The Best and Easiest Herbs to Grow in Your Kitchen Window
I love fresh herbs. Who doesn’t, really? They’re easier than you might think if you have the proper light to have them all year round. If you don’t want to or can’t keep them all year, you can keep them in a sunny spot inside or outside and dry them before it’s too cold and there is less sunshine.
I’ll share wih you the easiest herbs that you can grow in your window right at home, to harvest all year for any meal. Nothing beats the richness of fresh, and grocery store “fresh” herbs just don’t cut it sometimes.
I get so frustrated when I buy a $6 container of “fresh” basil and half of it is wilted and brown. So, let’s DIY fresh herbs!
I love having herbs in my kitchen window because they smell so good, and they’re that bit of greenery that get to cook with all the time.
You can use standard potting soil for any of these herbs, and you want to make sure that you keep herbs in a south window that gets light for at least 75% of the sunlit day! if they’re outside, be careful about giving them full direct sun because some plants can burn with too much light. You’ll know they are if their leaves get dark and crispy.
The proper amount of sunlight is important for them to grow especially after cutting. My kitchen window just happens to be the perfect place for them, but it depends on the placement of your house! My kitchen window is a Southwest facing window, so they get light from about 1:00 to sunset.
Oregano
My personal favorite herb to keep is oregano. It smells amazing, is one of my most used herbs, and it looks beautiful in a hanging pot! It takes a little bit of “training” to get them to hang, but it’s worth it to me. It’s a great beginner grower herb because it lets you know when it’s thirsty. Its leaves start to look droopy and dramatic when it needs water, but it happens fast!
In the morning, it looks great and when you get home from work, it looks sad. Just give it a good soak and don’t water it again until you notice it being dramatic again.
If you want to dry some, I personally have grown a liking for the microwave method, which I’ll leave directions for at the bottom of this blog. Otherwise, you can hang dry them.
Sage
I also love to keep sage, but not just in a pot in my house, I also love this herb as a garden bush! I got this idea from being in the Darwin houses garden in Buffalo. Their sage had grown so bushy and beautiful it was sparking joy and inspiration in me! This is a great reason why visiting local areas like this is such a great idea, and an easy way to get inspired.
Water this guy when wilty as well. I know, “wilty” isn’t a real word. Just go with it! You can microwave dry or hang dry sage.
Basil
Basil is such a strong flavor that you can’t get in a dried herb no matter where you’re buying it form, so it’s a must have fresh herb in my opinion. Once again, water when dramatically “wilty”. You can look up ways to make this plant bush out instead of geet tall and lengthy.
When you see two new leaves coming from the base of a leaf at the stem, you can snip the plant just above that point for new shoots to come off of your basil!
This is another herb that is great for the microwave method. Hang drying basil has not gone well for me since the flavor mysteriously disappears, but can still work!
The Microwave Drying Method:
So I don’t remember where I learned this method from and originally, I thought it was a crazy idea. Trust me, it’s not, or I wouldn’t be telling you about it! It’s so easy and the herbs have a stronger taste and color to them when dried this way over the hang dry method.
All you need is herbs (obviously), a microwave safe plate, and a thin towel. Like a tea towel, you don’t want something too fibrous. I’m sure a cheesecloth could work but I don’t have one, so obviously have never tried it myself. In the past I would use paper towels but that uses a lot of paper towels over time. Whatever you have, as long as it’s not too bulky, should work!
This method makes your house smell so. good.
All you have to do is put the towel on your plate so only half of it is on the plate. Place the leaves of your herb onto the towel and fold the other half on top of them so you’re basically sandwiching your leaves into the towel. Microwave for about 15 seconds at a time until they’r dry and crispy. They should crumble very easily when you try to break them. Put them into a jar, label it and store in a cool, dry space!