Garden if you can (garden maintenance is great for kids). If you’re like us, and you can’t garden, try containers for certain items. We have five herb containers on the patio, which also flower. They’re really pretty and their strong smells keep away insects from our patio. Some herbs are very expensive fresh, but wonderfully versatile for cooking. Here’s what we grow:

Mint
Sage
Thyme (three varieties)
Basil
Green Onions
Chives
Marjoram (pretty flowers but I don’t have the faintest idea how to use it).
Catnip
Oregano

A word of advice about herb gardening: Plant mint only in containers and not with anything else. It’s a bit invasive and will choke out the other plants. Also, I wish I’d planted more basil. Our catnip and chives were in the same container. The cat sat on the catnip to eat the chives. Yes, he has really, really bad breath, and the catnip is now dead. I’d estimate our monthly savings at about $7 because we don’t buy thyme and oregano (I dry them and save them up for autumn cooking) and we use the basil and onions all summer long!

This post is part of a series I’ve entitled “Frugal August” and is inspired by (though not copied from) the book The Complete Tightwad Gazetteby Amy Dacyczyn. My tips are meant to build on hers, but generally are not duplications.