There is always a place in our lives for growing a few herbs and/or spices to keep our food interesting. Even if you live in a unit or townhouse, you can still have a pot of rosemary or basil hanging around for use when you need it. The extent to which you can grow them will depend upon your climate as much as anything else, but it is worth finding out which herbs and spices will do well in your area, and then give it a go!
Why Grow Herbs and spices?
• Flavour! (freshness) – you will not get more and better flavour than from herbs you have picked yourself, from your own garden, minutes before you add them to a dish.
• Herbs are High value crops – Herbs cost quite a bit, but because we only buy small amounts we may not notice. For example a 15 gram punnet of fresh basil at Woolworths costs $3.20, which appears to be not much but that equates to over $210 per kilo. By growing your own herbs and spices you can save money on your grocery basket.
Our herb 'spiral' (or wedding cake!)
• Reduce food miles – as with much of our food, herbs and spices can be labelled as ‘Australian Grown’ but Aus is a big place, how far has it travelled to get to you? They may also be labelled as ‘mixed origin’ so you have no idea where they come from, or ‘packed in Australia from imported product’ again, no idea how many food miles are on them. If you just walk out to your herb patch and grab what you need it becomes food feet not food miles!
• Reduce plastic packaging – just about all herbs you buy, unless they are from a ‘package free’ shop like ‘The Source’ or ‘Honest to Goodness’, will be covered in plastic packaging to a greater or lesser extent. This is totally absent if you grow your own.
Lavender - attractive, fragant, flavourful and it attracts bees!
• A little goes a long way – and what this means is that you do not have to consign a huge amount of your growing space over to herb/spice production. Even a few pots can provide most of what you want.
• They are attractive – herbs can add visual appeal to your garden and release pleasing aromas if you brush by them as you walk around in your garden. Herbs can be used in edible landscaping. Herbs such as basil, lavender, lemon verbena, oregano, parsley, rosemary and many others can be planted amongst flowers, trees and veggies to add beauty to your garden as well as flavour.
Our big, beautiful bay tree
• They are often hardy and easy to grow – Many herbs, especially the mediterranean herbs like bay, dill, fennel, oregano and rosemary are very hardy and don’t require a lot of looking after, a positive thing then life gets busy!
• Herbs are ‘Gateway’ plants – if you have been thinking about growing some of your own food, herbs are a great place to start, because they are easy to grow and don’t take up much space. Once your herb garden is thriving, careful or you may be sucked into growing your own vegetables, then fruit, who know where it will end!
Fresh curry leaf is better than the dried stuff any day!
• Increased variety of herbs – as with much of our food, if we rely on the supermarket for our fresh herbs the variety is limited, but if you grow your own the choice is limited only by your imagination. (OK, and climate too!).
Growing cinnamon in Western Sydney (Who knew?)
• Herbs and spices can be used in companion planting like the well-known pairing of basil being planted with tomatoes, if you believe in that stuff.
• Many culinary herbs and spices also have medicinal uses, such as using ginger, sage, peppermint, dill seed and fennel seed for digestive problems.
Turmeric, galangal, ginger and cardamom
• Healthier eating (organic growing) – unless you buy organic herbs and spices there is no way to know what chemicals have been used in their production. If you grow your own you know exactly what has been applied to them, and hopefully they will be organic!
• Sharing is caring – if you grow your own herbs and spices it is likely that you will be producing more than your need, so why not give the excess to friends, family or even strangers walking on your street. Or you could join a food swap group and trade excess herbs and spices for other homegrown goodies.
Sharing our bay leaves (and veg) with the neighbours
As you can see from all these reasons it really is worth it to start your own herb and/or spice garden, give it a go this weekend!
Want to know more about how to grow herbs and spices? check out our free eBook here
