Herb Garden - My 5 Favourite Herbs
October 17th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
I highly recommend that you start to grow herbs at home, and building your own herb garden, however small at first, offers you a healthy and easy way to eat fresh organic produce every day if you wish. Hopefully this article will give you a nudge!. To read more visit Herb Gardening. Here are a few of my own favourites.
1. Basil – one of the great culinary herbs, originally came from India, where it was considered a ‘royal’ plant. Basil has a very strong flavor, and is very widely used for cooking in lots of European countries – such as Greece, Italy, and France. Basil gives off a lovely fresh aroma. An Annual, and very easy to grow, a companion plant to tomatoes, and they complement each other perfectly. Basil leaves go well with salads, cheese and egg dishes, and with pasta and pizza. Can be added to soups, stews and a key ingredient in making pesto.
2. Parsley – a very widely used herb around the globe, used both for flavor and for medicinal purposes. A biennial, Parsley grows best in a sunny area, in a rich and loamy soil. Parsley is rich in vitamins A, B, and C. It is used in many dishes, but especially in soup. In addition to soups, Parsley makes a great addition to salads, casseroles and egg dishes. And of course, Parsley is an wonderful garnish for meat and fish, as well as any dish that features onions, and chewing on some Parsley can help to reduce garlic odours after a meal..
Chervil – a small biennial herb with a slightly delicate, fern-like leaf. Originally found in southern Russia and the Middle East, and now used all over Europe, in particular in France. Chervil grows to about 45cm tall, and pruning well leads to a healthy growth. Fond of moisture and shaded areas are best. Chervil tastes a little like Parsley, and also slightly like aniseed. Best used towards the end of cooking, great with eggs, fish and shellfish, meats, salads, sauces and mixed with vegetables.
4. Coriander – a hardy annual grown for the bright green leaves and its seed. Coriander has been used in medicine and cooking for thousands of years. It is actually mentioned in the Bible and its use has also been recorded in ancient China. Sometimes referred to as ‘Chinese Parsley’. Coriander is one of the most commonly used herbs in the Middle East and Europe. Used as the basis for many curries, spicy sauces and fresh chutneys and salads. Coriander is so versatile that different parts of this plant are known as different herbs. Using ground Coriander seeds and using with meats, like veal or pork? This is Coriander. Using the leaves to add to some Indian or Asian dishes? You’re now using cilantro!
5. Sage – another old medicinal herb now used in cooking. Have you ever eaten sweet sausage with sage, then you know how awesome this herb can be as an addition to cooking. The dried leaves of the sage plant are also a traditional addition to the stuffing of chickens and turkeys. Many chefs additionally use sage lamb and pork, as well as a variety of cheese and egg dishes. Sage can easily be grown from its seeds. An excellent herb to use with rice dishes like duck, rabbit or pork, and as mentioned great in stuffings.
Copyright 2009 Colin West
Colin West is now a full-time gardener. He has been a gardening enthusiast all his life, and has recently completed a new ebook “How To Grow Your Own Herb Garden” which is available online.
Greenhouses - The Indoor Way To Enjoy Your Gardening
October 15th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
Gardening is one of the best hobbies I know. You get all the exercise you need, and can tear up the health club card. There is always plenty to get on with to keep you fit; Digging, Weeding, and Pruning. It is also an unrivalled stress and tension reliever. Gardening in the fresh air keeps you healthy, makes you look younger, and extends your life.
Gardening as a hobby is available to everyone. With raised beds, even those in wheelchairs are able to plant, sow, and harvest their crops. Even if you cannot see well, then brightly coloured flowers with loads of scent will help. With a Greenhouse, you can enjoy the hobby all year round, and even in bad weather.
There is nothing as satisfying as eating a tomato or carrot which you have grown from seed. Think about the satisfaction of sinking your teeth into an apple picked from a tree that you have raised from a cutting. Although you can do these things without a greenhouse, having a greenhouse makes it so much easier. You will get even more satisfaction by building your own greenhouse
With a greenhouse you should have a pest and disease-free, controlled environment. Therefore, raising plants from seeds is much easier. It also permits you to grow exotic plants, melons and grapes that would normally not survive in cooler climates. With some planning, it will give you vegetables throughout the year.
Keeping a greenhouse free from pests and diseases is of the paramount importance. There is nothing worse that have a cucumber growing beautifully one day, looking forward to harvesting it in three days time, then coming back the next day to find it totally decimated by virus or mould. There are a number of simple preventative measures that will help you to avoid that bad experience with greenhouse problems. Remember, prevention is better than cure.
Keeping everything clean is your first line of defense. You should remove and burn any plant material that shows signs of damage, white mold or fungus. Don’t allow your tools to spread diseases to other plants. Always dip secateurs and other tools in disinfectant after using them on diseased plants. Many people think that the mold problem they have is endemic, when in fact it is often being spread by the very tools they are using to remove it.
Good ventilation will help prevent a great many of the problems.Humidity control is also greatly beneficial to controlling some greenhouse problems. Parasitic controls can be introduced to solve some pest problems.
When you have pests or deseases, try not to introduce harsh chemicals to cure them. The residue will last long after you have cropped the infected plants and could cause illness. Always look for organic or biological controls. Many cures are totally safe to use, such as yellow sticky cards hung in the greenhouse to catch flying pests that are greatly attracted to them. A less messy way of curing white fly, however is to introduce biological control in the form of a parasitic wasp.
Don’t let all this talk of pests and diseases put you off greenhouse gardening. Most people who have greenhouses experience very little in the way of problems, and those they do have are minor enough to be easily cured with very little intervention.
You can even live with some pests rather than intervening, unless of course the maximum amount of cropping matters to you.
Starting Gardening Veggies Earlier by Vegetable Garden Planting
October 15th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
Winter time can be an opponent to a gardener or peasant of Vegetables. It does so since Veggies need much exposure of sunshine to grow and they can be rotten easily in such season. Nonetheless, in the recent times you could practice early vegetable garden planting in overcoming the problem. By practicing the vegetable garden planting, you don’t need the stopping of winter time only to start growing your tasty and fresh veggie garden.
Perhaps the growing season in a certain area is shorter or a gardener wish to stagger crops so that he has uncontaminated products to enjoy from early summer until late fall. Whatever the reason might be for early vegetable garden planting, you can achieve your reason by beginning to flourish seeds indoors.
What to Grow in Vegetable Garden Planting?
While the snowflakes is still on the ground you can start almost any sort of crop indoors for vegetable garden planting. Warm weather crops that require a longer growing season will do better if they are started early indoors.
Frost season crops need to be mature before the summer comes, which also makes them good candidates for indoor planting. When hesitated about whether to begin a crop in this manner, you can either discuss it to your local nursery or extension office or just get a pack of seeds and give it a stimulus. It doesn’t take much dough or time to try out this method of early vegetable garden planting.
Where to Grow in Vegetable Garden Planting?
In your early indoor vegetable garden planting, one of the most vital things is the exposure of sunshine. Thus, what you need is sunny window. The exposure of the sunshine is very needed for small seedlings to grow well.
If you notice that your seedlings are becoming highly long and spindly, it maybe denotes that they are not getting enough natural light. In this case, you can also think of supplementing it with fluorescent lighting designed for this early vegetable garden planting.
How to Plant in Vegetable Garden Planting?
You have several options for your early vegetable garden planting in terms of the kinds of soil and containers that you utilize. The newest trend for numerous home gardeners is to begin seeds in trays of peat pellets. These pellets will grow when you add water to them. Then you can put your seeds right into them.
The way is by far the least difficult way to start early vegetable garden planting. On the other hand, it can also be one of the pricier one. You can also start seeds in peat pots that you add your own soil mix to. Unite two parts loam to one part sand and one part organic substance, and mix it together in a wheelbarrow. Fill your pots and put your seeds. Now your early vegetable garden planting is complete.
At last, bear in mind to water your seedlings until they need to be brought outside in spring season. As a result, we can see that early indoor vegetable garden planting can be an alternative of getting clean and good vegetables all the time along. Thus, for the vegetarians, eating Vegetables all the time is not a problem again.
Are you still at sea of knowing more about vegetable garden planting? Just look around and click the links your best answer herein!
How To Grow Awesome Tomatoes
October 15th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
For me, there’s nothing better than getting my hands in the soil and having the ability to produce healthy organic tomatoes and vegetables for my buddies and relatives tops the list. Tomatoes are the most popular vegetables grown in the home garden. One of the explanations is that they are relatively straightforward to grow. But that does not mean that they grow without care. Whether you are a seasoned gardener or a beginner.
I hope that I can offer you some tips and tricks to make your organic gardening a pleasurable and simple process. There are many benefits to growing Organic Tomatoes. 1. Organic Tomatoes are fitter and more flavorsome. Two.
Save $$$ by growing your own Organic Tomatoes 3. Having the ability to supply our families with Organic Tomatoes and veg that are free from insecticides and pesticides. 4. Gardening is relaxing and stress free Good organic soil is the key to all gardening success, preparing your soil for your organic tomatoes and vegetable lays the ground work for your plants and will help them prosper. The soil is the home of your plant and is going to be prepared to help your plants grow.
Now that you have prepared your soil, it time to plant your organic tomato seedlings. One. If you are starting tomatoes from seed, make efforts to give the seeds room to split out. Crowding seeds repress their growth, so transplant them as soon as they get their first leaves and move them into 4″ pots about two weeks after that. 2.
Tomato seeds will need either powerful, direct daylight or 14-18 hours under grow lights. Plant your tomatoes outside in the sunniest part of your plant plot. Three. Dig a hole twice the dimensions of the pot and bury tomato plants deeper than they come in the pot, all of the way up to a few top leaves. One of the most vital parts of caring for your organic tomatoes is understanding how much water do organic tomato plants need.
Water extraordinarily and slowly - When watering tomatoes ensure that you go slow and simple. Use a drip hose or other forms of drip irrigation to deliver water to your tomato plants slowly. 2. Water regularly.
Dependent on how hot it is and if the plant is growing. Confirm to water your tomato plants at least each 2 - 3 days at the height of summer. If it rains, count that rain as watering. Three. Water at the roots - When watering tomatoes, make sure you get the water to the roots.
If you water from above this may cause disease and pests to attack the plants. Watering tomato plants from above also encourages early evaporation and pointlessly wastes water.
How To Start Building Your Greenhouse
October 13th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
When starting to build your greenhouse, there are many different options for your foundation.
Some people, especially if they buy a pre-made greenhouse, will not take enough time to plan and plot out exactly the best place to put it. That may be on gravel, or dirt or even grass. Some pre-made greenhouses come complete not only with roof and walls, but a floor, as well.
Before you start to build your greenhouse,You will need to prepare the ground underneath. Preparing a level surface and laying railroad ties spaced about an inch apart is all you need to do. An alternative step up could be creating a simple platform of eight-foot 2 x 4’s or 1 x 6’s nailed to 4 x 4’s spaced out about every 18 inches under the slats. That way you have a solid base and drainage.
These designs, however, leave you with the large job of controlling weeds, as well as controlling mildew, replacing floor boards and other issues with wooden floors.
Your next step is to lay your cement foundation, and this is similar to the foundations under many houses. There are a few potential drawbacks, and it does require more effort, but it is easier than it sounds.
Creating a cement foundation requires laying out an area, smoothing it and building a temporary ‘container’ around the area you intend to pour. You’ll want to make it fairly smooth and level - not an easy thing to do unless you have a fair amount of experience pouring cement.
It would be hard to move, or remove, later on if you change your mind about where you want to put it, and that could be a problem.
You will have options with a cement foundation regarding heating, and it will last a lot longer. You could lay carpet or tile on top with heating tubes or wires underneath, for example. It is sturdy, and very easy to take care of. Cement floors also can absorb and reflect a lot of heat, which can be handy in a greenhouse.
It may take you a couple of weekends to build a good cement foundation. The materials, tools and construction plans are available at a hardware store or can be ordered online and delivered.
Beyond following the directions for mixing cement, creating the frame and properly forming the surface, the key is temperature and humidity. It’s important that you carry out the project when you expect moderate to warm temperatures, relatively low humidity and no rain.
Planning ahead is vitally important, whichever option you choose. The floor is going to need to be sturdy enough to support all the tables, benches, pots, and of course you.After it is installed, it is much harder to fix, so it’s important to get it right from the start.
My next article will cover what is green about a greenhouse.
If you are interested in climate change, check out my web site at http://www.enesolarpanels.com/climate-change.html
A Few Tips About Container Gardening Design
October 12th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
With a good and proper container gardening design you can take care of the hardest part of container gardening, keeping your plants alive. Most people who start with this kind of gardening are having a difficult time the first time round. There are, however, a lot of helpful tips and tricks we can give you to make the learning curve a smoother. With proper container gardening design you can avoid a lot of misery.
Options and variables in container gardening design
Start with the size (height and width) of the plants and not just the size they are now but the size they will be in summer. Next you should look at the container, look at the size but also the look and feel of the container. A bright pink flowering plant might not look so good in a red plastic container. The containers should also look nice in the existing garden and match the feeling of your home. So look at shape, color and texture to. Half the fun of a container garden is getting to design your garden with your containers, but be aware that finding the perfect container gardening design can require an extensive search.
Look and feel
The most important part in buying pots for your container gardening design is to remember that it’s not only the container that can become a decoration or a focal point it’s also the plant inside that should be completed. Especially when you grow flowers it’s alright to mix them and try to design your container garden to match them.The place, color, size shape and texture of the plants should be the most important in your container gardening design not the container itself.
The author of this article, Hank Gordon, writes at his website www.gardenersinfopoint.com about a Garden Tool Caddy and for example the Raised Vegetable Garden Beds.
