Four Herbs Everyone Should Grow

April 30th, 2012

It has been a horribly cold April here in Michigan, after a blissfully warm March. I haven’t wanted to go outside, let alone do any gardening, I hope May is better. I have, however, wanted to do a post on herbs for awhile and since I’ve got nothing else to post about (except maybe to complain again about late frosts) I thought I would do so now.

I really enjoy growing herbs for a few reasons. I like to cook, and no matter how you slice it fresh herbs generally knock the pants off of store varieties. I like to save money, and herbs are pretty expensive in the store, especially fresh ones. They also make unique and interesting plants, at home in the vegetable garden or the ornamental garden. If you only grow four herbs, these are the four I recommend.

1. Mint

Mint is awesome, I personally love mint flavored deserts, shakes, chocolate, etc. In the summer I like to make a cool cucumber salad with a little mint and cukes from the garden. Mint also comes in a wide variety of flavors. Spearmint and peppermint are standard, but gardeners have hybridized a whole variety of other cultivars with hints of various flavors like pineapple, apple, even chocolate. Plant them all.

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Why you should grow Kale

Kale is getting a lot of press these days, it's high in iodine for one thing, maybe it is time to take a more detailed look at Kale


Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and kale are some of the healthiest vegetables you can grow. The health benefits are almost too numerous to mention, but they can help prevent cancer in more than one way, and they can even help fight cancer, literally. Regular readers will know I’m a fan of science, so this isn’t just holistic hearsay, there are actual peer reviewed studies showing these effects. They contain antioxidants, which can help prevent cancer by removing oxidative stress on our cells. They also contain relatively unique compounds that help our cells detoxify, thus removing potential carcinogens from our body. Then there is another compound that can literally cause cancer cells to kill themselves. They’re also good for preventing inflammation, and can lower your cholesterol. Cruciferous vegetables are superfoods, some more than others, kale would seem to be more than others.


But this isn’t a health blog, it is a gardening blog, so lets talk about gardening.

I’ve grown cabbage, and it works, but critters get into it like crazy. Slugs, ground hogs, rabbits. When it gets damaged it ruins the head, and you have only 1 head per plant. Plus, cabbage is has a little less nutritional density compared to the other cruciferous vegetables, and it is really cheap at the store so why not just buy it? I always try to consider cost when planting something, since I have limited space, I want the most bang for my buck...
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