Every part of your home deserves a splash of green, from your garden to the balcony. It is rewarding to make something that you have grown from your kitchen garden, like a cup of lemongrass tea or mint chutney. You can grow various things in your kitchen garden that can be used daily for cooking. This way, moms do not have to worry about chemical and pesticide use, all you need is fresh, homegrown ingredients for your family.
Adding green corners to your kitchen makes the environment fun and soothing, and thus, the cooking experience also becomes much more enjoyable. Here are the top 8 plants to grow in your small and perfect kitchen garden
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Plants You Can Grow In Kitchen Garden With Minimum Effort
Coriander Leaves
Refreshing ingredients, these coriander leaves are simple to grow. Soak coriander seeds in water overnight, next day drain the water and spread these soaked seeds in a pot with fertile soil. Ensure the pot is placed in good sunlight. Water it every alternate day until you see the shoot grow, and you will gradually see the plant grow beautifully.
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Mint Leaves
These mint plants usually grow from tender cuttings of stems planted in the soil, and once they begin to grow, they rapidly spread to the surface of the soil it has to access. Mint leaves are used in parathas, pulao, and raitas, as well as marinades.
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Curry Leaves
Used for South Indian foods, curry leaves have a rustic peppery flavour. Curry leaves grow both out of cuttings and seeds. It is believed that pouring unsalted thin buttermilk in the pot in which the curry leaf plant is planted helps the plant grow well. Curry leaves are used in making chutneys, tadkas, and freshly ground masala pastes for gravies and pulaos.
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Ginger
Ginger can be used both in sweet and savoury cooking and in drinks as well. Ginger grows out of the small cuttings of the ginger roots. this plant requires no sunlight as such, it grows in shade and requires daylight alone. The roots as well as the leaves are packed with flavours. The ginger leaves are often, used while making teas, the leaves impart great flavour when boiled along with the tea. Ginger root is widely used. Used across all cuisines in India, ginger-garlic is one term you will find in almost all recipes.
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Garlic
Garlic has been used in various cuisines since ancient times. Garlic grows two ways, one as a bulb, as are all familiar with and the other like that of spring onions. The garlic grows in pods, and fresh peppery garlic leaves grow from it. It is the same as spring onions. Garlic is also used in almost all Indian recipes and various other international cuisines.
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Lemongrass
Lemon grass grows from seeds. The entire plant can be put to good use. Apart from the fact that it imparts great flavour to the dish it is added to, it is also believed to ward off insects and mosquitoes. The plant does not require too much water and grows in daylight.
Lemongrass has refreshing flavours of lush lemon-like aroma that, when added to the dish, gives it a completely different taste altogether. the leaves can be boiled in water to make lemongrass tea.
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Basil
Basil used in cooking is of two varieties. One is the Italian basil used in pasta and bruschettas, while the other is the lemon basil, which is used in Thai cooking. Both of these have unique characteristics and are rarely used interchangeably. Basil can be used literally in anything, from teas to pasta, not to mention that the classic pesto sauce is made using pesto as the main ingredient.
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Chillies
From red, green, yellow and black all of these can be grown at home. Chillies need a good amount of water and sunlight and are grown from the seeds directly. Indian Cuisine uses fresh green chillies and red chilli powder, Asian cuisine mostly uses fresh red chillies, while continental cooking uses pickled jalapenos and tabasco sauce.
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These small plants are easy to grow in your kitchen garden, with a few simple steps you can grow organic ingredients for your daily use. So do not wait, go and sow some seeds!