Spaghetti Garden:

Herbing Up a "Spaghetti" Garden

by Nicky Rogers

Herbs are one of the few easy, cheap, and delightful pleasures of life which exact no toll from you and ask for nothing in return. Herbs pack a lot of punch per flavor, toss wonderful scents in the air, and add beauty to your garden. In colonial times, no home was complete without an herb garden for wives to use in their kitchens, and it was commonplace for herb gardens to be separated by use – savory herbs, tea herbs, and medicinal herbs. Sound familiar? That tradition is coming back.

So what the heck is a "spaghetti garden" and what does it have to do with herbs, anyway?

One of the most popular kitchen gardens is something called a spaghetti garden--i.e. a garden which grows herbs found in spaghetti sauce. Basil, oregano, garlic, bay, and parsley are all found in good spaghetti in one form or another, and these herbs are also very easy to grow. A window herb-box or a few square feet of garden space can easily yield all the herbs you’ll need for yummy Italian meals.

Parsley

Parsley is the most used herb in the world. It comes in two varieties: flat (Italian) and curly. Parsley complements the flavor of everything from delicate sauces to hearty stews. It’s often used as a garnish on plates, or chopped and added to soups, rices, dressings, and salads. It adds vitamins and color, and subtly brings out the flavor of other herbs, spices, and ingredients in the meal. Parsley is a biennial, flowering in its second season. It prefers some shade on a hot sunny day, and it needs to be kept well watered to avoid wilting and drying. For harvesting, pinch back woody older stems all the way to the base. This allows new leaves and branches to grow.

Basil

Basil is an annual plant, but it seeds itself so easily I’ve never had to get another after planting my first year. Many varieties of basil exist, but all grow fast and require frequent pinching back to keep them from growing leggy and tall. When the plants have reached about 6-8 inches tall, you can begin harvesting. Simply use your thumb and forefinger to pinch off the top third of the plant, just above a leaf intersection. Also be sure to pinch off any flower buds before they go to seed.

Oregano

A perennial ground cover plant, oregano is a prolific grower that extends shoots that can grow up to six feet in a single season. But if encouraged with pruning and bunching, oregano can grow into a small border plant, better suited for a spaghetti garden. It prefers light, thin soil and lots of sun, so keep it on the south side of your garden. You can harvest when the plants reach 4-5 inches by pinching back as you would with basil. The young leaves are the most flavorful part of the plant, and they are actually much stronger dried than fresh. To dry, lay the harvested leaves out on newspaper or drying screens in the sun until the leaves crumble easily. Dried oregano will retain its flavor for a number of months.

Garlic

Garlic is arguably the easiest plant in the world to grow. Simply break apart a clove of garlic bought from the grocery store, and then plant the cloves about 4 inches apart, 2-4 inches deep in light soil. Lightly water and watch them grow. Harvest when tips of leaves turn brown and do NOT let them flower. To harvest: simply dig up the bulbs and use them as you would store-bought garlic. To keep a fresh supply going, plant one or two cloves from each bulb.

Bay Laurel

Bay leaves add a bitter hint of spice to stews, kidney beans, rice, noodles, soups, and especially spaghetti sauce. The bay laurel is a small tree that grows slowly at about a foot per year, making it perfectly suitable for growing in a container. Unless you live in a mild climate zone (where temperatures don’t dip below 25 degrees in the winter), you’ll do best to keep the tree in a pot and bring it inside during the winter.