Grow Fresh Herbs!
No time to garden this summer? Try a bit of Fall gardening in more comfortable temperatures.
And these projects all give a great return on investment!
It’s a great time of year to plant salad greens. You can start an indoor herb garden that will give you fresh herbs all winter to turn an everyday meal into something special. It’s also a great time to get compost going for next spring. Lots of opportunities to make something good happen when you grow something! Even affordable gifts!
1. Grow some herbs indoors.
Never buy fresh herbs again! Well, a lot less anyway. Fresh herbs add a lot to recipes in flavor and looks. Try growing some that you use often. You can grow some for gift giving too! It’s an affordable gift that most cooks are very happy to receive. These look nice in small terra cotta pots, but I also like them in colorful coffee cups. If you don’t have any orphan cups to use, the resale shops, like Good Will, have tons of them for very cheap. You do have to drill a drainage hole in each (use a drill bit made for ceramics) because herbs don’t like to have wet feet. Pretty for a windowsill!
Click here for Organic Gardening’s “10 best herbs to grow indoors.”
Click here for tips at Woolly Green to grow herbs indoors.
2. Plant some salad!
Fall is wonderful weather for growing all sorts of lettuce and fresh greens. Plant seeds every week to keep a supply of fresh greens coming to your table over the next couple of months. Many lettuces are “cut and come again.” Just use a scissors to cut the leaves leaving about an inch left above the ground. They will grow back new leaves for you to enjoy. Almost like free organic salad ingredients!
3. Get some compost going!
It’s easy to put any dried plant material into a pile. Layer with grass clippings and you have the start to some great compost. You’ll probably be cleaning up the yard and plantings anyway, just toss it into the compost. By spring you’ll have some rich garden soil to help everything grow that much better! Free high quality soil!
4. Plant some cheery spring bulbs.
Put them anywhere you’d like to see daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, etc. greet you in the 
spring. Don’t wait until it’s totally freezing out there to start planting! I’ve done it and it’s no fun. If you plant them before it’s freezing they will have a better chance to develop roots before winter. Get yourself a little curved trowel to make this an easy job. Just insert the trowel and push it a little forward to life the dirt a bit. Slip the bulb in the slit with its roots down. Lift the trowel out and press the dirt back down. Done! To get a naturalized look, toss a handful of bulbs and plant them where they land.
5. Plant garlic cloves.
You have to plant them in the fall to use by next spring and summer. If you can find Elephant Garlic, it regrows itself (via runners) forever–highly unusual for garlic. If you use a lot of garlic in cooking, this could come in handy! Click here for a detailed tutorial at Organic Gardening. on planting garlic.
For fall gardening activities by zone (in the US) click here for a good to-do list at Organic Gardening.
6. Fall is a great time to plant a tree.
In fact it’s the best time! Trees are on sale and your tree will be well established by spring. Trees add value to a house and provide shade to lower your air conditioning bills. Plant now and watch your investment grow! Click here for more details.
Reap the Benefits!
Whatever you do now will reap great benefits. You can also get some sunshine (vitamin D) and exercise while working in the garden. It’s great for your psyche too! Click here to learn how playing in the dirt actually makes you feel better.
Happy gardening!
maggie says
Hi, Susan! It’s easy to start and this time of year you get lots of dried plant material for it. Have fun!
Susan Neal says
Great tips, Maggie – thanks for reminding me we need to get our compost heap off the ground – been meaning to start one for ages and just never seem to get round to it. Cheers 🙂
maggie says
My pleasure. Enjoy those fresh herbs and garlic! I think they make a huge difference in my cooking. Thanks for stopping by, Ellen!
Ellen M. Gregg says
The idea of having fresh herbs year-’round thrills me. Also, my own garlic. You’ve reminded me that I need to plant it now in order to enjoy it next year. Thank you, thank you! 🙂
maggie says
Thanks Kristen, glad it came at the right time! Just growing a few herbs in the kitchen is a great way to start getting a “green thumb.” It’s easy!
Kristin says
Maggie, I LOVE this post and happened to be wondering about this stuff lately. It’d be so much fun to take up gardening…
maggie says
So sorry that you’ve jumped into winter already, Sicorra. If you get some daffodil bulbs (so cheerful in the spring) & keep them in a cool dry place, you’ll be ready if you get a warm day. If you don’t get weather nice enough to plant them, you can store them in a dry place that is cold as long as it doesn’t get down to freezing. They’ll last until you can plant them next fall that way. I’ve kept them in a refrigerator for a year and they grew just fine. It’s like they are dormant. I just put them in a zip top bag and they were good to go.
maggie says
Corina, I love fall gardening–less sweat! lol Lettuce of all kinds love to grow in the fall when it’s cool and rainy.
I hope you do get that kitchen herb garden going–you’ll love it!
Sicorra says
Excellent suggestions Maggie! It is so easy to forget to do these things once summer is over. But one year I did plant Tulips and when they bloomed the following spring I was so happy!! Not sure if I will do it this year. We have jumped from summer to winter in the last 3 days. We don’t really get a fall season, but if we did, growing our own lettuce would be nice. We tried potatoes for a few years in a row, starting in the Spring, but they didn’t work either. No green thumb here 😉
Corina Ramos says
I didn’t know we could plant things in the Fall. I always thought it was in the Spring…learn something new everyday 🙂
I would love to plant a vegetable garden…I don’t have experience so I think starting by planting some indoors will help me get my green thumb experience. I’m with Donna…I can imagine how great it’s going to smell in my kitchen! 🙂
Great post Maggie! Thanks for sharing it in this week’s I’m Every Woman Weekly issue!
maggie says
Thanks, Donna. Having something green growing all winter just makes a person feel good too!
Donna says
I’ve grown herbs before, but never indoors. I think I’m going to do that, though. I can almost smell how great my kitchen will smell with all those fresh herbs growing in it. 🙂 Great ideas!