One of the neat things about growing herbs is that you can grow them year round.  Herb garden plants grow very well indoors which means you can continue to have fresh herbs all winter. Plus, all the beautiful greenery really perks up your home.

There are many different herbs with many different uses.  In addition to adding wonderful flavor to your dishes, they can be decorative as well as produce a wonderful fragrance.  Herb garden plants are much nicer and healthier to smell than commercial sprays that are used to freshen the air in your home.  There is nothing like the sweet smell of a fresh herb garden when you walk into your home.

Herbs are also used for medicinal purposes.  They have been used for healing for hundreds of years.  A popular herb used for medicinal purposes is mustard seed.  It has been known to provide relief for sore muscles and arthritis when applied to the skin. It is used to help with respiratory problems and, when ingested, aids the digestive system.

If you are interested in growing herbs for medicinal purposes then do a little research to learn more about these herbs.  There are many that have lots of different healing properties.  You will find lots of information on the internet and there are some good books available that will tell you all about the many uses of various herbs. Before using medicinal herbs it is always a good idea to check with your physician.

Growing herb garden plants in your kitchen is great because, if you like to use fresh herbs for cooking, they are right there within easy reach.  If you have limited space you might want to choose which herbs to grow based on those you will use most when preparing meals.

A very popular herb and one of the easiest to grow is Italian herbs.  These herbs are great for cooking but are beautiful and have a wonderful fragrance as well. Some examples of Italian herbs are oregano, parsley, basil, fennel and garlic.

Some other ideas for your herbs include adding some fresh sage to your turkey dressing and adding thyme to spice up a Cajun dish.  Mint leaves added to iced tea makes a tasty drink to go with your meal.

Culinary herbs are excellent for growing indoors in the winter.  When the markets are low on supply you will have all the herbs you need right at your fingertips. You also have the added benefit of their wonderful aroma and beautiful foliage.

I shouldn’t speak of wonderful scents without mentioning lavender.  For fragrance this is perhaps the most popular of all herb garden plants.  It is known for its calming effect and is widely use in sachets and potpourri.  There is nothing like relaxing after an herb filled meal with the wonderful aroma of lavender filling the room!

Growing herbs as been a popular activity throughout history dating back to the Bible. Producing herbs in one’s home herb garden has always been a time tested method of assuring a constant supply on these fine flavorful plants.

This took a backdrop with the enduring popularity of convenient food stores and mass manufacturing of these ”products”, however, actually there is a strong resurgence of interest in the joy of creating and maintaining a personal home herb garden. The pleasure and excitement of growing herbs has been rediscovered and is even practiced in small apartments in urban areas.

Returning to this wonderful and practical hobby can be for many different reasons. The home herb garden can be cultivated for economical reasons, freshness and availability of the product, the scents and flavors associated with having herbs growing in your environment. There are many other reasons that can be attributed to this pastime if not simply for the sheer pleasure of seeing these beautiful plants come to life in your environment.

If you are among the newly initiated, you may have to do a little homework to start you off in the right direction. There is a large selection of different herbs to choose from when starting a herb garden project.

There are basically 73 different herbs recognized and are divided into 4 main categories classified for their individual usage. However, certain herb can be used for more than one purpose so can be classified in more than one category.

The list of herbs is quite extensive and can be classified in 4 main categories: aromatic, medicinal, ornamental and culinary. The gardener can choose which herbs he will be growing by defining the usage he plans to use them for once harvested. This is a brief review of the 4 main categories.

Culinary Usage
The many usage of herbs to enhance the taste of food has been mentioned repeatably through history. So many recipes have been created and savored by the perfect amount of a well balanced mix of herbs.

Most often a small garden can provide for a family very well so the amount of space needed depending on the variety you may wish to grow. Since herbs are used in small quantity, 1 or 2 plants can will be sufficient for a normal household. Among the most popular herbs grown are thyme, basil, sage, chives, oregano, mint, rosemary and savory.

Aromatic Usage
Aromatic herbs are in a class of their own. They offer great pleasure to the senses if not by their beauty then by the wonderful scent of the foliage and flowers.

If you choose to grow herbs with that intention, aromatic herbs can be a very interesting garden project. The enchanting fragrances come from their oils produced while growing and are used to produces various perfumes, eau de toilette and lotions.

Once harvested and dried, you can enjoy the smell of the plants for many months. They can be used to freshen the air in rooms or spaces and even used to give a pleasant smell to clothes and linen.

Aromatic herbs that are popular:  basil, marjoram, mint and rosemary.

Medicinal Usage

Before modern medicine, medicinal herbs has long been used to treat injuries and many levels of sickness. Many herbs are known and used even nowadays for their healing qualities. They play an important role in many products we by in a pharmacy, prescriptions and is used extensively with alternative natural medicine.

If you plan to grow herbs for medicinal usage, please research these herbs and capacities, They can be excellent when used in the right conditions but can be unpredictable if used randomly.

Medicinal herbs commonly used: Ginseng, Ephedra, Catnip, Dandelion and St. John’s Wort.

Ornamental Usage
Thought not always the first group of plants to be proposed when discussing landscaping, an wisely designed arrangement of ornamental herbs can be quite breathtaking by their brightly colored flowers and foliage.

They can be combined with other plants or even other herbs to create an overall exotic layout. Among the ornamental herbs that are often

If you love to season and flavor your cooking with spices and fresh ingredients like basil, rosemary and oregano but are disappointed about them not being available in stores, you could go for a chia herb garden at home. A lot of people scout for fresh or dry aromatic plants at supermarkets or go to specialty, but what most people do not realize is that it is quite easy to grow these culinary ingredients right in your home with a chia herb garden. Not only will you save time and money on all those shopping trips, there is something about using home grown fresh herbs that does magic to the cooking!

Outdoor gardens can provide a good supply but only during a particular season or when there is lots of sunshine but come winter, most herbs die away. People with outdoor gardens ensure they have a good supply of herbs even during winter by drying the plants and stocking them up in airtight jars, but while some dry basil or celery can enhance your cooking, there is nothing on par with the taste and aroma of a fresh leaves.

With a chia herb garden it is possible to maintain a year round supply of herbs for your kitchen because a chia herb garden works both outdoors and indoors and you do not have to worry about cold winters. If you ever feel that there is a cold nip in the air, all you have to do is move your chia herb garden indoors and see it flourish. Just remember to carefully read the instructions that come along with the kit, it will surely mention the minimum numbers of hours that it has to be exposed to sunlight. So, even during those winters, just keep a tab on when the sun visits your home every day, choose the sunniest windowsill or corner and place the chia herb garden there. It will brighten up your bleak, wintery days with the smell and taste of your aromatic plants.

Also, ensure that the chia sponge never becomes dry and regularly inspect for any signs of the leaves getting wilted. These precautions should be more than sufficient to get a guaranteed supply all through the year.

There is a debate among die-hard herb lovers whether indoor grown herbs taste as good as the ones raised in the outdoors but there is very little proof or evidence to support either claim. So if you had previously hesitated to invest in a chia herb garden thinking that the herbs may not be on par with the ones grown outdoor with respect to their taste or aroma, do not ponder anymore!

A chia herb garden ensures that your herbs are ready in no time for cooking or medicinal purposes. Unlike traditional gardening, where the seeds or saplings may take time to show results, the chia sponge ensures that these herbs grow in no time – ready for that sumptuous feast that you are planning.

It should come as little surprise that it is preferable to start using fresh herbs grown right at your home instead of those at the supermarket that can be sometimes dry and wilted. A chia herb garden is a great way of ensuring regular supply of fresh herbs all through the year.