Enrich your home with the beautiful power of healing herbs
Winter is already knocking on our doors and gardeners may want to move some part of the production inside. One very simple and easy approach is to just plant herbs. But not any herbs. Our advice this time – plant medicinal herbs.
The list below is more than exhaustive and we’re sure it will be more than enough for you to compile your own list of plants you’d like to plant.
As long as you have room on the windowsills you will enjoy the healing power of herbs, right inside your home.
Last but not least, while these plants may not heal all your ailments, they will have more of a preventive power. A great example is Echinacea. Make a tincture, and consume regularly, and we promise – you’ll forget about the flu.
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Learn the wisdom behind storing and preserving your summer harvest
When gardeners think about storing the harvest they usually think of canning or keeping it in a cool room. But how many times have you thought of actually drying the fruits and veggies you harvested?
That’s definitely a popular method, but it’s true that most of the time we prefer to keep the produce as fresh as possible for as long as possible. So, the idea of drying isn’t always that appealing.
Yet, in the following article you will learn all the benefits and uses of dried produce, the procedure and all requirements related to drying.
We’re certain that you will consider drying your fruits and veggies from now on.
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Here’s why your herbs may seem unhealthy and even die
It’s winter and it’s also the perfect time to keep herbs indoors. It’s true that the winter sun is lower and there’s less chance for long hours of daylight. But nonetheless, many people grow herbs during the cold months.
If you do too, you may have ended up with a few of them dead, or maybe pale-looking ones. Overall, you may have noticed that your herbs aren’t in their top condition all the time.
You may want to start picking the signals they give you, and learn to read them better.
Below you’ll see which are the common mistakes most people do when caring for a kitchen garden.
After all, caring for your plants isn’t only proper watering. There so many other things you need to consider if you want a happy kitchen herb garden.
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Make these sturdy herbs part of your garden and a health life
Growing herbs is fascinating. These small plants with strong flavors are full to the brim with various nutrients and a huge amount of antioxidants. They produce less than other plants, but it’s so powerful that just a small pinch is enough to bring vitality to your day.
If you’ve always wanted to have your own herb garden, it’s time to stop delaying and wasting time, and actually get to do it.
The following article features some herbs which require little attention. Even if you don’t plan on consuming these herbs, you can make some essential oils for aromatherapy or other health-related benefits.
Also, keep in mind that you don’t need a huge garden. You can also consider growing these herbs in containers, as part of your container garden.
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Learn how herbs can add to your Christmas holidays decoration
While we’re still enjoying the warm (and hot) summer days, there are some things that you may want to begin preparing for the winter holidays. And we’re not talking about conserving food for the winter, but about decorations.
There are ways to make amazing, beautiful and fragrant rich decorations using some of your organic gardens’ plants. But you need to start preparing now, before you lose those plants to the cold seasons.
You can have an eco-friendly and sustainable decoration without the need to rely on plastic items that anyway add more to the world-wide garbage problem.
As you read through the article, you can plan ahead what plants you have and how to put them to good use for the Christmas holidays.
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Useful tricks for expanding your organic garden vertically
We often grow up (no pun intended) used to having horizontal gardens, and that’s how we lay our seeds and produce.
Everything grows on the ground, and only a few plants can be supported for vertical growth. Yet, all of these plants are growing from the same horizontal ground area.
In the following article you will learn how to add more ‘ground’ to your garden. You will grow more produce, as you will not be limited only to the patch of land you have. And you don’t have to grow only herbs! The possibilities are definitely more than you think.
After you read the article, you can experiment on your own with those given tips. We would love to hear back from you and what you have learned.
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Read about this secret method of keeping the smell and taste of your herbs
You may have learned many ways of keeping your herbs’ flavor and smell for winter storing, but there’s a little more to it. There is a less known method (but still an easy one) which you can very easily apply before the rainy days begin.
Read further and learn how to apply this easy technique. Anyone should be able to do it, and it takes very little time to set up. It doesn’t require any special action on your part. Every herb may take a little more (or less) time than the others, but essentially the technique is applicable to all types of herbs.
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Every Garden Should Have Basil – But What Are Some Basics For Those Still Without Basil
Yes, most meals can be prepared with only the most basic spices but adding herbs like Basil, and the meal transforms into a feast.
That is why no garden should be without this king of the herbs.
The article below covers the basics, from growing, harvesting to preserving.
Read, Enjoy and share …
Basil is a native of Africa and other tropical areas of Asia where it has been cultivated for over 5,000 years. It is a culinary herb that sends cooks into poetic rapture. It is probably the favorite of the “sweet” herbs and well known from its use in Mediterranean cuisine. It has a spicy bite when eaten fresh.
Harvesting Basil
For basil harvest, the key is to harvest before the basil gets too woody. You can get multiple harvests from each plant. Cut each stem back to the last 4 leaves. Give each plant a good dose of fish emulsion to support quick leaf regrowth.
Preserving Basil
You can freeze, dry, make basil into pesto, basil butter, basil vinegar, or basil oil.
For freezing, you can freeze chopped leaves into ice cubes to be able to pop into sauces. You can also blanch and freeze. If you don’t blanch, the frozen herb does not keep its color or flavor. Blanching is simply throwing the herb leaves in a pot of boiling water for about 30 seconds and then quickly plunge them into a bowl or sink of ice water. Dry the leaves then I then put the leaves on a cookie sheet, place in the freezer and when frozen, remove and put in quart freezer bags. Now you can have fresh basil anytime you need it!
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Pesto is a mixture of fresh basil, traditionally pine nuts (but I use any kind of nut I have on hand-walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, cashews), parmesan cheese, a few cloves of garlic, and olive oil. You can add spinach or parsley. Just throw them all together in a food processor and ta-da pesto!
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For basil butter, chop the basil and mix 1 Tbl, or to taste, into softened butter.
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Lots of options!
Basil turns black when temps get close to freezing. Be sure to harvest all leaves when it looks like you are getting a frost. …………
Growing Basil
Basil is easy to grow. It loves warmth and melts when temps get even close to freezing. The only watch out is too much water. You’ll get the best flavor when you are stingy with water.
They don’t require much in the way of fertilizer. Just fertilize at planting and once/month. A good organic choice is blood meal. Nitrogen encourages green growth which is what you are after when it comes to basil.
