I haven’t posted about our little raised-bed backyard garden in a few months. The hot Houston summer was pretty rough on our garden and we haven’t produced much since June. But now that it’s starting to cool down, our herbs (basil, rosemary, and mint), and tomatoes are coming back around. Everything else pretty much died in the summer heat – except our jalapeños – they have been going strong since the spring.
In our first year of outdoor raised-bed gardening in Houston I planted cherry tomatoes, jalapeños, green onions, zucchini, watermelon, snow peas, sugar snap peas, cucumbers, basil, rosemary, mint, and cilantro. We only successfully produced cherry tomatoes, jalapeños, sugar snap peas, cucumbers, basil, rosemary, mint, and cilantro. But now I have a better idea of what plants are easy to grow for next year, and also how to space them in our two beds.
I’m looking forward to see if the new growth means we will produce another crop of cherry tomatoes this fall – our spring cherry tomatoes were soooo delicious! There is nothing like tomatoes grown right in your garden. Store-bought tomatoes and herbs don’t even come close.
Our tomato plants and basil are coming back to life in the cooler fall temperatures.
I have really been struggling to keep our garden alive and thriving outside because of the changing weather (heat and too much rain), bugs (caterpillars really got us this year!), and rabbits in our yard. I really enjoy cooking with fresh vegetables and herbs and I know from experience that homegrown tastes best. Also, I’ve noticed whenever I buy herbs at the grocery store they don’t stay fresh for long, I either get too much or too little for my recipes, and they can be expensive (especially when not in season).
So when Jessica from ProFlowers contacted me about sharing their indoor herb garden guide I was completely on board. This is something I’ve been interested in trying at home myself anyway. It’s a great idea to have the herbs indoors because I know soon it will be too cold for them to grow outside, and all summer it was too hot for most of my herbs. If I plant an indoor herb garden I can enjoy fresh herbs year round.
Below is an intro from ProFlowers, followed by their beautiful infographics with a link to their full blog post about indoor herb gardening. I hope you find this guide as useful as I did!
Gardening with kids is a fun activity for them to try with loads of benefits. They get to learn about how plants grow and the whole family gets to enjoy fresh food that everyone had a part in making! With the colder months inching closer our fruit and veggie selection grows thin since lots of plants can’t stand the drop in temperature. One solution to this is by starting an indoor garden. The easiest type of indoor garden to start is an indoor herb garden!
Herb gardens are great to have for so many reasons! For starters, most herbs grow year-round so you don’t have to worry much about the changing seasons. This means you can have fresh herbs for any meal. Herbs are generally easy to care for, so you’ll most likely find success growing most (if not all!) of your herbs. These gardens are also great because you can usually house them right in your kitchen and give yourself easy access to the herbs right when you need them. Herbs taste best when they’re freshly harvested, so you’ll definitely get the best taste with fresh herbs.
To help you start off on the right foot, ProFlowers created a guide to indoor herb gardening that includes everything you need to create a healthy garden in your kitchen. They have in-depth growing tips, a list of the best herbs to grow and ideas for styling your indoor garden. It’s best to start ASAP since the holiday season is approaching fast! If can get your herb garden on the right track, you’ll have fresh herbs to use in time for all of your holiday cooking. Look through their guide and see how you can get your indoor herb garden up and running!
I’m interested in planting basil, rosemary, cilantro, thyme, and mint in an indoor herb garden. Will you be planting an indoor herb garden this fall? What herbs would you like in your garden?
