START YOUR OWN HERB GARDEN
Since you’re making more meals at home these days, how about starting an herb garden? Herbs such as basil, rosemary, sage, thyme and cilantro add unique flavors to all kinds of food and drink.
Herbs are easy to grow. They just need sunshine, good soil that drains well, a little compost and fertilizer, and some watering. I’ve had them in my vegetable garden for years. They don’t take up much room, just a couple of square feet per plant. Place them in their own section of the garden or do like me, wherever there’s a blank spot—say in between the pepper plants and the cucumbers. If you don’t have room outdoors, you can still easily grow them inside.
If you enjoy watching plants sprout and grow, you can raise herbs from seed. But for the same price as a packet of seeds you can pick up starter plants.
Outdoors
As easy as herbs are to grow you’ll want to maximize their environment. Most prefer full sun. And most thrive in typical garden soil, as long as it has good drainage. Thus, you may have to till or loosen soil that has become compacted. You should also mix an inch or so of compost into your soil, which adds fertilizer and also helps in drainage.
Next, plant your healthy herbs. Most will require moderate but regular watering. You’ll need to check the soil often because temperature and humidity will cause drying to vary over time. But don’t over water, because that can lead to diseases. You’ll also need to prune your herbs before they start growing flowers. Keep cutting off flower buds when you find them and it will keep your herbs focused on growing leaves.
Indoors
I’ve never grown herbs indoors, so I’ve now done a bit of reading about how to do it. I found out that there are a few special tricks for growing herbs in pots.
First, find a sunny spot near a window that preferably faces south and receives at least 6 hours of sun daily. (If you’re lucky enough to have this situation in your kitchen, you can just snip fresh leaves and immediately throw them in your pot or pan.) Or you can use a grow light that would mimic direct sunlight. Ordinary garden soil does not drain well in a container, so you’ll next need to buy a good-quality potting soil. Also, make certain your pots have drainage holes and place them on saucers to protect your windowsill or table. As with other plants in containers, herbs require regular watering and fertilization
So many herbs
Whether you’re growing your fragrant botanicals outside or indoors, you’ll want to first plant herbs you know you’ll use in your cooking, then after time you can branch out and experiment with new herbs and new varieties of herbs. Some of the possibilities of what you can grow include: basil, chives, bay laurel, rosemary, cilantro, dill, tarragon and sage plus mint (chocolate, peppermint, spearmint of sweet mint), oregano (Greek, Italian or hot & spicy), parsley (flat Italian or curled) and thyme (German or lemon) and MORE.
Extra Benefit: Polyphenols, the compounds that give herbs their fragrant flavors, have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and other healthful benefits. Using herbs can also help you cut back on salt.
NEWS I’ve begun making a series of YouTube videos. My channel name is Generation Fit! Senior Fitness and I’ll be covering the same topics as this Generation Fit blog. My first segment is titled Senior Fitness in Coronavirus Time which is pretty much a video version of my March 19th blog post Exercising in the Time of Coronavirus. (It’s my first try at YouTube and is rather amateurish, but I think the segments will get better as I go along.) My second attempt (out next week) is Overcome Your Stumbling Blocks to Getting Fit Check it out!