How-To, Newsletter Articles
How To Plant a Cocktail Herb Garden
How To Plant a Cocktail Herb Garden
A cocktail herb garden helps provide easily accessible drink garnishes, fresh cooking ingredients and makes for a gorgeous addition to your patio! You’ll be surprised how easily it is to grow your own herb garden perfect for cocktails and we’re going to give you the run down.
Materials
- Container
- Potting Soil
- Fertilizer
- Gloves
- Trowel
- Plant Labels
- Wooden or Metal Stakes
- Plants
Plants
- Mint – Perennial Mentha spicata – Use: Lightly “bruise” the leaves into either juleps or mojitos to release the powerful flavors (muddling). You can also play around by pairing mint with ginger, berries or melons.
- Basil – Annual Ocimum basilicum – Use: goes great in drinks that usually use mint, but also try it in tequila and rum-based drinks such as margaritas, daiquiris, planter’s punch, and fruity martinis.
- Rosemary – Perennial Rosmarinus officinalis – Use: adds a great zest to fruity cocktails with berries, citrus, pears, or apples paired with either vodka, sparkling wine or gin.
- Lavender – Perennial Lavandula angustifolia – Use: because of its citrus and lemony flavor, lavender does great in lemony drinks, sparkling wines and champagne.
- Cilantro – Annual Coriandrum sativum – Use: goes great in tomato or tropical drinks. Margaritas and Blood Mary’s go great with Cilantro.
Steps
- You’ll need a container with proper drainage and a location to put the finished container that will get at least 4 hours of sun each day. Gather the materials listed above and pick your plants (we provided some examples above).
- Add the soil into your container about three-fourths full and place some fertilizer on top (organic preferred!). We recommend using either Edna’s Best or FoxFarm for the soil and Grow More: Herb Food for the fertilizer, we carry both in our store!
- Arrange and plant your plants! Make sure they sit below the container lip after they are planted. Also, be sure to note which order you placed them in so that you can label them correctly!
- Label your plants. Using the stakes and plant labels be sure to label your plants so that the correct herb makes it into the right drink!
- Water! You will want to water your herbs thoroughly after they are planted and regularly twice a week there after.
- Enjoy! When you’d like to garnish your drink just snip off a few leaves and enjoy!
Resources:
www.plantcalifornia.com
www.rodalesorganiclife.com