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You can taste and smell the difference when a dish has been made with homegrown herbs, picked moments earlier.
Growing your own herbs to use in your cooking is also a lot cheaper (and more convenient) than always having to purchase them. If only you knew the secrets to make your herbs thrive.
Lucky for us, is here to help. The global TV personality and horticulturalist spoke to SBS about how home cooks can get their herb garden growing.
Credit: Jiwon Kim
“It's really easy to grow herbs at home, to be honest,” Durie says. “Even the worst gardeners I've met can usually grow herbs somewhere.” (That’s certainly good to know!)
The key to successfully growing herbs at home is information. Knowing what herbs to grow and how to grow them is important. Although it's an easy thing to do, there's a little bit more to it than just watering the pot every day.
It's really easy to grow herbs at home, to be honest.
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Edible Garden
episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • cooking • 25m
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episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • cooking • 25m
G
Here's Duries' guide to planning a culinary herb garden that lasts.
Step 1: Determine your taste preferences
Start planning your culinary herb garden by thinking about the dishes you like cooking and the herbs that complement them.
“There's more motivation behind planting basil if you love Italian food. So let your taste buds be the driver of your plant selection.”
For example, Durie (who has a Sri Lankan background) loves cooking curries. He even makes a Sri Lankan curry during an episode of That’s why Durie has a curry tree at home. “A curry tree is easy to grow,” he says on the show.
“The great thing about them is they create a bit of a microclimate because you get a canopy and then underneath that you can grow other, more delicate things.”
There's more motivation behind planting basil if you love Italian food.
Durie also tells SBS he grows “a lot of lemongrass, coriander and basil because I love Italian and Asian food”. He adds that mint and rosemary are also good herb choices for budding cooks because they feature across many cuisines and “are both very hardy”.
Step 2: Start growing
Once you determine where your culinary preferences are, consider the following growing factors:
Light
Durie says all herbs need at least six hours of direct sunlight per day. So the best place to grow your herb plants is the place with the highest level of solar access available.
“Usually some of the softer herbs like basil and coriander really enjoy morning sun more than afternoon sun, whereas herbs like rosemary can take harsh afternoon sun or all day sun.
If you've potted herbs in a sunny spot, you can apply Durie's next tip to help it grow: "Turn your pot every three weeks by 180 degrees. That will even out the light source on the plant, so it gets a nice, even arrangement of light around the plant, 360 degrees.”
Soil
Soil is also a major consideration. Durie recommends raising garden beds as high as possible to ensure the soil is adequately drained. “Make sure you replenish the soils: at least every year or two.”
You've got you've kind of got to look at your plants like children really.
Protection
Herb gardeners must also offer their plants protection from the elements if they want them to grow well.
“You've got you've kind of got to look at your plants like children really… Although we are experiencing lots of dramatic weather changes, we can also make arrangements to protect the plants and give them more water or sunlight to nurture them.
“If you've got wind on your balcony, I would try to try to minimise the wind across the leaves as much as possible wind could cause a plant to lose a lot of moisture and nutrients through the leaves.”
Confidence
Remember: if you're a novice gardener, always start small. Buy herbs that are already potted and provide them with some care. Over time, you can graduate to planting seeds and growing herbs from scratch.
All you have to do is just start and follow a few easy steps. As the saying goes ‘From little things, big things grow’.
