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Sustainability starts at home, so growing whatever produce you can seems like a great place to start. You don’t need to spend hours digging in the garden, or have a garden at all for that matter. Growing your own greens is simple and effective.
When looking for low-maintenance plants, herbs are a great place to start. You can grow them in a pot, or sink-garden in your kitchen. Most herbs don’t like constantly wet soil so it is best to let the soil dry out before watering again. This makes them low-maintenance as they don’t require constant watering. For best results, place your plants on a south-facing windowsill or anywhere that they will get lots of light.
Some of my personal favourites are:
Fresh basil is my key ingredient to homemade pizza - even if the pineapple is controversial!
When buying a Mint plant, you may notice that there are lots of different varieties. This might feel overwhelming, but as long as they smell sufficiently minty, they should do the job. I currently have Mojito Mint, Moroccan Mint and Mentha Spicata (English Lamb Mint). They look a little bit different but all deliver on taste!
Anyone that has grown mint in their garden before has probably noticed that it has a tendency to spread very quickly. The benefit of growing Mint in a pot in your kitchen is that you don’t have to worry about controlling it.
Mint can be used in summer drinks like mojito’s and iced teas or to make fresh mint tea which is known to soothe the stomach. Much like Basil, fresh mint purchased from the supermarket doesn’t last very long in the fridge, so a Mint plant is great for reducing waste and more unnecessary plastic packaging.
Mint is great to have on hand for drinks
These are just three of my favourites, but the same rules apply to most herbs and are generally easy to grow. They are useful to have to hand for those spontaneous home cooked meals and could make your weekly food shop that tiny bit more sustainable - not to mention the satisfaction of cooking with something that you have grown yourself!