So, what exactly makes a seed, 'easy to start?'
In my opinion, easy seeds are the ones that are simple to plant, require little care to get started, and almost always show up and show out. Easy seeds are the ones that grow and grow and grow without too much fuss. They're the seeds that make us feel like a pro even if we know we're a beginner. Easy seeds are also the ones that create more of themselves pretty quickly once they've finished growing. This means the seeds aren't just easy to grow once but again and again (and again). Excited about growing some easy seeds? Keep reading.
Sage
The perfect accompaniment to fresh pasta, sage is also pretty easy to grow in the garden.
Unlike some of the other seeds in the same herb family, sage seeds are a little bigger, easy to separate and plant out and they seem to germinate (that means sprout) quite quickly. Sage is a super cooperative plant that can hold up under lots of different conditions including full sun and partial shade, and both hot and cooler temperatures. You can start sage seeds indoors under lights or you can plant seed directly in the garden. When temperatures get higher, sage will produce the prettiest purple flowers and as those flowers dry, there's treasure hidden inside: more and more seeds!
Basil
Basil is an absolute garden favorite and good news! It's one of the easiest herbs to grow from seed.
Basil loves hot, dry weather and loads of sunshine but basil seeds do need to stay moist in order to sprout and grow. Basil seeds are super tiny. So, when you plant basil seeds, you've got to be super careful to spread the seeds out. Basil plants can get huge so you want to give your seeds a minimum of four inches distance from one another. In the end, one basil plant may end up taking up an entire square foot of the garden, but not if you harvest and use it frequently (which you totally should). There are a million different basil varieties but our favorites for flavor is Sweet Basil. We also love Thai Basil for the flowers and Purple Basil because it's just so pretty.
Cilantro
Whether you love it or hate it, there's no denying it: cilantro grows incredibly well from seed in the herb garden.
Cilantro seeds (otherwise known as Coriander) are the size of a pellet and fairly easy to spread out and plant in the garden. Cilantro loves growing in the cooler parts of the year, so plant the seeds as soon as the threat of frost has passed. And then, plant more seeds when the summer weather cools in order to get lots of cilantro in the fall. Cilantro plants need to be spaced about 4 to 6 inches apart as the plants will eventually grow quite tall and large. Harvest cilantro as soon as you can because the plant loves its seeds so very much that it tends to start flowering quickly. But good thing: all those flowers just mean more seeds. It's a win-win, no matter what.Garlic
What was that? You don't think garlic is an herb? Can we convince you otherwise?
In our book, herbs are any kind of plant that's used medicinally, therapeutically, or to add flavor or nutrition with cooking. And garlic? It's all those things. Whether you think it counts as an herb is no biggie. What does matter is whether or not you're growing it-and you should be. And since we're getting technical, we're not technically growing garlic from seed but from a garlic clove (but it's still easy). Plant garlic by burying individual cloves broken off from one main garlic bulb. The cloves are so easy to plant because they're big, easy to handle, and all you have to do is dig a hole and be certain that the tip of the garlic is pointing up. Another great thing about garlic is that you plant it in the fall and then get to almost forget about it until late spring/early summer.Article written by Nicole Burke from Gardenary