My favorite things to plant in the garden are herbs. Fresh herbs can add such variety and zip to your cooking, and it’s so convenient to have your favorites growing right in your own yard. And herbs don’t take a lot of space or time. Even if you don’t have a yard, a few planters on the patio or even in a window would work fine.  Spend an hour potting a few, and you’re set for the summer.

I stopped by Eric’s Flower and Plant Emporium in Westford the other day. They’re just starting to get out their herbs and vegetable plants. Their greenhouse smelled so deliciously of basil that I just couldn’t resist buying a basil plant. It’s sitting in my kitchen, waiting for the weather to warm up enough to plant it outside. Now my kitchen smells deliciously of basil, so of course I had to pick a few leaves to use. I just hope I don’t use it all before it makes it outside, though I could always head back to Eric’s for a new one!

I have a few tips for you for herb gardening. In our last house, we put an herb garden in our yard. It was nice, but not very convenient to the kitchen. In our new house, I bought a bunch of pots and planted herbs right on our deck, just off the kitchen. It’s so easy to open the door and snip a few herbs whenever I’m cooking.  I’d highly recommend picking a location near your kitchen to plant the herbs as you’re more likely to use them if you can just pop out to get them.

I also like to plant herbs that you can’t find in stores. Last year I grew a chocolate mint that I used to make delicious mint ice cream. We also grow lemon thyme, one of my husband’s favorite herbs that I’ve never seen in a supermarket. I always plant cilantro and parsley, because the grocery stores sell a big bunch that I can never use up. I like to have my own plants so I can pick smaller amounts to use than I’d get in the store.

My last tip is that some are herbs are perennials and some can be invasive. Mint especially has a reputation for growing out of control. If you plant mint, I’d highly recommend putting it in a planter rather than in a garden bed. I’ve had luck with chives, thyme, cilantro, and parsley coming back in future years, so make sure when you plant your herbs, you pick a location where you’re okay with them growing back in future years.

The uses of herbs are practically limitless. I’m including here a recipe for herbed butter since it really highlights the herbs, is incredibly versatile, is easy to customize based on what’s growing in your own garden, and is a good recipe to use a lot of herbs when everything is growing like crazy and you need to cut things back.  Herbed butter is great on bread or crackers, over corn on the cob or other veggies, on bagels (though you could also substitute cream cheese for butter in this recipe to make your own herbed cream cheese), or for just about anything where you normally use plain butter.  I especially like to use it to make herbed garlic bread. 

Ingredients:

• 4 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh herbs of your choice.  I used basil from Eric’s, plus chives, thyme, and lemon thyme from our garden.
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced (optional)
• Salt to taste (if you use salted butter, you probably won’t need any)

Directions:

1. Place butter in a medium bowl.  Let it sit out on the counter for an hour or two until softened.
2. Finely chop the herbs of your choice.  Add the herbs and minced garlic to the bowl with the butter.
3. Using the back of a spoon, mush the butter and herbs together until well mixed.
4. Use immediately, or store in the fridge for a day or two.

Herbed butter can be frozen for later use. During the summer, I freeze a few small containers of herbed butter to use during the winter. It’s nice to get that taste of summer when there’s a foot of snow on the ground!

Special bonus:  Do you remember Annie’s Gluten-Free from the Westford Summer and Winter Farmers Markets? Eric’s in Westford is now carrying her cookies—a favorite with my kids (and with me!).  So while you’re there picking up herb plants, you can also get some yummy cookies for a special treat.