Get your free
Herb Gardening Mini-Course Here...
Get your free mini-course on how to have the healthiest Herb Garden around.
Just enter your first name, e-mail address, and we'll email you your first lesson right now.
*Double-check your email for accuracy to ensure you receive your free mini course.
Privacy Assured:
Your email address is never
shared with anyone.
Herb Gardening Mini-Course Here...
Get your free mini-course on how to have the healthiest Herb Garden around.
Just enter your first name, e-mail address, and we'll email you your first lesson right now.
*Double-check your email for accuracy to ensure you receive your free mini course.
Privacy Assured:
Your email address is never
shared with anyone.
Available Now for
Immediate Download
Immediate Download
Herb Gardening Articles
Copyright© www.JoysHerbGardeningSecrets.com 2009
Growing an Italian herb garden is easy and great for cooking delicious Italian food.
Italian herbs are some of the most versatile and popular, even among non-Italians. The herbs are what make Italian food so flavorful. I cook with my Italian herbs all year long and they are an essential ingredient in most of my favorite dishes. With your own Italian herb garden, you can easily create some wonderful Italian dishes that even the pickiest eaters will love.
Here are some of my favorite Italian herbs for my garden that are easy to grow:
Basil is a well know Italian herb and wonderful in many Italian recipes including sauces, soups and salads. Basil adds tremendous flavor and is wonderful to use freshly picked and added to the last 10 minutes of your cooking to maintain optimal flavor and aroma. Basil can also be beneficial in your Italian herb garden because it drives away flies and mosquitoes. Gardeners who plant basil next peppers and tomatoes swear it actually improves their flavor. My favorite use for basil is pesto.
Parsley is a popular herb that is commonly found in two varieties: curly and flat leaf or Italian parsley. The curly variety is great for a pretty garnish, but use the flat leaf variety when cooking your favorite Italian dishes. The tradition of using parsley as a garnish arose from the discovery that fresh parsley chewed after a meal can give you fresh breath after enjoying many flavorful foods and become popular long before the days of breathe mints. Many restaurants still provide a little garnish of parsley to this day.
Oregano, also known as wild marjoram, is one of the most used herbs in Italian and Greek cuisine. No Italian herb garden would be complete without oregano. Its flavor goes well with basil, and is widely used in tomato-based dishes, with meat or fish, and in salads. Oregano is also delicious with beans, eggplant and in the Italian rice dish risotto. Oregano can be beautiful in your garden as well; when fully mature it sprouts pretty, small purple flowers.
Marjoram is also in the mint family and is very similar to oregano. I find my freshly grown marjoram tends to be sweeter when cooked and has a stronger aroma than some varieties of oregano. It can be used interchangeable in recipes that call for oregano and is the herb I sometimes prefer. Like oregano it is commonly used to flavor meats and sauces.
Rosemary is a must for every Italian herb garden. This herb is known for its strong aroma …it takes very little rosemary to flavor a dish. Rosemary resembles an evergreen tree with small spikes and is slow growing. It can grows into a large shrub that spouts pretty little blue flowers and has the added benefit to your garden of attracting bees. Although it is generally a tough evergreen perennial, it can be sensitive to frost and needs some care to survive the winter.
Sage is another popular choice for Italian herb gardens that also has a very strong flavor and aroma. Used in a variety of Italian dishes from meats to salads. New shoots sage contain the most flavor and it’s recommended you not to let your sage plants to get
Italian herbs are some of the most versatile and popular, even among non-Italians. The herbs are what make Italian food so flavorful. I cook with my Italian herbs all year long and they are an essential ingredient in most of my favorite dishes. With your own Italian herb garden, you can easily create some wonderful Italian dishes that even the pickiest eaters will love.
Here are some of my favorite Italian herbs for my garden that are easy to grow:
Basil is a well know Italian herb and wonderful in many Italian recipes including sauces, soups and salads. Basil adds tremendous flavor and is wonderful to use freshly picked and added to the last 10 minutes of your cooking to maintain optimal flavor and aroma. Basil can also be beneficial in your Italian herb garden because it drives away flies and mosquitoes. Gardeners who plant basil next peppers and tomatoes swear it actually improves their flavor. My favorite use for basil is pesto.
Parsley is a popular herb that is commonly found in two varieties: curly and flat leaf or Italian parsley. The curly variety is great for a pretty garnish, but use the flat leaf variety when cooking your favorite Italian dishes. The tradition of using parsley as a garnish arose from the discovery that fresh parsley chewed after a meal can give you fresh breath after enjoying many flavorful foods and become popular long before the days of breathe mints. Many restaurants still provide a little garnish of parsley to this day.
Oregano, also known as wild marjoram, is one of the most used herbs in Italian and Greek cuisine. No Italian herb garden would be complete without oregano. Its flavor goes well with basil, and is widely used in tomato-based dishes, with meat or fish, and in salads. Oregano is also delicious with beans, eggplant and in the Italian rice dish risotto. Oregano can be beautiful in your garden as well; when fully mature it sprouts pretty, small purple flowers.
Marjoram is also in the mint family and is very similar to oregano. I find my freshly grown marjoram tends to be sweeter when cooked and has a stronger aroma than some varieties of oregano. It can be used interchangeable in recipes that call for oregano and is the herb I sometimes prefer. Like oregano it is commonly used to flavor meats and sauces.
Rosemary is a must for every Italian herb garden. This herb is known for its strong aroma …it takes very little rosemary to flavor a dish. Rosemary resembles an evergreen tree with small spikes and is slow growing. It can grows into a large shrub that spouts pretty little blue flowers and has the added benefit to your garden of attracting bees. Although it is generally a tough evergreen perennial, it can be sensitive to frost and needs some care to survive the winter.
Sage is another popular choice for Italian herb gardens that also has a very strong flavor and aroma. Used in a variety of Italian dishes from meats to salads. New shoots sage contain the most flavor and it’s recommended you not to let your sage plants to get
too large and woody by keeping them trim. Sage can be used throughout the growing season and harvested after it blooms. Sage is also very popular in turkey and stuffing recipes in the American Thanksgiving tradition.
These are just a few of the many wonderful Italian herbs you can grow in your garden.
Italian herbs will add exceptional flavor to your food but they also can be beneficial and beautiful additions to your garden and landscape designs. They can be displayed for color and their aroma.
When planning your Italian herb garden, consider your growing conditions and determine which plant will thrive best in your area. If you create an indoor Italian herb garden you can control many of the growing conditions and choose herbs that do well indoors in containers.
Your own Italian herb garden is like having a little piece of Italy in your home and will allow you to cook delicious Italian dishes just as the Italians have for centuries.
These are just a few of the many wonderful Italian herbs you can grow in your garden.
Italian herbs will add exceptional flavor to your food but they also can be beneficial and beautiful additions to your garden and landscape designs. They can be displayed for color and their aroma.
When planning your Italian herb garden, consider your growing conditions and determine which plant will thrive best in your area. If you create an indoor Italian herb garden you can control many of the growing conditions and choose herbs that do well indoors in containers.
Your own Italian herb garden is like having a little piece of Italy in your home and will allow you to cook delicious Italian dishes just as the Italians have for centuries.
See other Helpful Gardening Articles...