Growing Your Own Spices

My goal is always to provide healthy food to my family at bargain prices; much easier said than done. One of the best most economical ways I have found to feed my family on the cheap is to grow it myself. Here is my post and more information about starting a garden by seed.

We love flavoring our food with spices mainly: cilantro (for my homemade salsa), basil, and oregano (for my homemade spaghetti sauce).

Instead of buying spices which can be very expensive I grow the plants indoors. I usually grow about four plants in each container and just cut sprigs and dice them as I need them. There is no need to dry the spice because the plants remain healthy and thriving indoors all year long.

I purchased Burpee Spice Kits at Home Depot. They were very inexpensive and came with everything I needed to start growing the spices. The pots are completely biodegradable, however, they can be used indoors or outdoors. The pots typically last for about four years before they start to break down. By then I will need to re-pot the plant anyways.

Spice plants also make great gifts. The kit comes with enough seeds that you can start several more plants in peat pots and give them as hostess gifts or end of the year teacher’s gifts.