Growing your Own Spices and Herbs Indoors

Picture by Galant on flickr.
If you're an avid cook, you know the importance of herbs and spices in dishes, especially fresh ones. Unfortunately, fresh spices often cost much more than dried, and don't last nearly as long. If you could take the spices as you need them, fresh off the plant, this would be ideal.

Not everyone has the luxury of a fresh herb garden in their backyard, or the time to keep up with one. There are a few solutions to this problem that make it possible to enjoy fresh spices in your home all the time.

Grow your Own Herbs Indoors.

This is easy enough to do. Get some seed packets from your local store, along with a container (reuse one of your old plastic containers to be extra green), add some soil (or even some coffee grinds from your old coffee), and place them in a sunny area according to the directions. The key is to put give them plenty of sun year round, so if you have a skylight, that's perfect. A sliding glass door also gives plenty of light.

The AeroGarden.
Yes, you've seen it on TV, you've seen it in the stores, but these really do work. You can grow your own lettuce, tomatoes, herbs and spices from these small machines. While not as green as growing your herbs in the window, over time, you could be saving some cash, as well as enjoying fresh greens all the time.

Get Local with your Produce.
Last May, we wrote a post on supporting your local farmer and buying locally to get fresher produce. Some of these co-op farms also allow you to work on the farm (that actually sounds fun!) for a share of the crop.