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One of the delightful pleasures of life are herbs. Besides adding beauty to your garden they make foods taste better and provide a nice smell to the air we breathe. In George Washington days everybody had a herb garden that they used for culinary, teas and medical purposes. That practice is slowly coming back.

A spaghetti garden is one of the most well liked kitchen gardens. Anyone that has a bright patch of ground or a window-box can grow these herbs of parsley, garlic, basil, bay laurel and oregano. A little garden space can easily yield all the herbs that you’ll need for tasty Italian meals. They are even simple to grow in a sunny window for your all year use.

Let us take a more detailed look at the spaghetti garden herbs:

+Oregano is a perennial ground cover plant. Oregano is a prolific grower that can send out shoots that grow to 6 feet in a single season. If pruned and bunched, oregano can grow into a small border plant. It would rather have light, thin soil and plenty of sun, so keep it on the south side of your garden. When the plants reach 4-5 inches cropping can start. Pinch off the top 1/3 of the plant, just above a leaf crossing. The young leaves are really stronger dried than fresh and are the most flavorsome part of the plant. To dry, lay the leaves on paper or a drying screen in the sun till the leaves crumble easily. It will keep its flavour for months.

+Bay leaves add a good hint of spice to stews, soups and spaghetti sauce. The bay laurel is a little tree that grows about a foot every year, this makes it appropriate for growing in a container. If you live in a mild climate zone leave the container outside, but if temperatures go below 25 degrees keep the tree in a pot and bring it inside in the winter.

+Basil seeds itself so easily that you can never need to buy another plant after the 1st year. There are a few different kinds of basil, but all grow quickly and require frequent pinching back to prevent them from growing tall and leggy. When the plants have reached about 6-8 inches tall, you can begin cropping. Pinch off the top 1/3 of the plant, just above a leaf intersection. Pinch off any flower buds before they are going to seed. Six to 8 plants will supply enough basil for the entire neighborhood.

+Garlic is probably the simplest plant to grow. Break apart a clove of garlic, and plant the cloves about four inches apart, 2 to four inches deep in a light soil. Lightly water and watch them grow. You may crop when tips of the leaves turn brown but do not let them flower. Just dig up the bulbs, and use them. To keep a fresh supply take one or 2 cloves from each bulb and replant them.

+Parsley is maybe the most used herb in the planet. You will find both flat ( Italian ) and curly types. They complement the flavor of everything from sauces to hearty stews. It is used as a garnish on plates, or cut up and added to soups, dressings and salads. Parsley adds vitamins and color, and noiselessly brings

out the flavor of other ingredients in the dish. Parsley is a biennial, flowering in its second season. It favors a little shade on a hot bright day, and is going to be kept watered to avoid shriveling and drying. Pinch back older stems to the base, allowing new leaves and branches to grow.

Grow your own tomatoes and you are well on your way to turning into an Italian chef.

How much time do you spend cooking each day? For some easy recipes you can use daily to create some of the best meals, visit cooking101.org and have a look at recipe for mushroom pasta.

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