Mary, Mary Quite Contrary How Does Your Garden Grow?

My herb gardenGrowing up, we had a huge garden.  I use to love to "help" my dad weed the garden (i.e. sometimes pull weeds, more often dig up plants).  I still have fond memories of eating a tomato, still warm from the sun, like an apple or picking corn and immediately cooking and eating it without any butter on it because it was so sweet.  Even though I get lots of fresh produce from the farm markets it is nearly impossible to duplicate these flavors. 

Unfortunately, I'm not able to have quite as ambitious a garden now.  I still plant some tomatoes, but mostly I plant herbs.  Herb gardens are wonderful.  They are relatively low maintenance, they add tons of flavor, smell great, save money (who ever uses an entire bunch of name that herb if you buy it in the grocery store), space efficient, and--as long as you bring the planters inside--you can grow them year round.  Thankfully, my belly hasn't gotten in the way of the bbq....yet

I'm currently growing thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil, sage, lavender, cilantro, mint, and lemon verbena.  I managed to kill my parsley (to my green thumb's credit, however, a bug decided to lay eggs on the plant, so technically it wasn't me who killed the parsley) and basil (that was my fault).  Luckily, for $2.50 I could replace the basil.

I use fresh herbs in almost everything I cook.  Lemon verbena has--you guessed it-- a lemon flavor.  It's great with poultry or in salad dressing.  Last night, we had grilled lamb chops that I marinated with rosemary and mint (click here for the recipe).  It was an easy meal and very flavorful thanks to the fresh herbs.