Christmas brings in lots of joy and fun with it, herbs lightens up the cold weather in its own way!!
A feast spiced with herb choppings gives you a vibrant mood throughout the day in festive glitters. Chunks of sage to enrich your stuffing or rosemary with delicious roasted lamb heightens one’s taste buds.

Christmas platter dined with aromatic herbs is a thrill beyond words. Winter can’t stop you from appetizing food, why wait? Just bring your plants indoors and start enjoying a flavoured meal with your family and friends.
If you haven’t grown herbs in your garden yet, no worries.
You can steal a march on by planning your feast full of herbs for the upcoming year 2022. For now, you can get to know how to grow DIY Christmas Herb ✌✌

It is too easy to grow your herb garden, even a novice in growing will do with a few useful tips. 

Pick a Right Pot

Always choose a pot where your herbs have ample space to grow, and spread along. Don’t place a tray underneath the pot which would potentially block water drainage.
In decorative terms, paint your pots with festive colors to attract your kids to care more for them.

Find a Suitable Spot

INDOOR
Almost all kinds of edible herbs thrive indoors, namely: Sage, Basil, Thyme, Oregano & Mint grow faster when placed inside.
Place your pot in a place where it is directed to sufficient sunlight, windowsill. During winter, it’s harder to get enough sunlight, so place your pot near a south-west or east facing window to soak them up in as much as possible.

You can always use a lighting system for heat, be cautious of not placing the pots near them; or else the herbs may wither even before they rise. In this case, you can place aromatic herb pots where you wish, like lavender in the bedroom, in the living room.

OUTDOOR
Some hardy herbs like Parsley, Rosemary will grow even when placed outdoors and thrive in winter snow. The pots outdoors should always be protected from cold spells, like wrapping the whole container in a few layers of horticultural fleece.  

Keep the Soil Loose

Given that herbs are best for starters, a prior measure has to be taken to care for them even before planting. Loosen up the soil / potting mix or any grow media to aerate the herb root properly, have a freedom to grow. 

Fill your pot to its brim with no compact push. By doing so, once you start watering, water can easily penetrate through soil and reach up to the root follicles. 

Lookout for Prior Moisture

Knowing how much to water is a little tricky🤔 But no worries, we can figure it out. The evergreen rule in watering the plant is ‘Thumb Rule’, poke your finger 1 inch deep into the soil and see if it’s dry and moist: if it’s dry water the plant every alternate day; if it’s wet coe again after a day or so.

Don’t let the soil dry, a usual dry scenario in the middle region due to central heating, pour in sufficient water; also don’t even let the soil waterlogged, as it attracts pests and insects.

Ready to Harvest

After a couple of days of careful watch, your herbs are ready to harvest, served in meal 🧆 Chop those herbs which are half mature – half tender, it taste really delicious!!
Add in to your favourite Christmas Menu and let us know the different combinations you try.

Storage Tips

If you had grown these herbs earlier than required, here are a few tips that will come in handy when needed.

• Possibly, if you harvest your herbs in autumn and want to use them in winter, then you can bunch them up and hang them up in a dark, airy place so as to dry quickly. Then store it in airtight containers as long as you wish. 
• Herbs like Parsley, Chills, which don’t dry well and turn musky, you’ll need to freeze them before storing them aside.
  First of all wash the herbs completely and dry them as much as possible.
  1. Then, freeze it in a tray lined with greaseproof and pack them in freezer bags.
  2. If not, you can chop them into small chunks, place it in ice cubes and freeze. You can directly use it in soups and gravies.

Kinds of Christmas Herbs

Now, let us look into kinds of herbs that entice our taste buds in this festive feast.
Most of these herbs are used in appetizers, main dish garnishing and aromatic desserts.  

Rosemary

Known for its aromatic essence, rosemary strikes best for your everyday cooking. Just a few sprigs of rosemary infused while making a gray and removing before serving, will appetize the food even better.
Rosemaries are grown in dry-warm places, very easy to foster, best surviving even when transplanted and pruned, less care required. 

Sage

Sages are great for stuffing, fried sage is a must to try! Sage is the easiest plant to strike from cuttings, you can trim them every now and then, and use it in the kitchen.
Sages can be grown year long, once bought in spring, can be grown all throughout the summer, and you can harvest the leaves before buds open in late summer, the cycle repeats in every other season. 

Parsley

Parsley makes wonders for softeners like lemon juice and when lined in between the skin and breast of turkey and cooked well. Parsley is a hardy herb, growing amazingly in outdoors / windowsill, twice the year round.
Parsley is best grown by sowing the seeds. Sow the seeds in a cell tray, then pot the clumpy part as soon the roots bind the soil. Parsley favours moist soil rather than dry / damp soil.  

Oregano

Oregano falls into the family of Mint, it’s well versed in kitchen used since olden days and a very good stuffing for meat and leftover turkey pizzas. Oregona are native to hot arid regions, and have lesser water consumption.
You should always plant Oregano prior to frost season. Since they don’t require much water, mist the seed and plant it. Harvesting oregano yields the best flavor when snipped off before the flower buds form. 

Mint

Mint is an essential aromatic used in Christmas. Mint sauce is a classic flavor added while cooking lambs and other heavy meals. Many types of mint are available in the market, rendering unique armas of its own.
Except for the peppermint, almost all kinds of mints are grown from seeds. Mint plants thrive in organically rich, moist but well-drained soil the most. Mint leaves can be harvested once the plant starts budding. 

Basil

Basil is well-known as a King of culinary herbs. It’s sweetness, added to its soft texture, and basil is often used in Italian cooking, added as sauce at the last stage to bring out the flavor intact in Thai cuisine as well.
Basil thrives in warm and direct sunlight regions, you can grow them by directly sowing the seeds into the grow tray and frequent care. Basil isn’t harvested at the specific time or season. You can just grab a handful of leaves whenever needed. 

Thyme

Thyme is one such herb popularly used for culinary and decorative purposes, and an ultimate ingredient used in Christmas cousins, there’s always a place for thyme in Christmas feast like stuffed rolls, meat and nut roasts.
Thyme is best grown from the section of main root, rather than the hassle of seed growing. You can expect best thyme leaves from growing it in poor soil with little water supplement. Just snip off the leaves whenever required. 

Bay 

Bay is a must to try suggestions for your soups, sauces and stews recipes. It’s distinct aroma makes it a special feast during gathering with friends and family. It’s essence heightens your appetite.
Bay leaves are plucked from year old trees, the mature the leaves are, the higher the flavor is. Bay leaves are the common ingredient used in French seasoned packs and Asian spicy recipes. It is worth noting the versatile usages of Bay leaves in culinary, ornamentation and therapies. 

Hope you enjoyed the reading!!

Wishing you a Happy Christmas🎊🎊 Happy Holidays😎😎