The weather is starting to break. We will hit 70 + degrees Friday and Saturday, and the birds are super active. Now is a great time to get some early Spring planting done. Even easier, grow some herbs. They can jazz up your cooking instantly. You can also herbs to make teas.

Plus, they make a home and yard look more valuable. If you plan on selling your home soon, having an herb garden is not going to be THE key factor in selling your home for top dollar, but if you don’t think some buyers – especially health conscious buyers who like greens and herbs – aren’t influenced by a home that shows well and has a nice herb garden, you’re missing out.

Here are my Top 8 that my family grows, and uses a lot…And they’re all easy to grow.

Cilantro might be my favorite herb. My family chops it up and uses it in a multitude of dishes. We’re always running around and we don’t always cook fancy stuff but we look to eat fresh, healthy food. Having fresh cilantro on hand Cannon make a salad better, be part of a quick salsa, and it’s fantastic chopped up and tossed in soup right as you’re serving it.

Basil is phenomenal. It’s really easy to grow, and if you don’t feel like growing it it’s abundantly available at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and my Organic Market. They already have little pots and you can pinch off what you need whenever you want. But it’s really easy to grow so why not give it a shot.

Lemon Balm makes a wonderful tea that is documented to help relieve stress and reduce anxiety. Bottom line is it’s a relaxing tea. It’s part of the mint family. You do want to grow it in a pot unless you have an area that you don’t care about it spreading. Because it will spread. And it keeps coming back year after year. So you don’t have to do anything other than pick it and enjoy it. Trust me they will be plenty of it for years once you plan it one time. If you don’t want it to spread, best to put it in a large pot or just block it off.

Oregano is also one of my favorites. Not only do we grow it and use the herb in cooking oh, but we also are huge users of the oil of oregano. It has very powerful antibiotic, antimicrobial, antiviral, and anti-fungal properties in it. For cooking, you can add it to top off a pizza or cut up with some fresh parsley on fresh tomatoes with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Parsley. Yes put this together with oregano and some salt and pepper and fresh tomatoes and you can toss it on top of some fresh pasta and have a quick meal. Parsley is super healthy. Loaded with a lot of good stuff to help you.

Rosemary is another herb that strategically can make a dish just come alive. We love to use it with some roasted potatoes and olive oil as a finisher along with the Rosemary. It’s extremely aromatic and it just makes the dish better.

Thyme is another easy to grow herb. It pairs really well with the Rosemary, but you can also use it on its own. Probably easiest to grow it in the pot. It’s easy to lose track of if it’s on the ground and gets mixed in with weeds.

Lavender is also a great herb the grow. If nothing more than for the aroma, it’s completely worth that the grow some lavender. You can dry the flowers and make any room smell better. Bees also love lavender and so having it around will benefit other plants, vegetables, fruits if you’re growing them.