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Homegrown Herb Garden: A Guide to Growing and Cooking Delicious Herbs
Take your home cooking to the next level by incorporating fresh, homegrown herbs! â??If you have been wanting to grow and cook with fresh herbs, this combination gardening book and cookbook is your ideal guide to getting started.
You don't need lots of space for a huge herb garden, and you don't need to spend a lot of money on fresh herbs at the grocery store or farmers' market. With Homegrown Herb Garden, you can choose the herb or herbs you will use the most and build your herb garden around them.
The book is divided into two sections, the first is devoted to gardening and the second to cooking. The authors chose the most widely used herbs—including staples like cilantro, dill, tarragon, parsley, rosemary, and sage—and added a few of their favorites that may be less familiar to you, such as chervil and Thai basil.
In "In the Garden," you will learn when to plant, where to plant, how and when to harvest your herbs, and how to dry and store those you don't use immediately in the kitchen.
In "In the Kitchen," you will learn about flavor pairings and how to use each herb in numerous ways in sweet and savory dishes and through the use of all cooking techniques.
Choose your favorite herbs, learn to grow them successfully, and never be at a loss for what to do with them!
You don't need lots of space for a huge herb garden, and you don't need to spend a lot of money on fresh herbs at the grocery store or farmers' market. With Homegrown Herb Garden, you can choose the herb or herbs you will use the most and build your herb garden around them.
The book is divided into two sections, the first is devoted to gardening and the second to cooking. The authors chose the most widely used herbs—including staples like cilantro, dill, tarragon, parsley, rosemary, and sage—and added a few of their favorites that may be less familiar to you, such as chervil and Thai basil.
In "In the Garden," you will learn when to plant, where to plant, how and when to harvest your herbs, and how to dry and store those you don't use immediately in the kitchen.
In "In the Kitchen," you will learn about flavor pairings and how to use each herb in numerous ways in sweet and savory dishes and through the use of all cooking techniques.
Choose your favorite herbs, learn to grow them successfully, and never be at a loss for what to do with them!
176 pages, Paperback
First published December 15, 2014
11 people are currently reading
853 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 28, 2025
A look at herb gardens is given in two sections. The In The Garden part looks at the plant itself; varieties, care and feeding, how to grow, and some interesting facts. The second section shares how to use the plant in recipes, including what to pair with the herb, and how to best use it in cooking. This is followed by recipes. A must have for herb gardeners.
June 21, 2016
Book comes in two parts 25% herbs and 75% recipes for those herbs. Total herbs covered 15; total recipes provided 62.
This is exactly what I've been looking for in an herb book! Each of the fifteen herbs are given height/width growth, water needs, and harvest instructions. The instructions for growing in containers are real instructions instead of the normal "appropriate size container and water regularly" - root depth is covered for instance. Whether the herb is a candidate for early start in house and transfer out to the garden or if it is best just to directly plant it in the garden (tranplantability). Etc.
Ms. McCormick lets the reader know when best to harvest and why (in case you ever wondered why you need to harvest early in the morning). Everything you need to set up an herb garden is here. It is amazing. Why more gardening books don't do I don't know. This changed how I was going to set up my garden - now I am going to split it into the "wet" and "dry" sections. Five stars all the way.
I don't have herbs yet (still setting up the garden), so haven't tried out the recipe section. The recipes are complicated, created by Le Cordon Bleu trained Chef Morgan - beautiful, but complicated. I may eventually attempt one or two (the rosemary chocolate chip cookie recipe is very tempting). At the beginning of each herb recipe section (at least three recipes for each of the fifteen herbs), includes best pairings with the herbs - what types of cheeses, meats, fruits & vegetables. I don't see myself using that information very much, but new cooks working toward mastery of the kitchen may find it useful. More helpful is how to chop/use each herb in a dish - but I got most of that from the herb section. I found Chef Morgan's sectioning herbs into woody and grassing completely unhelpful for my purposes - but I totally can see another cook getting an "a-ha" moment and running with it.
So for the recipe section, I would give two stars (Goodreads - it was okay) or three stars (Amazon - it was okay). But the herb section was so exactly what I have been looking for - and I have gone through a lot of online searches and gardening book reading, I know how rare this is and would have bought the book JUST for the herb section (in fact I did buy it just for the herb section) - I had to give this manuscript Five Stars.
This is exactly what I've been looking for in an herb book! Each of the fifteen herbs are given height/width growth, water needs, and harvest instructions. The instructions for growing in containers are real instructions instead of the normal "appropriate size container and water regularly" - root depth is covered for instance. Whether the herb is a candidate for early start in house and transfer out to the garden or if it is best just to directly plant it in the garden (tranplantability). Etc.
Ms. McCormick lets the reader know when best to harvest and why (in case you ever wondered why you need to harvest early in the morning). Everything you need to set up an herb garden is here. It is amazing. Why more gardening books don't do I don't know. This changed how I was going to set up my garden - now I am going to split it into the "wet" and "dry" sections. Five stars all the way.
I don't have herbs yet (still setting up the garden), so haven't tried out the recipe section. The recipes are complicated, created by Le Cordon Bleu trained Chef Morgan - beautiful, but complicated. I may eventually attempt one or two (the rosemary chocolate chip cookie recipe is very tempting). At the beginning of each herb recipe section (at least three recipes for each of the fifteen herbs), includes best pairings with the herbs - what types of cheeses, meats, fruits & vegetables. I don't see myself using that information very much, but new cooks working toward mastery of the kitchen may find it useful. More helpful is how to chop/use each herb in a dish - but I got most of that from the herb section. I found Chef Morgan's sectioning herbs into woody and grassing completely unhelpful for my purposes - but I totally can see another cook getting an "a-ha" moment and running with it.
So for the recipe section, I would give two stars (Goodreads - it was okay) or three stars (Amazon - it was okay). But the herb section was so exactly what I have been looking for - and I have gone through a lot of online searches and gardening book reading, I know how rare this is and would have bought the book JUST for the herb section (in fact I did buy it just for the herb section) - I had to give this manuscript Five Stars.
February 23, 2015
This book is useful and beautiful and is a colorful guide to two of my favorite things, growing herbs and cooking with them. Full page color photos of foods including “Lemon Thyme and Yogurt Cake”, “Mint Mojito” with vodka, “Spicy Steamed Mussels in Coconut Broth”, “Lamb Chops Roasted in Thyme” and many more will inspire you to start cooking right away. There are growing tips on 15 herbs from Lemongrass to Cilantro and Winter Savory and Basil. This book would be a can’t miss hit as a gift to anyone who wants to grow herbs and use them in recipes.
April 21, 2015
5 stars for the "in the garden" section, great information. 3 stars for the "in the kitchen" section, not a lot of simple, easy recipes that I would spend the time preparing.
February 4, 2016
The section on growing herbs is helpful. The section about the herbs explains the basics of how to use and combine them. The recipes were a bit too complicated for my tastes.
February 4, 2016
The section on growing herbs is helpful. The section about the herbs explains the basics of how to use and combine them. The recipes were a bit too complicated for my tastes.
July 5, 2015
Probably a good reference book for serious herb growers, a bit too detailed for me
September 25, 2015
I enjoyed learning more about how to incorporate herbs from the garden to the table. Lisa Morgan did a great job with Homegrown Herb Garden: A Guide to Growing and Culinary Uses.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews