3 STEPS To Replace Grocery Store Herbs FOREVER

Foreign grocery store herbs again. In this video, I'm going to show you how you can grow your own herbs at home year round, even if you've only got a porch or a patio. We're going to cover what to grow, when to plant, how to store them for winter, and why that plastic wrap parsley from the grocery is kind of a scam. Stick around to the end because I'm going to show you my three step method so you can have herbs like this at home year round without ever going to grocery. So grocery store herbs, they seem really convenient until you actually think about it. So in the US, Almost all the herbs that you see at the grocery store, they were shipped across the country. Unless you live in California, some of the herbs were actually even shipped from across the world. But herbs are almost all leaves. If you've ever harvest an herb or had a fresh herb in the garden, you know that these leafy plants, they start to wilt and lose their flavor and nutrients almost immediately after harvesting. So those herbs that you're buying at the grocery store, by the time they reach your fridge, they've got hardly any flavor and they've definitely lost their nutrients that herbs are so good at giving us. Next up, these herbs are generally wrapped in plastic. That's plastic. That's basically single use. It's going to get tossed out as soon as you're done with that herb. And you're going to be really lucky if you actually use all the herb that's inside that plastic pouch. I don't know about you, but it's kind of Internet famous that everybody tosses their cilantro one or two days after they buy it. And finally we got to talk about the price. So those little plastic packaged herbs, they cost about $3.99 for a half ounce. That's $4 for half an ounce. It takes 32 of those to equal one pound of herbs. That means you'd be spending 32 times four. If I do the math quickly, that's over $120 for one pound of herbs, most of which you're going to toss in the trash. But here's the deal. Herbs grow almost anywhere. They take hardly any care, and the only thing you got to do to keep them alive is cut from them. There's literally no reason why all of us can't be growing most of our own herbs at home. If you haven't read my book Leaves, Roots and Fruit, I talk about the fact that herbs are literally the easiest thing to grow in the garden. They're in the leaf cate, meaning they're going to give you loads of production at the very earliest part of their lives. Herbs grow in a very small space, and they grow really quickly. They'll be one of the first things to come up as soon as winter is over, and they'll be one of the last things to die in your garden, even after a first frost. Now, the next thing about herbs that you've got to know is most of them are perennials. Perennials are your BFF in the garden, okay? Perennials come back and year after year after year. And like 95% of the herbs that we use in the kitchen, they're all in the mint plant family, the lamiaceae family, and almost all those plants are perennials. So you plant them once and you'll harvest from them again and again and again. I did a whole video about this if you want to check it out after you watch this video. So herbs like oregano, sage, thyme, rosemary, lavender, they come back every single year. So you buy one plant for about the same price as your grocery store variety, and you'll get to harvest from that plant for years to come. Now, there are some herbs that are annuals, meaning they grow from seed to their full plant in just one year. Then they'll die off and they won't come back from the root the next year. Annuals that we know best are cilantro and dill and basil. But here's the thing about all three of those herbs. Even though they only grow up just once that year, they all self seed. Seed. That's why cilantro, everyone's talking about keeping it from bolting, right? Because cilantro loves to make seed. Basil and dill are the same. Even though you only get one year off that one plant, it'll make hundreds of seeds that'll give you hundreds of plants for the next year. Finally, all these herbs, they are cut and come again. And what does that mean? It means you cut from them and then you can come back again and cut from them again and again and again. In fact, herbs are kind of like that. I don't know if it's actually true, but have you ever heard, like, get your hair cut so it'll grow faster? Not sure if it actually works for human hair, but it definitely works for herbs. Every time that you cut off the outer and lower leaves off of an herb, it literally encourages it to make more leaves. So the more you harvest, the more the plant grows so that you can harvest even more. And for all my friends out there, who are just growing in containers. If you've only got a porch or a patio or just a little bitty spot by your front door, the best news for you is that herbs love growing in containers. They don't need soil that stays really moist and wet, they don't need a lot of attention, and they thrive in a little small space garden. So if you've got a small space, you've got to start growing herbs. And if you want to make the most of your container space, or just a small bed where you're planting all your herbs, I drew up a handy planting plan that shows you exactly how I'd plant up all the herbs in just one garden to get maximum production and some serious garden beauty. So I'll put a link to that right below this video. So here's my three step plan to give you a year round supply of herbs so you never have to buy them from the grocery store again. So the first thing first is to plant early. All your perennial herbs, plant them very early in the season, as soon as your soil is workable. You don't need to wait till frost has passed. You don't need to wait till the temperatures are in the 70s and 80s. These plants are perennials, they can hang on when the soil is cool. So if the soil is workable, if you can get a shovel inside, you want to put your perennial herbs in the garden as fast as possible. Next, you want to put in annual seeds as early as possible too. So parsley, cilantro, dill, those are cool season herbs and you want to put seeds for those in the soil at the same time that you plant these perennials. So plant early, as early as possible. And if you're watching this late in the season, these plants, especially the perennials, they can honestly be put in at any time of year. You'll get the most bang for your buck if you start early. That's step one. Plant early. So step number two is to harvest often. And I'm talking weekly. Do not hold back, do not wait. You need to make yourself a schedule to go out and cut from your herbs every single week. You never want to cut more than a third from each plant, but you do want to cut a third of that plant every single week. Like I said, the more you cut, the more they grow. This is especially important for your annual herbs like dill, cilantro, basil, because they have a very short time span in the garden, so you want to be making them most of their growth, cutting from them weekly. If you need a really good Schedule written out for you. It's inside my book, Five Minute Gardener, and I'll put a link to it. It's all about building habits. Things like harvesting from your herbs every single week and doing it, even if you're a busy person. Now, here's where the magic happens in step number three. Use half now, save half for later. So every week, when you harvest all these herbs, you're going to have way more than you think you need. And that's the exact thing we want to happen. So half the herbs that you harvest, use them right away. Make sauces, make dips, use them for seasoning. Use these herbs fresh as quickly as you can. Then take half of your harvest every single week of each and every herb and store it, preserve it, so that you can have it through the winter. It's a habit. It's a ritual. And the more you do it, week over week, you're going to enjoy so many fresh, delicious herbs like you've never tasted before. But also importantly, you'll be saving up a stash of incredible herbs that you can enjoy all winter long, long after all herbs have died in the garden. And when I say use your fresh herbs, I'm serious. You got to use these herbs up. So first, one of my favorite things to make with fresh herbs is dips. My personal favorite is making some chimichurri with parsley. I love to make pestos with basil. Next, you can blend these herbs into creamy dips. My personal favorite is to make a butter board, which is literally just a board where you put lots of softened butter, and then you just cover the board with all kinds of fresh herbs. In fact, my mouth is watering while I'm talking about this. You put a little bit of fresh bread all around it, and suddenly you've got the most beautiful appetizer. I mean, in a garten. I think. I think she'd love it. She'd come over if she knew what I had. We got sauces, creamy dips, butter boards, and then finally, use these herbs in your actual hot cooking. So if you're roasting vegetables, put some thyme or rosemary on it. If you're cooking some chicken or salt steak, cut up some parsley, cut up some oregano. The opportunities and the possibilities are endless. And trust me on this one, even if the entire rest of your dish or your entire dinner is from the grocery store and you add a couple of just freshly harvested herbs on top for a sauce or for seasoning, it literally makes the whole meal taste like it was homegrown. Now don't forget the second part of the magic, and that's that you've got to save some for later. Now, the easiest ones to store are your perennial herbs. They're also known as woody herbs. So oregano, rosemary, thyme, sage, these all have a woody stem and they're so easy to preserve. All you got to do is cut the stems, tie them up and hang them in a cool, dark, dry place. You want to give them about two weeks. Test the leaves. If they feel nice and crispy, like there's not a bit of moisture left in them, you're just going to strip those leaves from the stem, stick them in an amber jar, clove, close them up, seal them, and you now have herbs for the entire rest of the winter, probably enough to give to your friends and family for Christmas too. Now, the annual herbs, they're a little bit more complicated. You could dehydrate these in a very low temp oven or in a dehydrator. Personally, I don't love the flavor of dehydrated parsley or chives or dill, but what I do love doing is chopping up or just taking these herbs and then storing them in a high quality olive oil and, and putting them in an ice cube tray. Give them a few days to freeze in the freezer, then you're going to pop out those ice cubes and just stick them in a bag or storage inside your freezer. Then all throughout the coldest parts of the year, when those plants are no longer thriving in the garden, you don't need to go to the grocery, you just go to the freezer, pull out a few ice cubes, let them melt in a little pan, and boom, you've got the flavors of summer right in the dead of winter and you didn't have to pay a dime at the grocery. There's a lot of stuff that we're always going to have to buy at the grocery store, but herbs, they just aren't one of them. That's why one of my key missions and gardenary's key mission is to get everybody growing their own herbs by 2030. So tell me in the comments, are you in? If you are, I want you to tell me what herb you're going to start growing this year and we're going to pick one of you to give you my herb garden guide course for free. Herbs do not belong in those plastic clam shells hanging in the grocery store fridge. They belong in the freezer, in a jar that you filled yourself, are growing right outside your back do. Thanks so much for listening to the Grow youw Self podcast. You can keep listening anywhere. You love getting your podcast delivered on Apple podcasts on Spotify, iHeartRadio, you name it, we are there for you. And if you want to read the notes and get our free resources to help you grow more, you can go to gardenary.com podcast.