Pantry Assessment: Starting a Container Herb Garden

After doing our Pantry Assessment the next step was to ask ourselves: “What can we do?”

Mainly, what new skills would we need to acquire in order to grow or produce great food at home. Our thoughts went immediately to gardening and sourdough baking. Because of the climate where we live we also realize we won’t be able to garden year round which made canning appealing too.

Let me just put it out there; I do not have a green thumb yet! I have a history of killing cacti and succulents. Which I was told are some of the easiest houseplants to keep. Our family has only ever maintained a single raised garden bed which faired well given the inconsistent attention it received.

So I started by asking loads of questions of the women in my life. My girlfriends and I swapped tips on houseplants. Also, my mother and in-laws bestowed all the knowledge they had in container gardening. After many conversations, I became consumed in documentaries and books about gardening— taking notes along the way.

Finally, we made a list of our family needs and wants. One of my simple joys is keeping fresh flowers in the house. Ultimately, we would love to grow our own cut flowers in a bed of their own. Then there is a lengthy list of vegetables and fruits we’d like to welcome also.

Instead of doing a cannon-ball into the deep end of gardening we started small. In our current home, it is with great trepidation we reenter the world of gardening. For me, the easiest and most encouraging start has been a small container herb garden kept off the kitchen patio in direct light the majority of the day.

My daughters and I manage the daily upkeep and it has become a sweet morning ritual to water and harvest.

Here’s what we decided to grow:

• basil

• thyme

• rosemary

• chives

• parsley

• cilantro

• tarragon

• lavender

• zinnias

  All of these herbs are starter plants, which means they were propagated by a farmer and purchased as a young sprouted plant. The one exception are the zinnias which we started from seeds (too early, I might add but a few survived several frosts and are going strong).

  We purchased our starter plants them from farmer’s market and used water-regulating potting soil in inexpensive terracotta pots from the hardware store.

  The only herb we’ve lost is the cilantro. We got an education on aphids; tiny garden pest that infest and eat away at plants. To treat them we deadhead the entire plant and sprayed a dish detergent solution on the soil, stem, and entire area. It is slowly growing back but I’m not certain we will get another harvest from it.

  Happy gardening!