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Gardening Indoors with Herbs

February 22nd, 2010
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Not much room for herb gardening? You can always keep a small herb garden on the windowsill of a sunny window in your house or apartment. Make sure that the window is going to provide plenty of sunshine. If your window faces south, that s the best. You can also use an artificial grow light, but they can be a bit costly (not only to get but also on your electric bill).

Don t put your herbs near your heater (maybe this is obvious?) because they will get easily scorched and too much hot air will kill them.

I gave up on bringing my herbs inside during the colder time of year long ago because I never really had good luck. If you re like me, you will drop by the greenhouse or grocery store to get the herbs you will need over the winter. Keep the indoor herbs indoors and the outdoor ones outside.

Another thing to keep in mind about indoor herbs is that they tend to get a bit leggy. What I mean by that is they grow tall, but do not often get bushy and bushy is a good thing. To help with this, snip off the top of the herb and that can trick the plant into growing more full.

Because you want your herb plants to do well in your indoor herb garden, always try to get the right pot for your herbs. Many plants have a number of kinds and with some research; you ll find the one that can do best in your garden.

These are some herbs that I ve had success with growing indoors. Not only will these bring a great smell to your home, they have a lot of uses.

  • Sage: Just smelling the pungent aroma and silver leaves of the sage plant makes my mouth water. It s an excellent herb for your inside garden. You can always lop a few leaves to add to your meal. Now that is sage advice!
  • Thyme: With all the tastes and types, you may have a hard thyme choosing the right one for your indoor garden. Not to mention how wonderful it smells as it grows.
  • Mustard: Turn up the spice for this one. There are a lot of different varieties of mustard, but keep in mind that the leaves and seeds are full of taste. You will need to cook the leaves thoroughly before eating because they have a texture. The typical mustard herb can get rather large, so be sure that when you go to buy your mustard plant, be sure that you purchase a smaller variety.
  • Angelica: This herb is awesome in its appearance and its course texture makes it a unique addition to your inside herb garden. Use the blooms in your floral arrangements. Angelica is similar to the mustard herb in size, so look for a smaller variety for your indoor herb garden.

You ll need to get a container that allows for drainage. If you don t, your herb can drown and die. But be careful where you put your pots (you do not want them peeing all over you countertops, window sills or kitchen table). All my potted herb plants sit on a tray on my kitchen table. This allows them to get plenty of sun and acts as a basin for the drained water. I enjoy using the tray because I can fast move all my herbs at once, or turn the tray so that my plants get the best light.

Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.

Here is more information on Mini Herb Garden. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.


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All About Herbs and Gardens

April 19th, 2009
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All About Herbs and Gardens

Here some garden advice that you might find useful. Looking for gardening tips? What is the top information that you need to know: amount of sunlight the plot is likely to have, tips on fertilizers, mulch and soil management. The tools necessary along with the type of tiller and watering system that would make your gardening job more convenient are things which you ought to know.

Herb Gardening Tips

You will save more time this way. Having a friend to help you with advice is a good idea and then having the area in front of you will really get the brainstorming started. There could be other points of consideration also.

Gardening Tip #2: The garden is a success if the soil is prepared well. Remember that different plants need different types of soil. For growing vegetables or herbal plants, use organic fertilizers as they would not affect the natural flavor of the food. Wooden chip mulch or any good compost would be a better choice than ordinary fertilizer.

You could easily have a backyard compost heap. Though fresh home brew compost is a rich source of nutrients, it may not be as realistic as one imagines, for the herbal and vegetable garden. Though mulch is a good alternative to home compost mixture, ensure that you use redwood or pine as it breaks faster. Ensure that you mix the ingredients well whether you prefer to use mulch, compost or fertilizer.

Herb Gardening Advice

Just lay them out ion top of the soil and check whether you like what you see. I firmly believe it is wise to plant plants together that have similar characteristics. Plants with larger spread should be planted together. Then, if you arrange the plants in such a way that the taller ones are at the back with the shorter ones in front, then you can see all the plants together.

Gardening Adivce

Gardening Tip 4: Watering your garden is very important. Depending on the size of your house, watering a garden can be tough. An automatic watering system is a wise alternative, if you want your garden to grow on its own. Ranging from a big sprinkler system to a timer on a hose sprinkler, these automatic systems can provide the solution. Using gardening as a hobby is very rewarding, providing shade, beauty as well as food too!

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Growing Parsley

April 10th, 2009
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Growing parsley and other herbs is one of the pleasures of beginning Gardening.

 

Growing Parsley

Parsley deserves recognition for more than its role as a garnish- it is rich in iron and vitamins A and C and is a good breath freshener.

Growing From Seed

Although parsley is a biennial, it is best sown every year because the leaf flavor is diminished in the second season. Growing it from seed requires patience, as the seedlings can take up to 4 weeks to emerge from the soil. Soaking the seeds overnight in warm water before planting will help speed germination.

Best Types

The curly leaf parsley (var. crispum) is the most common type because it makes such an attractive garnish. For cooking and chopping, the f lat-leaved parsley (var. neapolitanum) is preferable; it’s easier to work with and has a better flavor.

Growing Parsley

Sow in individual pots indoors or start outside in the garden. Plants do well in sun or partial shade, and prefer a rich, moist soil. Choose as weed-free an area is possible for garden sowing- you don’t want a jungle to develop while you’re waiting for seeds to germinate. The crop can handle cold weather, so start seeding 2 to 3 weeks before the last spring frost. Thin plants to stand 6 to 10 inches apart. Provide an even supply of water all summer. The cabbage looper may nibble on plants in some areas.

Harvesting Parsley

To harvest, cut entire leaves from the outer portion of the plant as you need them. To dry parsley, cut the plant at soil level and hang it in a shady, warm, well-ventilated area. Once thoroughly dried, crumble the parsley and store it in an airtight container.

Keeping it Fresh

To keep fresh parsley for as long as possible, store it in the refrigerator with the leaf stalks in water. A few plants can be dug up, set in large pots with extra soil, and brought indoors to a sunny window for light winter harvests.

By: National Gardening editors

 

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Growing Sage

April 2nd, 2009
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The best part of beginning gardening is that we get to grow herbs. Sage, dill, basil, rosemary are all the herbs that we can grow.

Growing Sage

Sages encompass a large group of plants, although just a few are really considered to be good culinary herbs. First and foremost is garden sage (Salvia officinalis), a hardy perennial recognized by its gray-green foliage and beautiful blue flowers in the spring. Plants can get quite tall and leggy, so the dwarf form (Salvia officinalis var. nana) is a better, more compact specimen. It has as equally good flavor but is not as hardy as its standard counterpart.

The Best Sages

There are several cultivars of garden sage that are highly ornamental because of their leaf color. Purple sage (Salvia officinalis cv. Purpurescens), golden sage (Salvia officinalis cv. Aurea), and tricolor sage (Salvia officinalis cv. Tricolor) can add great variety and accent to the garden although all tend to be less hardy than regular sage.

Growing Sage

You can start plants easily indoors from seed or in the garden in early spring. However, plants grown from seed may not have the same leaf shape and color as the parent plant. A better way to grow true-to-form, high-quality sage is to get cuttings from a friend’s best-looking plants. Set plants or thin seedlings to stand 24 to 30 inches apart. Sage thrives in a sunny garden location and, while plants are young, needs a steady moisture supply in well-drained soil. Each spring, prune the heavier, woody stems from the plants. The quality will drop off after 4 or 5 years, so dig up older plants and replace them with new ones started from seed or by cuttings.

Harvesting Sage

Don’t harvest too heavily the first year; give the plants time to get established. The leaves can be harvested at any time. They keep well dried or frozen.

By: National Gardening editors

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Growing Dill

April 2nd, 2009
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Growing herbs is one of the pleasures of beginning gardening, and growing dill adds to that gardening pleasure.

Growing Dill

Common dill grows to a height of about 3 feet; Bouquet dill is a smaller variety that generally produces fewer seedheads. Dill does poorly when ransplanted, so start the crop from seed in the garden. The plants thrive in rich, loose soil and a very sunny location. Plant I or 2 weeks before the last spring frost date if you want the seeds to mature when you are doing your first cucumber pickling.

Sow Seeds

Sow Seed 1/4 inch deep in rows 18 to 24 inches apart or broadcast over a bed 2 feet square and gently rake the seeds into the soil. Plants should emerge in 10 to 14 days; let them grow for 10 to 14 more days and then thin them to 12 to 18 inches apart. Make small sowings a few weeks apart

until midsummer to get a season-long supply of fresh leaves.

Dill Care

The plants are very spindly so you may have to stake the tallest plants to keep them from bending over in strong winds. Let a few plants mature their seed; if the area is not disturbed very much they will provide many new plants next season.

b>Dill Harvest

You can start harvesting the fern-like leaves about 8 weeks after planting. Pinch off the outer leaves close to the stem. Leaves have the highest flavor just when flower heads are opening.

Dill Preserving

Dry leaves in a dark place on a screen and seal them in an airtight jar; freeze leaves to retain more of their flavor. For pickling, cut off the seedheads when they’re light brown, dry them for a few days in paper bags with air holes in the sides, then shake seeds loose to the bottom of the bag.

By: National Gardening editors

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Growing Basil

March 30th, 2009
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Beginning gardening gives you the opportunity to grow all thoses lovely herbs that makes our food so tasty and healthy.

Growing Basil

If you do any Italian cooking at all, you’ll want to include basil in the herb patch. Basil can’t be planted until after the last frost date, but in the heat of summer it will produce abundantly.

Basil Types

There are many types of basil to choose from; the one offered by most garden supply stores and in mail order catalogs is bush or sweet basil, a compact plant growing to 18 inches or so during the season. There are a growing number of varieties of purple basil available. Their richly hued leaves add color and interest to an herb bed or even a flower garden. Use it like common basil, though expect it to be less sweet. When steeped in white vinegar, the leaves produce a lovely tint. Recently rediscovered by many cooks, lemon basil brings a citrus fragrance to both the garden and the kitchen. Thai basil adds a licorice flavor to typical basil leaves and tastes great in Asian cooking. You’ll also find cinnamon-flavored varieties, tiny-leaved, clump-forming types, and "lettuce leaf" basil, among others.

Getting Started

Start seeds indoors 6 weeks before the last frost date, and keep the temperatures around 70F for good germination. You can also sow seed directly in the garden (about 1/4 inch deep) after the last frost date when soil is warm. Set transplants or thin seedlings to stand at least 10 to 12 inches apart; more room (16 to 24 inches apart) will encourage low, bushy plants to develop.

Basil Care

Plant in full sun. Pinch the tip from the center shoot of basil after it has grown for 6 weeks to force side growth and prevent early flowering. If flower stalks do develop, cut them off. Mulch is recommended in hot areas since basil likes a steady moisture supply. Basil is generally pest-free. Frost-tender basil is easily nipped by early fall frost, so be sure to harvest if temperatures threaten to dip into the 30s.

Picking Basil

Basil is at its most flavorful when fresh. The best time to harvest is just as the plant starts to set flower buds, well before flowers bloom. Snip leaves or branches at this time and pinch off flower stalks to keep plants productive. You can also cut entire plants about 6 to 8 inches above ground, leaving at least one node with two young shoots intact. The plant should produce a second, but smaller harvest several weeks later.

Preserving the Harvest

Since the leaves lose some of their flavor when dried, freezing is the best method for winter storage. To quick-freeze basil, dry whole sprigs and pack them in plastic bags with the air pressed out. To dry basil, pinch off the leaves at the stem and dry them in a shady, well-ventilated area. Check in 3 or 4 days, and if they are not totally dry, finish drying in a the oven; otherwise the leaves may turn brown or black. Use the lowest heat possible with the door slightly open, turn leaves for even drying, and check them frequently.

By: National Gardening editors

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