I love cooking with fresh herbs.  Today, I’m sharing tips on backyard garden herbs that will enhance the flavor of foods and salads.   I love growing basil for my homemade tomato and pizza sauce.  Dill is another garden herb that is great for dips and sauces.  I can find plenty of recipes to use my fresh garden herbs.  So, I recommend that you use them too.  The flavor they give dishes is amazing.  So, herbs are always on my backyard vegetable gardening list of things to plant.  

I love cooking with fresh herbs.  Especially, basil when I’m making tomato sauce.  Dill is another favorite for dips and sauces.  Fresh herbs enhance the flavor of salads too.  I can find plenty of recipes to use my fresh herbs, and I recommend that you use them too.  The flavor that they give dishes is amazing, and yummy!

Here’s my list of garden herbs that you should grown:

Basil – My all around favorite herb.  You can never have too much basil, and it’s comes in approximately 50 varieties.  So, start planting what variety you want to add your garden or window cell.  My favorites are the Sweet, Thai, Spicy and Genovese basil.  I use it in my tomato sauce, and my water diffuser along with cucumbers and lemon.  It’s a refreshing drink, especially on hot summer days.  It’s great in salads and pesto too.

Cilantro – Chop, chop, chop and add to your Mexican dishes. It’s a must in my salsa recipes.  Also, it’s delicious chopped and added to salads, omelets, mixed with sour cream and added to a bagel, and stir-fry.

Chives – I love chives, and have two plants in my garden.  They return year after year and more flavorful.  So, I visit the garden regularly in the summer to grab a bunch.  I use my kitchen scissors to snip them rather than chop them.  I love using them in my macaroni and lettuce salads,  on potatoes and in omelets.  Although they are edible, I’ve never used the purple flowers from my chive plant in any of my dishes.  However, I do use them as a garnish.

Oregano – Another must have garden herb for me.  I dry this one, and use it in in my spaghetti sauce, on top of pizza and in chili.  Dried oregano is stronger than fresh oregano.  So, I add it to my dishes in the early stages of cooking to my dishes to ensure it has an opportunity to blend with the other ingredients.

Rosemary – Rosemary is excellent with potatoes, on top of fish or in soups.

Parsley – To be honest, I don’t cook with parsley.  So, it doesn’t have a place in my garden or on my window cell.  However, I love using it for garnish.  Especially, on my turkey and chicken platters.  I just grab a bunch in the grocery store when needed.

Sage – A favorite in my turkey dressing. I also use it in my water diffuser with blackberries and lemon.   It’s so refreshing in the summer.

Mint – This is an invasive plant, so it is recommended that you plant it in a container not directly in the garden.  The leaves are great in tea, hot or cold.  They’re also great as a breath mint and dog treat recipes.

Thyme – I love using thyme in my crockpot stew and marinades.  You can use the whole stem when cooking meats too.

Dill – Another favorite herb that grows in my garden yearly.  It returns again and again.  I have a dip recipe that calls for dill.  There’s never any leftovers.  I also use it on my salmon cakes.  Yum!

So, decide what backyard garden herbs you would like to use in your kitchen, medicinally, or beauty products and start planning your herb garden.  You can also plant your garden herbs in pots or mason jars in your kitchen if you don’t have a kitchen garden.  You may also like How to Dry Kitchen Garden Herbs.