Growing your own herbs can seem a bit daunting, or like something reserved for the rich. But, there are many great reasons why everyone should do it. You may feel like it’s not something you can do, claiming a black thumb or indifference to whether or not your herbs are fresh, but the reality of growing them, and how it will effect both your food and your wallet, will surprise you. Here are the top four reasons why everyone should grow their own.
Save money. For the price of one or two bundles of store bought fresh herbs you can buy the entire herb plant. Most herb plants can be bought in containers that give them room to grow, with instructions for care, so even a black thumb can take care of them. And, for the money you pay the average herb plant can put out as much five-hundred times the amount contained in two bundles! To put it into figures: one parsley plant, properly cared for, can save you $165 over the the two-year course of its life.
Better nutrition. Fresh herbs are packed with vitamins and antioxidants. Like other plants, however, herbs begin to loose nutrients the moment they’re picked. Growing your own allows you to put only seconds between the plant and pot, instead of days or weeks. That may not seem like a big deal, until you realize that one cup of chopped fresh picked parsley contains about 149mg of calcium, compared to the 95mg of calcium contained in the same amount of peeled orange.
Less salt. People who cook with fresh herbs tend to find themselves cooking with less salt. When the flavor of the dish is bumped up with herbs we find that less salt is necessary to bring out the main ingredient’s natural flavor.
Encourages creativity in your cooking. When you get used to using herbs picked fresh from the plant you start to contemplate the things you cook differently. Instead of looking in you pantry to get ideas for what to cook for dinner you start to look in your herb garden. Suddenly that bag of flour hiding on the back shelf doesn’t seem so daunting anymore.
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