Herbs

If this is the year you want to add growing herbs to your vegetable garden, Park Seed has a broad selection of herb seeds to start your adventure. You can choose to start small and grow a few fresh herbs on your kitchen windowsill. Growing herb seeds indoors is not difficult as long as you have enough light. Place your windowsill garden on a southern exposure window. If that is not possible, you may have to supplement with a plant light.

Planting organic herbs in the vegetable garden is ideal. Think about how you will prepare your veggies for meals and plant the herbs you will need. If you make tomato sauce with your garden tomatoes, basil is the herb you can’t be without. This is a culinary herb that is easy to grow and essential in Italian-style cooking.

Also, think about companion planting. Many herbs are good companion plants for the vegetables you are growing. Some herb plants repel pests and others bring in pollinators or help the plants they grow with. Borage will make strawberries produce more fruit and borage will repel tomato hornworm. The attractive blue flowers of borage will attract lots of pollinators to your garden as well. The leaves of borage are great in teas and potpourri. Calendula flowers have been used in salves by people to soothe skin irritations, but it also is a companion plant in the vegetable garden and will repel bad bugs while attracting the good insects. Lavender is known for its calming effect, both as a scent or in teas. The benefits of herbs goes on and on.