It shouldn’t come as a surprise that herbs are popular plants at Blackhawk Hardware’s Garden Center here in Charlotte and our customers love them. They don’t take up a lot of space, aren’t needy and are super useful to have on hand. Whether you plant herbs in your raised garden bed, containers on your patio, deck or window sill, or tucked in with your landscaping plants, they shouldn’t be missing in any home.

In the list below we’ve highlighted some of the great benefits of herbs. Our Garden Center has a wealth of herb varieties as seeds and plants that are ready to go in the ground.

7 Reasons Why You Need An Herb Garden

Herbs Add Pizazz to Any Meal

From caprese salad with fresh basil to herb marinated grilled meat, herbs add amazing flavors to any meal. Top boiled potatoes with fresh, chopped parsley and you instantly upgraded your side. We also love snipping pieces of whatever herbs we have growing, chopping them and mixing them with oil and vinegar for a healthy and fresh salad dressing. Just add some salt and pepper and onion if you so desire. Have you tried adding fresh chives to your Sunday scrambled eggs? So delicious!

Cocktails Are Better with Fresh Herbs

Of course, herbs aren’t just great in meals but they are also vital ingredients in many cocktails. Are you craving a mojito or mint julep? Just grab some twigs of mint from your garden! Be mindful, mint is an invasive plant so be sure to plant it in a container! Other than traditional mint cocktail recipes, give less known cocktail herbs like basil and thyme a try! Muddled, minced or as a garnish, fresh herbs are a winner in any cocktail!

Home-Grown Herbs Are Always Fresh

What makes having herbs in your garden so wonderful is that they are always on hand. Have you tried frozen or dried herbs from the store? They’re okay – I guess – but nothing beats the flavor and texture of fresh herbs and you’re so much more likely to use them when they’re growing right under your nose. When I cook I often ask my husband to pretty please go and harvest a twig of rosemary. I’d be much less likely to use it if I had to make a special trip to the supermarket for it.

No Wasting Unused Cut Herbs

Speaking of supermarket herbs, a lot of cut herbs are sold in fairly large quantities, which is great if you need a ton of say basil to make pesto. More often than not though I find myself tossing the remaining herbs after I used them in that day’s recipe. Just harvesting what we need for our meal is so darn easy and convenient and we don’t pay for all the extra we wouldn’t use.

Herbs Make Great Companion Plants

If you’re growing vegetables consider adding herbs near them. Herbs as companion plants can improve flavor, act as pest deterrents and attract beneficial insects such as pollinators. This article has a great list of herbs that complement certain vegetables. Be sure to take a look at it before choosing what to set next to your veggies!

Herbs Are Nature’s Pharmacy

Many many blue moons ago in the ages preceding modern day medicine, people used herbs and other plants to treat their ailments. Even today you can enjoy wellness properties from your home-grown herbs: Parsley is known to help with bad breadth after a meal and brewing a tea with fresh peppermint leaves eases indigestion. Gargling with a strong tea made from fresh sage leaves feels lovely on a sore throat. On top of that fresh herbs contain antioxidants and vitamins that help keep you healthy.

Herbs Repel Mosquitoes

Our final reason why growing herbs rocks is that certain ones repel bugs. Mosquitoes hate the scent of rosemary, lemon balm, citronella and a few other herbs so plant plenty of them around your patio to help control those pesky biters.

Can you think of other benefits of growing herbs in your garden? Leave us a comment below!

Top photo by Thomas Kriese.