavor to Italian and Mediterranean cuisine, with leaves that can be used fresh or dried, and its pungent taste makes it a favorite for pizzas, pastas, and marinades.
This hardy herb thrives in sunny, well-drained conditions and requires minimal care, with regular harvesting encouraging new growth to ensure a steady supply of flavorful leaves. Oregano is a sun lover offering the best harvest when given plenty of light, and drying oregano increases its flavor.
Sage: The Earthy Companion for Hearty Meals
The sharp piney flavor of culinary sage is best when combined with other strong-tasting herbs such as rosemary, thyme, and bay leaf, used to season meats, sauces, root vegetables, and winter stews. Sage is a perennial that can be grown from a softwood cutting or by division, and decorative varieties like tricolored or golden sage have less pronounced flavor but grow better indoors.
This hardy subshrub thrives on neglect and is best grown outdoors, but can also be cultivated indoors from seed or starts on a sunny windowsill. Plant sage on the outer edges of containers where the soil will dry out first, since it likes to stay dry.
Parsley: The Underestimated Nutritional Powerhouse
Parsley is one of the most common and easiest herbs to grow, with its mildly bitter taste used to liven up soups, stews, and salads as a common ingredient in Middle Eastern cuisine, and it aids in digestion while being a good source of Vitamin A and C. Parsley offers a mild, slightly peppery flavor that enhances a wide range of dishes, with both curly and flat-leaf varieties serving as more than just garnishes by adding depth to soups, stews, and salads.
It’s an easy-to-grow herb that prefers direct sunlight and well-drained soil, with regular watering and trimming promoting vigorous growth. Parsley performs best indoors when grown from seed, and seed-grown herbs won’t produce large plants but the young plants are just as tasty and can be harvested within a couple of weeks with seeding heavily, fertilizing, and pinching regularly providing plentiful herbs all winter long.
Chives: The Gentle Giant of the Onion Family
Chives are a good substitute for onions, being a member of the garlic family with a mild flavor that mellows with cooking, and the grass-like foliage can be finely chopped and used to season eggs, fish, potatoes, and soups with ornamental globe-shaped flowers that are edible. Chives bring onion flavor to a dish in a bright and delicate way, used fresh as a great addition to herb butters and oils over almost any savory dish, and you can grow both garlic and onion chives with gorgeous purple flowers that are edible too.
Chives are easily one of the best herbs to grow indoors, requiring you to sow seeds directly in a pot placed in the sunniest spot in your house and keep a tray of pebbles and water under the pot to give the plant extra moisture. Chives are the only herb that many gardeners have reliably grown every year and used in their cooking, as they somehow persist.
Cilantro: The Love-It-or-Hate-It Herb
Cilantro is one of our favorite fresh herbs and a staple in Indian, Mexican, and Thai cuisines, though it’s a polarizing herb where most people either love or hate it, which could be in part due to its strong anise-seed and floral qualities. Cilantro may also be known as coriander, sharing its name with the sweet spice made by drying the seeds, and cilantro plants with their aromatic dark-green leaves do well in both gardens and containers with tiny white flowers that attract beneficial insects.
Use cilantro stems in stews or purees, but always use the leaves fresh or at the very end of cooking, and try making a cilantro oil or chimichurri sauce. Cilantro likes its soil to stay more consistently moist, and cilantro performs best indoors when grown from seed.
Dill: The Delicate Beauty with Bold Flavor
Dill is a gorgeous addition to your garden with plenty of foliage to harvest for the kitchen as well as the seeds, and should always be used fresh for a sweet and sour flavor that can’t be matched, classically pairing well with cucumbers, salmon, tomatoes and potatoes. While dill grows well in the garden alongside tomatoes, sweet peppers or chilies, it needs space to flourish and is easy to grow in full sun.
Dill needs at least one foot of soil to stretch down into, making it one of the herbs that requires deeper containers than many others. Dill prefers to grow in shade and needs more moisture retentive soil, setting it apart from the Mediterranean herbs that prefer drier conditions.
