Sarah Phillips

Create Your Own Fabulous Cuisine With an Italian Herb Garden



Posted: Friday, January 22, 2010

by Sarah Phillips
HerbGardeningCentral.com

Creating an Italian herb garden has a large number of possibilities. Italian herbs have infused the most famous, and delicious, Italian dishes for centuries. This cuisine is marked by its use of herbs.

It is no exaggeration that basil is one the most popular Italian herbs and is a staple in the Italian kitchen. As versatile as basil is in the kitchen it also has a starring role in your garden. Plant basil among your tomatoes and peppers and the flavor of these fruit will be enhanced. It does fairly well in the pest-control category repelling both flies and mosquitoes.

Although parsley is sometimes difficult to grow it has uses in many different cuisines. Our ancestors knew the value of parsley. Before breath mints or gum was common many people chewed fresh parsley to get rid of bad-breath after eating a garlic laced dish. This became a tradition and soon parsley was served on a small dish after a meal. This was the origination of using parsley as a garnish to a dish.

Oregano is used as an ornamental and culinary herb. It displays pretty purple flowers at maturity. For the most flavor harvest after it has flowered.

Italian sausage would not be the same without the fennel seed. While most people know the seed its bulb is used in many dishes. When using the flesh of the fennel stalk harvest it when it is young. Fennel loses some of its unique flavor as it matures. It is a perennial and should be divided and replanted every few years.

Rosemary is an evergreen perennial that is sensitive to frost. In addition to adding flavor in the kitchen, rosemary becomes a large, tough, shrub in the garden showing-off pretty little blue flowers. The rest of your garden is benefited because this flowering shrub attracts bees for pollination.

The most powerful Italian herb is garlic. In addition to warding off vampires, it adds a flavor and aroma to any dish that is all its own. Garlic should be planted in every Italian herb garden. Once a garlic clove is planted it requires very little attention. After harvest you can use garlic fresh, frozen, or pickled. Store fresh or pickled garlic in your refrigerator, well sealed.

Sage is used in meat dishes and salads in Italian, other ethnic, cooking. In America it is the main flavoring agent in pork sausage. Harvest sage by trimming the young shoots before they get woody. This trimming also encourages new shoots to form. Sage is best harvested after it blooms.

Consider what herbs you will likely use before you plan your Italian herb garden. Understanding each herb's unique growing needs will help you determine if you can give each its proper environmental conditions. Don't limit your Italian herbs to kitchen duty. Many are extremely useful in landscape design, and as aromatic or ornamental arrangements. By planting Italian herbs in your garden you can take a sensory walk on an Italian hillside whenever you go to your garden.

Sarah Phillips is an herb gardening enthusiast, and enjoys helping others get started in this wonderful hobby.

You can be enjoying your own herbs in as little as 7 days.

Discover the secrets of creating your own Italian herb garden. Grab you own copy of Sarah's FREE Herb Gardening Success Mini-Course by going here NOW!

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Arlene Wright-Correll
from Munfordville, KY 2 years 109 days ago.
As usual Sarah has done a great job. Thanks a lot Sarah. Arlene Wright-Correll
» left by Sarah Phillips 2 years 109 days ago.
18 fans.
Thank you Arlene,
 
That is so sweet!
 
Sarah
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