Potted Herb Garden

Living in Pittsburgh in a townhouse without much space for a garden, you do what you have to do.  Although I would love a vegetable garden it is pretty unrealistic right now, so I figured I could at least grow some fresh herbs in pots on our small deck.  I waited longer than i wanted to because herbs don't do well if they get to much water, and being in pittsburgh that is certainly a problem...with all of the rain and such.  But now they are done and the weather has really been great.  Sun! and just the right amount of rain.  Now I just need to find recipes to use my herbs in which shouldn't be a problem.

This pot has thyme, cilantro, and lavender in it.  The cilantro is a little out of control, growing taller and even flowering but it still seems to be doing well.  I hope this is normal?  And I'm very excited about the lavender although everyone keeps asking "What are you going to do with it?"  Well for starters there is this awesome place in squirrel hill on Murray called Te-Cafe that I absolutely love.  And they make a delicious lavender lemonade.  So refreshing.  I found several recipes online for that and am looking forward to trying it at home.  There are also lavender baked goods I'm dieing to try along with lavender chocolate like I have tasted at Mon Aimee Chocolat in the strip district.

This pot has sage, basil, and rosemary.  I'm thinking I will end up freezing a lot of the sage once the colder weather comes and that is something I use a lot in butternut squash dishes.  The basil I will use all the time so I am so glad it is doing so well!  And the rosemary is something I love to throw in chicken dishes so I know I will find a use for it.

We have a dirt "garden" area in front of our house where bushes are planted right under our mailbox so I also planted mint out there.  Mint spreads like crazy and I heard it can live in even the worst conditions.  However mine is not doing so well.  Hopefully it come back to life or no mojitos for me :(

Anyway, the moral of this post is: Even if you live in a place with no yard, if you have even a tiny space in the sun you can still plant an herb garden.