Everyone's looking to cut costs these days, and grocery bills are a good place to start. Though not all of us have the luxury of space to start growing our own veggies, herbs are generally low-maintenance and low-material plants you can grow in your own kitchen. Not only that, but some of them you don't even have to buy seeds or a plant for. Here are five herbs you can start from the ingredients you buy at the grocery store for a lower grocery bill and fresher ingredients. Mint Mint is a plant that is famously easy to grow and hard to kill. This is because (when planted in-ground) it's actually considered invasive, meaning it grows robustly, choking out other plants for light and nutrients. In a container on your kitchen counter, however, this just means an endless supply of fresh herbs. To start your own plant, take a few sprigs from the grocery store and place the stems in water. Ensure that no leaves are touching the water, as this can lead to rot, mildew, and mold. Change the water every few days, and in a few weeks, you should start to see root growth. Take these sprigs, plant them in a small container, and ta-da! You've got a plant that will continue to give fresh ingredients whenever you need them. Want more gardening tips? Sign up for our free gardening newsletter for our best growing tips, troubleshooting hacks, and more! Basil Basil is not only easy to grow in the kitchen—It will also add a lovely aroma to your space. As with mint, simply pick a few leaves with developed, long stalks from what you bought at the supermarket and place them in water. After a few weeks of changing the water regularly, roots should begin to appear. Replant them in a medium-sized, well-draining pot, and harvest leaves as needed for cooking. Oregano Though it might take a while, oregano is yet another herb you can grow from supermarket propagations. Follow the same steps as for mint and basil: Pick a few healthy stems, put them in a cup of water, and pick off any leaves that might sit on or below the waterline. Change the water every few days to prevent mold, mildew, or rot. When you see roots form, transplant to a well-draining pot with soil. Water and provide light as with any other plant. Don't Prune Too Much For all herbs, make sure you're never taking more than 1/3 of the plant at a time. Rosemary Grow supermarket rosemary the same as basil: Pick sprigs with long, hardy stems and put them in water (with no leaves touching the water). Change water frequently, and plant in a pot when roots have grown out. Thyme For thyme, follow the same processes as for other herbs: Pick strong stems, place in water, replace water every few days, and—when roots have formed after a few weeks—transplant to a well-draining pot with soil and care for normally.

Learning how to grow watercress gives you a tasty, water-loving plant option with a peppery taste that can enliven a sandwich or salad. Ann McCarron will show you how easy it is to grow and share our tips for caring for this perennial herb. Who can resist the hot, peppery taste of watercress in a salad, a sandwich, or even garnishing a burger, but did you know that watercress is very easy to grow yourself? Read on to learn how to grow watercress at home in your own garden. As a water-loving perennial, it’s often assumed that watercress can only be grown in fresh flowing water. While this is true, you’ll be happy to learn that recreating these growing conditions using containers is straightforward. You can even grow watercress on a sunny windowsill if you follow our tips! Watercress has been cultivated since Roman and Greek times, and there are good reasons for its long success. Those small fresh leaves are packed full of vitamins A and C, iron, calcium, and folic acid, making watercress a nutritional powerhouse. It’s not just for salad mixes, either. Add a handful of leaves to smoothies for a healthy vitamin boost, or try your hand at making watercress soup or pesto sauce to add to pasta. Either way, this incredibly versatile leaf is going to taste delicious. What is Watercress? Watercress, also known as garden cress, comes from the cabbage or mustard family Brassicaceae. With the botanical name Nasturtium officinale, it would be easy to confuse watercress with the land-grown, colorful nasturtium ornamental flowering plant, Tropaeolum majus. To add even more confusion, both plants are edible and have a strong peppery flavor, but they are not related botanically. Native Area Watercress is native to Europe and Asia and is naturalized across North America growing in streams, springs, slow-moving rivers, and marshland. As a semi-aquatic herb, watercress thrives in permanently wet conditions, either partially submerged or grown in soil regularly refreshed with clean, clear water. Watercress cannot grow in a stagnant environment. Characteristics Watercress has a dense, sprawling growth habit, propagating freely from leaf nodes which is why you sometimes see fine hair-like white roots on your bagged watercress salad from the supermarket. Leaves are mid-green, alternate, pinnately compound ranging between three to nine leaflets growing on hollow stems. Clusters of four-petalled white flowers are borne on dark green/brown stalks protruding slightly above the carpet of leaves and are a magnet to water insects, hoverflies, and bees. Flower production is stimulated by day length and tends to occur in mid to late summer. Seed pods are similar in appearance to other brassica family varieties: long, thin, and upright, turning brown when ready to harvest. Pods remain elevated above the water, bursting when ripe, falling close to the parent, and usually germinating within a week, providing continuous crop throughout the season. Seeds are tiny, oval, brown specks that are best broad-sown. Each pod contains 20+ seeds, and each cluster of flowers has around 20 seed pods. Watercress has both basal roots to secure it to the location and advantageous roots that float and assist in progressing colonization. Watercress has a vigorous growth rate, allowing harvests in as little as four to seven weeks. Treated as a cut-and-come-again salad, watercress rewards you with continuous lush growth from spring to late fall. Leaves become bitter and unpalatable after flowering, so frequent harvesting will keep your watercress producing new leaves for longer. All parts of the watercress, including the flowers and roots, are edible, but the latter parts tend to be bitter. Watercress is grown primarily for its tasty leaves, which are best consumed raw to get the most nutritional value. Leaves can also be cooked in soups and stir-fries or wilted like spinach. Planting Plant shop-bought watercress outdoors from March if no harsh frosts are forecast. Young plants may suffer from a sudden change in temperature so it’s best to acclimatize them over a few days. If growing in containers, keep indoors until the first frost-free date. Sow watercress seeds outdoors from spring when average daily temperatures are between 50-60°F (10-16°C) or indoors and plant outside once they have become established. Seeds require this temperature range to successfully germinate. If using store-bought transplants in garden ponds, simply place watercress into aquatic pots filled with compost or soilless potting mix and topped with gravel to prevent the growing media from floating away. Sow seed directly along the edges of ponds as long as the soil is saturated, as they grow naturally in that sort of environment. No access to a garden pond? No problem. Grow in containers outside or even on a windowsill. Grow transplants or sow watercress seeds on the surface of the soil and place the pot into a deep saucer filled with water. Keep the saucer topped up at all times using rainwater whenever possible. Place the container in a bright sunny location and watch your watercress grow! Although watercress is a perennial, when growing in containers, it should be treated as an annual. Watercress will not tolerate stagnant conditions which encourage bacterial growth. To avoid this flush your pots at least twice a week simply by removing the saucer and watering the container with fresh water allowing the excess to drain away. Do this a couple of times and return to the saucer topping it up with clean water to keep the soil moist. How to Grow Watercress is self-sufficient with few issues when grown in the correct habitat. Follow the tips below to learn how to grow watercress! Maintenance Generally, pruning is not necessary for growing watercress, although they benefit from regular snipping to encourage new lush growth for continual harvest.

While its feathery foliage has a delicate appearance, dill is easy to grow and care for, and is an excellent addition to any garden. In addition to providing bright, fresh flavor for your dishes, dill plants also attract a host of beneficial insects such as ladybugs, green lacewings, and syrphid flies—all of which prey on aphids. To keep your dill plant happy and healthy, it's important to regularly prune it. This will will help it grow bushier and fuller, promote new grow, and ultimately lead to a more abundant dill harvest. Before You Get Started No matter what method you use to prune your dill plant, it's important to keep these guidelines in mind. Wait for the dill plant to have at least five leaves or until the plant is at least six inches tall, somewhere between four to eight weeks after planting. As with other herbs, you should never trim more than one third of the entire plant. To prevent over-pruning, allow the plant to recover and regrow to its previous size before pruning again. If you prune down a stem without leaving any fronds (leaf sets), the stem will not grow more dill. If you want the dill plant to continue growing its green foliage, pinch off any flower buds that form. Flowering is a sign that the plant is ready to reproduce and nearing the end of its life. Every part of the dill plant is edible, including the seeds, stems, and flowers. Want more gardening tips? Sign up for our free gardening newsletter for our best-growing tips, troubleshooting hacks, and more! How to Prune Dill for Growth If you're growing dill to use in your kitchen, pruning the plant can play a vital role in its yield. Regularly pruning away leaves from the top of the plant will encourage bushier growth—and give you fresh herbs to cook with. I've found this is the best method to use for a bountiful dill harvest you can enjoy all season long. I follow this process when I need a few leaves to garnish a dish or salad with. I just run out back to my vegetable garden, pluck off a small handful of dill leaves, and bring them back into the kitchen to finish up. Find a tender stem with mature growth. Follow the tops of the fronds (dill leaves) to the previous leaf set. You'll want to prune right above it, leaving some leaves in tact for the stem to continue to produce leaves. Using a clean pair of pruning shears, snip off the dill leaves from that top part of the stem. You can also use your thumb and forefinger to pinch the leaves off. How to Prune Dill for Storage If your goal is to harvest large amounts of dill for drying, freezing, or preserving, then you'll want to prune away much of the dill plant. Because the goal is no longer to encourage growth, you can cut the leaves, stems, and all. Dill is an annual plant and will need to be replanted the following year. This is the pruning method I follow at the end of the growing season, when the dill plant is lush and full but doesn't have flowers blooming yet. Spray the dill plant with water one day before harvesting it. This will help clear it of dirt and ensure the plant has moisture for the freshest harvest possible. Using a pair of scissors or pruning shears, cut it at the base of the stem, pruning the whole plant away. Place the stems in a glass of water like you would flowers. If you plan to dry the dill, combine the dill stems into small bundles and hang them upside down to dry for one to two weeks. How to Prune Dill for Seed-Saving If you are growing a dill plant for its seeds, then you need to allow the plant to flower in order to harvest them. You can increase your seed crop by selectively pruning the leaves, forcing the plant to send all nutrients and energy to the seed-producing flowers. In order to collect seeds, you want to encourage the dill plant to flower. Regularly prune the top leaves, making sure to leave the main stems intact. Wait for your dill plant to start producing small yellow flowers. Allow the flowers to fully mature. The seeds are ready to be harvested when the follows are brown and completely dried on the plant. To collect the seeds, secure a paper bag over the flower heads and shake them. Once you are finished harvesting seeds, trim back the stems that held the flowers.