11 Organic Herbs for a Home Garden
Planting herbs in your home garden is a great way to make your food tastier and healthier! Here are 10 organic herb plants that you should add to your garden right now.
Adding herbs to your garden is a great way to grow your own organic flavors and add some freshness and nutrition to your meals. Here are 10 of the best organic herb plants that you should have at home to liven up your dishes, from classic favorites like basil and oregano to more unusual choices like lovage and salad burnet.
1. Curry Herb Plant
Organic curry herb (Helichrysum italicum) is an aromatic, bushy small shrub with silvery-gray foliage. The taste is similar to the well-known curry spice mixture and goes well with rice, meat dishes, and vegetables. The curry herb prefers a sunny and sheltered site.
Helichrysum Angustifolia: Curry herb has a pleasant smell that is immediately reminiscent of curry dishes. This smell is particularly intense when the sun is shining. The curry herb is used, among other things, as a spice, but also as a medicinal herb for coughs or skin problems. However, curry herb has nothing in common with the well-known curry powder. This is a spice mixture that comes from the British colonial era in India.
Use: With its sweet, mild curry aroma, curry herb goes well with soups, vegetables, rice, and meat dishes. The taste is similar to the well-known curry spice mixture. The twigs are cooked but removed again before serving.
Care: The curry herb is a typical Mediterranean plant and prefers a sunny to full-sun location. It needs sandy, little humus soil, waterlogging is to be avoided at all costs. In winter it is recommended to let the shrub hibernate in a frost-protected place. Even if the curry herb is somewhat hardy or frost-tolerant, very low temperatures can lead to frost damage. Pruning in the fall is not recommended.
11 Organic Herbs for a Home Garden
2. Argentine Mint Plant
The Argentine mint (Lippia polystachya) is also known as the gum tree. As the name suggests, it smells wonderfully of mint chewing gum and is ideal for fruit desserts or tea. Tasty salads or dressings can also be complemented well with the Argentine mint bush. A sunny to partially shaded location and permeable, loose soil create optimal conditions for growth.
Lippia Polystacha: The chewing gum bush, which smells of mint chewing gum, originally comes from South America and is also often called an Argentine mint bush. Its leaves are edible straight from the bush and freshen the breath. It is also ideal as a tea plant. Desserts and fruit salads get a fresh taste if you chop up a few of its leaves and mix them in. The leaves can be easily stripped from the branches.
Usage: The gum tree is closely related to the lemon verbena and, like the lemon verbena, makes an excellent tea plant. The leaves contain essential oils that have a very beneficial effect on digestion and the whole organism. They are used fresh immediately or laid out loosely in a dark, airy place to dry.
Care: The plant is extremely robust, vigorous, and quite tolerant of cold, but not hardy in our latitudes. It should therefore hibernate frost-free, but as cool as possible. The shrub sheds its leaves during this time and sprouts again in spring. Cultivation as a container plant is ideal. It can be cut back frequently and will continue to grow vigorously until the next harvest.
11 Organic Herbs for a Home Garden
3. Cocktail Mint
The Hugo cocktail mint (Mentha spicata), also known as Moroccan tea mint, is one of the most popular types of tea for the traditional North African mint tea. It grows compactly upright and blooms in a light lilac-purple hue from July to September. The Moroccan tea mint prefers a sunny to a half-shady location with well-drained, humus-rich, and nutrient-rich soil.
Mentha Spicata: The first cocktail called “Hugo” was mixed by bartender Roland Gruber, who has been running the San Zeno wine and cocktail bar in Naturns in Vinschgau, South Tyrol, since the autumn of 2005.
He was simply looking for an alternative to the then very popular trend drink Aperol Spritz. He chose the name “Hugo” by accident. Hugo has been widespread in Germany since the summer of 2010 at the latest. The Hugo cocktail mint with its fresh and spicy taste gives this cocktail the perfect aroma.
Use: Did you know that there is also the “Hot Hugo”? This is a recipe variant with a dry white wine instead of Prosecco. The white wine is slightly heated with the usual ingredients, not boiled, and then served in mulled wine glasses.
Care: The Hugo Cocktail Mint prefers a partially shaded to a sunny location. It grows quite compact and upright. The soil should be slightly moist, nutritious, and slightly calcareous.
11 Organic Herbs for a Home Garden
4. Organic Gyros Herb Plant
The gyros herb (Artemisia caucasica) is well suited for everyone who likes a hearty “meaty” seasoning. This herb also offers the perfect flavor for vegetarians who want to enjoy a savory aroma. Simply cut off 10 cm long shoots, loosen the fine leaves and sprinkle over the salad or warm dish. It can be used both fresh and dried. From August it forms 10 cm – 15 cm long panicles of flowers. These are also edible and have a slightly milder flavor.
Use: Both fresh and dried, the gyros herb is a wonderful spice for gyros. But many other meat dishes as well as pasta and pizza can also be seasoned with gyros cabbage. The entire plant smells strongly aromatic and enriches every herb garden.
Care: The gyros herb should be planted in a sheltered, sunny location in the garden, e.g. B. rock garden, or even better planted in a bucket. It is only partially frost-hardy down to – 5 °C, so winter protection is required.
11 Organic Herbs for a Home Garden
5. Knofi Plant
The Garden-Knofi (Allium hybrid) forms lilac-colored flowers, which are a decorative eye-catcher with gourmet potential. However, it is mainly the leaves that are eaten. They are convinced with a pleasantly mild garlic aroma, which is classified between chives and garlic.
The garden knob is perennial, hardy, and tolerates temperatures down to – 25 °C. The onion will sprout again next year as soon as the sun warms the soil.
Individual flowers of the garden knob are pulled out of the large ball of flowers and come into their own when garnishing salads. The fresh, aromatic leaves are a delight in herb quarks, herb oil, and salads. But soups, meat, and fish dishes can also be seasoned with them.
Garden knobs prefer humus-rich and nutrient-rich soil. Depending on the age of the plant, a few leaves can be harvested every 2-3 days. It grows just as well in a bucket as it does plants out in the herb garden.
11 Organic Herbs for a Home Garden
6. Organic Sage Plant
The organic real sage (Salvia officinalis) is a true all-rounder: it forms beautiful, eye-catching blue flowers and can be used in many ways in the kitchen. A sunny location and permeable, nutrient-rich soil create optimal conditions. The garden sage is also very tasty when prepared as a tea.
Salvia Officinalis: Sage was one of the most important medicinal plants of antiquity. The Latin genus name Salvia derives from the Latin salvo, meaning “to heal”. The plant was already known to the ancient Greeks and was probably the first to be cultivated there.
In ancient times, students of philosophy are said to have chewed a sage leaf to refresh the mind and gain wisdom, contentment, and knowledge. The Roman Pliny called it Salvia for the first time in the 1st century AD.
Use: Even today, sage is used for many ailments. The plant has now established itself as an indispensable spice plant in numerous dishes. Italian cuisine in particular relies on sage, for example in veal escalope a la Saltimbocca.
But salads, dishes with fish, chicken, pork, soups, and cheese sauces also get a special taste from sage. Although the aroma of freshly harvested leaves is the most intense, the dried or frozen version can also be used in winter.
Care: Sage prefers a sunny location and should not be cut back in autumn. This should only be done in the spring after the frost to support vigorous new growth.
11 Organic Herbs for a Home Garden
7. Thyme Plant
The thyme “Kräuterlust” (thymus) is extremely robust and can be used in many ways in the kitchen. It is not only a great spice plant but also an important medicinal plant and also has a high ornamental value. It displays its pretty little pink to purple flowers all summer long. A sunny location and permeable, nutrient-rich soil create optimal conditions for growth.
11 Organic Herbs for a Home Garden
8. Chives Plant
Organic chives (Allium schoenoprasum) is a well-known kitchen spice that tastes wonderful in herb quark on a slice of freshly baked bread. Chives are perennial and very easy to care for. The flowers of the chives are also edible, but in order to get a good harvest of the chives, it is better to remove them early. A little tip: chives are ideal for freezing.
Allium Schoenoprasum: According to a legend, Emperor Nero ate chives with lots of oil to get a beautiful voice and become a great singer. By the way, chives drive away many pests with their pungent smell and are therefore very popular in the garden in mixed cultures with other plants.
If you want to harvest chives primarily for consumption, you should remove the flower stalks regularly. But if you appreciate the decorative and culinary properties of the flowers, you can also eat them.
Use: Garden chives contain essential oils and plenty of vitamins A and C. It has a beneficial effect on the digestive system, stimulates the appetite, and supports the metabolism of fatty foods. For hot dishes, only add the straws towards the end of the cooking process. Otherwise, the valuable ingredients are destroyed and the aroma is lost. Chopped chives also freeze very well.
Care: In the bed, chives prefer moist, calcareous, and humus-rich soil. Chives are hardy and will sprout again next spring. It is harvested from spring until frost.
11 Organic Herbs for a Home Garden
9. Rosemary Plant
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is popular as a kitchen herb because of its strong, aromatic taste and can be used in many ways. A sunny location and permeable, humus-rich, nutrient-rich soil create optimal conditions for growth. Rosemary is also an excellent addition to delicious salads or dressings.
11 Organic Herbs for a Home Garden
10. Parsley Plant
The parsley plant (Petroselinum crispum) is a classic among the spice plants and should not be missing in the herb bed or on the kitchen windowsill. As a spice in a soup, to decorate dishes or for a special aroma in salads, the leaves of the parsley can be used in many ways. In addition, it is very healthy because, in addition to many vitamins, it also contains important trace elements and minerals.
11 Organic Herbs for a Home Garden
11. Oregano Plant
Organic oregano (Origanum vulgare) is a popular herb that has many uses and is used in particular in Italian dishes. A sunny location and permeable, nutrient-rich soil create optimal conditions for growth. Delicious salads or dressings can also be excellently supplemented with oregano.
Origanum Vulgare: Oregano is a very old medicinal plant and was already known in ancient Greece. It is rarely used in today’s modern herbal medicine. Oregano was probably already used as a spice in the kitchen by the Romans.
It is still widely used throughout the Mediterranean, particularly in Italian and Spanish cuisine where it is considered a very important spice. Oregano is an indispensable part of the pizza.
Use: Oregano is an important spice in Mediterranean cuisine: essential for pizza and pasta. Oregano is particularly delicious in marinades for grilled meat and fish, in salads, with fried potatoes, in meatballs, stews, and in spicy soups. Always cook the oregano, then it will unfold its full aroma. It can be used fresh or dried.
Prepared as a tea, it has an appetizing, draining, and expectorant effect. Cut off whole shoots to dry, and hang upside down in an airy and dark place. After 4 weeks, fill into a dark, tightly sealable container and only cut into small pieces when you are going to use them.
Care: Oregano grows just as well in normal garden soil as it does in dry soil. When the plant has finished flowering, it should be cut back completely.
