If you’re looking for herbs for your pasta and other favorite dishes and want to get them fresh, Pick and Pay on Edsa corner Quezon Avenue is the place to go to harvest them.

It’s like having a garden right in the city without having the problem of maintenance. The 1,000-square-meter greenhouse right behind the Manila Seedling Bank Environmental Center holds all kinds of potted herbs, vegetables, and seeds and seedlings.

Herbs are sold at three pots for P100, while vegetables such as ampalaya, lettuce, pechay, mustard, and alugbati are sold by the kilo. Most of the plants are grown in a bigger nursery in Antipolo, we were told by administrative officer Imelda Verzuela, and are transported to the greenhouse in Quezon City when they are fit for harvest.

For those whose idea of herbs is limited only to what they know of the Simon and Garfunkel song, “Scarborough Fair” (read: “parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme”), fret not. Each plant is tagged with its popular and scientific name, as well as helpful tips such as common uses, properties, and edible or usable parts.

Pick and Pay also gives out flyers containing extensive information about the herbs sold, including growing guidelines, harvesting tips, culinary uses, buying and storing, and even some trivia. For example, you probably didn’t know it, but in ancient Greece, students wore rosemary garlands in their hair while studying for examinations, as they believed rosemary helped improved the memory. It certainly does not hurt to try.

Livelihood seminars on urban farming, medicinal trees, and cooking with herbs, among many topics, are conducted free during weekends.

For inquiries:
Edsa Garden House/Pick and Pay
Manila Seedling Bank Environmental Center
Quezon Avenue corner Edsa, Quezon City
+632 927 0510 and 929 3189

Photo of basil plant from Wikipedia