Growing up, the only herb my mom grew was dill, so I too have grown dill forever. About 10 years ago, I got into container gardening had a tea rose with a number of culinary herbs. My neighbour (who's hobby is cooking) was beside herself that I had all these great fresh herbs just to look at and smell. Now, I grow them and she shares her creations and preservative. It's only been the last couple of years that I have been actually using the herbs in cooking and I love it.
Last week we did a 3-speaker evening on seed starting with a focus on herbs. The event was well attended, even with -20ºC or -4ºF and everyone enjoyed the diversity of our speaking group. Indoor seed starting-including Microgreens, Wintersowing, Direct sowing were all presented with herbs as examples. It went over very well and there seems to be a huge interest with growing your own food.
My most favourite part was the Chef's presentation. He is the Chief Culinary Instructor at a Technical College. He gave some great harvesting tips, but best of all, his presentation included how to use fresh herbs (culinary). He covered off which herbs to add to the dish right of the start -long cooking time, mid or later half and then the ones that are added at the very end of the cooking time or fresh. Very interesting. He had everyone's full attention and mouths were watering with his descriptive examples of herb affinities. The very next morning I ordered "The Flavor Bible" from amazon.
I am totally looking forward to growing some additional herbs this year, with a little more knowledge of some "culinary must haves". I have a hobby greenhouse with I keep a lot of the herbs in throughout the summer. Last year I bought a mini drip system that was super easy. (black rubber bladder that sun heats the water and adjustable drips for each pot. Worked awesome.
A lot of gardeners grow herbs and don't realize that they are more than pretty flowers. I know I do.
