Gardening and cooking with herbs has never been more popular! Not only are culinary herbs delicious, they are also great pest fighters in the Garden, helping to protect vegetable and flowering plants from many destructive insects and critters. That’s why we have been working on ways to expand our extensive line of herb seeds with new options for serious herb growers. Here are two options you should know about:

New this Season!

Park’s 6-packs of Herb Plants

Our herb 6-packs are just like the flowering annuals and vegetable plants we offer in 6-pack form. They ship in a wink and arrive already leafed out, extensively rooted, and ready to be transplanted into containers or the sunny garden. And of course you can start using the leaves one-by-one as soon as the plants arrive!

First, take a look at two economical combo 6-packs. These give you 2 plants each of 3 complementary herbs. They’re great for a Kitchen Garden or a smaller-space herb planting outdoors:

Classic Seasonings Plant Combination

Three frequently used kitchen seasonings that also make great additions to the vegetable patch and flower garden! All are perennial (though the rosemary cannot overwinter outdoors north of zone 8), so you may get years of use from a single collection.

English Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

Garden Sage (Salvia officinalis)

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)

Little Italy Plant Combination

Greek Basil (Ocimum basilicum minimum)

Oregano (Origanum vulgare)

Flat-leaf Parsley (Petroselinum crispum neapolitanum)

We also have individual 6-packs of must-have herbs for kitchen and garden:

Lavender Munstead

The classic lavender from British guru Gertrude Jekyll’s garden, this perennial (zones 5-9) is ultra-fragrant, full of rich oils, utterly beautiful, and very long-lived. You will want it for the border as well as the herb garden.

Peppermint

A natural and very effective pest repellant in the vegetable and flower garden, this quick-growing, quick-spreading perennial (zones 4-9) mint smells terrific, looks great year-round, and makes a fine addition to teas, sauces, and other dishes. Like all mints, it doesn’t know when to quit, so plant in containers if you are concerned about it spreading.

Rosemary Arp

Much cold-hardier (through zone 6 in the north) than the species, this National Arboretum introduction is beloved for its dense 3-foot-by-3-foot size, great drought resistance, and unbeatable cold tolerance.

English Thyme

A terrific pest repellent, this perennial (zones 4-8) forms a low plant that spreads up to 2 feet wide. The flowers are beautiful, but pick the foliage for culinary use before the blooms appear — the foliage loses a bit of flavor and texture after it flowers.

Oregano

Another pest-fighting perennial (zones 5-10) with beautiful flowers and an easy-care habit, Oregano offers large, delectable leaves for fresh or dried use. Like Thyme, it should be harvested for its foliage before the midsummer blooms appear.

Sage

Is there anything Sage can’t do? This garden variety is perfect for seasoning, offering large leaves that smell as good as they taste. Perennial in zones 4-8, it repels pests, looks great, and is generally a must-have in any sunny spot!

Parsley (plain-leaf)

Flat-leafed parsley is more nutritious than its curly cousin, and easier to chop up, too! Grow it as an annual, setting it liberally among the vegetable plants as well as in the kitchen garden.

1,000-seed Herb Packets

The ProEasy Series (available only at Park!)

Ever since we introduced the ProEasy series last season, the response has been terrific! These 1,000-count seed packets are perfect for large herb gardens, clubs, community gardens, and seed sharers everywhere. Best of all, they are open-pollinated and untreated seed, so you get all the great yields without any of the chemicals you might find in commercial herbs.

Specifically, each ProEasy variety was selected for:

• Strong, rich flavor
• Ease of growth in the home garden
• Ease of harvest
• High germination rate
• Superb disease tolerance/resistance
• Great color
• Uniform plant size.

ProEasy seeds are a bargain you shouldn’t miss. Individual 1,000-count packets are just $4.95; the collection of 6 (all 5 varieties, with an extra packet of Basil thrown in for fun) is $16.95, which works out to less than $3 a packet.

Here are the varieties:

Basil (large-leaf Italian)

Chives

Dill

Parsley (flat leaf)

Thyme (winter-hardy German)

Collection (6 packets: 2 of Basil, 1 of the other ProEasies)

The post Kitchen Garden Solutions — Herbs in 6-pack Plants and 1,000-seed Packets! appeared first on Official Blog of Park Seed.