Indoor Herb Garden: Introduction

If you've never tried fresh herbs in your cooking you don't know what your missing. Like a lot of people I have several small jars of dried herbs on my counter next to the stove. I never really understood the big deal or the expense of fresh herbs in cooking.

When I first got into hydroponics I was looking for plants that not only grew quickly but were also useful. Unlike peppers and tomato plants, my favorite plants to grow, herbs can be eaten when only a few weeks old.

I started off with what I consider the basics; Cilantro, Basil,  Oregano, and Parsley. To buy any of these fresh at the store it costs well more than 99 cents to buy the seeds. Without really knowing what I was doing I built my first Hydroponic System. You can see it here on my You Tube Channel and also here on my blog. I also have a demonstration of how the system works here.

My first experience using fresh herbs was when I made Salsa. I used Roma tomatoes, Onions, Peppers, Garlic, Lime juice and the fresh Cilantro from my little experimental system. It was fantastic, the best I ever tasted. It absolutely blew away anything that came out of a jar.

Then I saw someone make Bruschetta on a cooking show. Even though I had been to Italy a couple times I never tried it. It looked simple enough. I bought a loaf of Italian bread, sliced it like a saw on the program then toasted it under the broiler. I cut the clove of garlic in half and rubbed it on each piece. Then I placed one of my Basil leaves on it followed by a slice of Roma tomato and sprinkled it with a little Parmesan cheese. OH MY WAS IT GOOD! I never had anything like it and was blown away how something so simple could taste so wonderful.

These two simple recipes are what got me started with my love of fresh herbs. Now here it is well into winter and I am back to using dried herbs. I was able to dehydrate and freeze a couple bags of each but they are only slightly better than the stuff in the little jars.

So this got me thinking, I have the technology, I have the seeds, so why don't I have fresh herbs? In the next few weeks I will be building a new hydroponic system and growing my own fresh herbs indoors. Please stay tuned and follow along.

If you have any ideas or comments about growing fresh herbs, please add them in the comments area below this post.