Organic A-Z: Herbs

I love fresh herbs and they love you!

If you are not hip to eating fresh herbs, it's time to wake up and change your world. Fresh herbs are so magnificently tasty your whole being rejuvenates upon smelling and tasting them. Tending to your herbs, watching them grow and snipping some before cooking are incredible, meditative experiences that will ensure you happiness and a long delicious life!

Can't afford fresh basil, tarragon, sage? Not sure if that parsley or cilantro is organic? Can't find all the herbs of your dreams? Do what I did and start an herb garden. It's easy, fun, cheap, and, as I mentioned, rewarding in more ways than you'd think.

For the letter H, ORGANIC A to Z takes a break from cooking and does a little show-n-tell on how to grow herbs. I'm really happy with this gardening video and think it does a great job covering all the basics. As an avid gardener friend of mine once said, "There's not much more to it than watering your plants and watching them grow." He's right! Just remember that MULCH is way important--almost as important as the water. FERTILIZER too, I forgot to mention that you need to add a little organic fertilizer to your plants every few weeks or so...gotta feed that soil!

The more I got into herbs, the more I got into gardening and the next thing I knew I was composting too! The benefits my garden has gained from the practice are outstanding. In addition to having a traditional bin (courtesy of the County of Los Angeles), I recently inherited a family of worms. Worm composting is really simple and compact, so compact that even dudes living in apartments can do it. You no longer have to feel guilty for throwing away scraps of vegetables. Feed 'em back to the earth. I enjoy providing a healthy happy life for my worms and their tea is an excellent liquid fertilizer for my plants and herbs.

One of the things I love most about growing my own herbs is the ceremony of walking from my kitchen to the garden and grabbing a handful of greens that I'll be eating within the hour. It's really cool! I also love it when one plant takes off giving me a bumper crop--having an abundance of one herb has led to my researching new recipes and creating new dishes. My killer pasta with sardines and parsley being a great example--see the recipe.

I can't get away from mentioning the farmer's market in one of my blog entries. Guess where I buy most of my herbs? Almost every farmer's market has someone selling plants. I'm blessed coz recently there's been this dude with a white van and incredible, organic herb saplings for a buck a piece. My local nursery has the same plants for quadruple the price. But even at $4 a plant, it is worth it! You make you money back in one simple meal.

Keep reading to see a list of herbs that I'm fond of and find grow well in containers (if you are growing them indoors I recommend NOT mixing them--one herb per pot please).