"The best way to garden is to put on a wide-brimmed straw hat and some old clothes. And with a hoe in one hand and a cold drink in the other, tell somebody else where to dig."
~Texas Bix Bender, Don't Throw in the Trowel
If you are a reluctant gardener, welcome. Me too. It’s not easy to keep things alive. Some years are better than others and you will end up killing some plants. You just have to be prepared for this truth. As most people in Colorado will tell you, don’t attempt tomatoes if you are a novice gardener. Lettuces are hit and miss. Heartier greens do just fine. Peppers and cucumbers remain easy. Squashes and onions are undeterred.
I believe herbs are the best way to get started with gardening. They rarely fail, are quick to grow, and they save you more money per yield than any other fruit or vegetable you can harvest. That is, unless you are a commercial farmer—in which case grow mushrooms or bamboo because the ROI on those crops is bananas.
In the summer, I cook a lot from my Ottolenghi and Salad For President cookbooks and they call for a lot of herbs. We already know they add so much to the flavor of a dish, but when torn and eaten raw the texture quickly becomes something you don’t ever want to live without.
I suggest looking at the meals you make most and plant herbs in quantities that correspond with those dishes. My herb garden usually contains the following:
Parsley (for everything)
Cilantro (Thai and Spanish dishes)
Chives (salad dressings and eggs)
Basil (caprese, salads, pestos)
Mint (Thai, salads, ice tea, cocktails)
Thyme (roast chicken, salad dressings)
Dill (soups, salads, salmon dishes)
Sage (Italian, homemade smudge sticks)
Rosemary (roasts, sauces, stews)
Lavender (lemonade, ice cream, drawer sachets)
Not only will you be saving an average of $3 each time you need herbs, but you can also get started for free. Many places around the country offer free seeds at the local library and many seed companies will send free samples upon request. There is also this great Facebook Group that exists solely to facilitate free seed swapping. Planting care and instructions are only a Google away.
And because I can’t resist, here is a fantastic farm-related folksong. It’s a cover from the 1931 Buster Carter original and appears in one of my favorite films of recent memory, The Broken Circle Breakdown. It was Belgium’s official selection for the 2013 Oscars. Their chief producing crop is barley. I digress.