Posts tagged "Gardening Books"

Healthy Eating Facts – Creating Your Cooking Herbs Garden

If you have enough space to spare a corner for cooking herb garden, then there are many gardening books that may guide you to create one. Depending on space, time and money, you can create anything from a tiny corner filled with half a dozen of your favorite herbs to a classic walled herb garden, a knot garden or even a traditional formal parterre.

If you run out of space, remember that all the sages, rosemary, parsley, scented geraniums and borage do well in large pots, while clumps of small herbs such as thyme, oregano, tarragon, marjoram, savory and wild strawberry look nice in traditional strawberry pots which have openings around the sides as well as on the top.

Actually almost all herbs can be grown in containers, but although you can buy many herbs as plants in specialist nurseries or garden centers, some of them will have to be cultivated from seeds. Annuals and biennials, like basil, borage, dill, fennel, parsley, summer and winter savory, etc. are best disseminated by yourself. Most of those can be propagated in April and May. The less hardy herbs should not be planted until all danger of frost subsides.

Another matter to attend to is the practicality and ease to get the flowers of the herbs, since many of them are both beneficial and delicious. So, plan the right lay out where you will put your containers. For this purpose, make sure that the most popular herbs like garlic, chives, lavender, sage, hyssop, chamomile, rocket, naturtiums and pinks are well placed.

The annual cycle

Looking after your growing herbs is very exciting and will keep you busy in your spare time all the year. To schedule the time for re-potting is best done in spring, especially when the roots are piercing through the bottom of the pot.

In summer, the plants should be kept dead-headed and remember that even if it rains, only a little water will enter the pot, hence it still needs watering every day.

In autumn the perennials need cutting back quite hard to avoid them getting too shrubby. In winter it will be wise to anticipate an extreme cold weather by providing protection to even the hardy pot plants. They should be covered with a horticultural fleecy sheet. This not only protects the plant, but also to prevent the pots from cracking which could be very costly. Placing them in your garage, while still covering them is a better option during extreme winters. Water them very occasionally, just to avoid them to dry out completely.

Mutual benefits planting

Some plants are useful to each other when put close to each other. One of the benefits is protection. For example, chives and other members of the onions help keep aphid away from roses. The same way if garlic is planted near rose bushes, it will prevent the roses from black spots. Growing summer savory alongside bean crops will help to reduce black-fly population, while rosemary is an effective repellent to chase away cabbage caterpillars and carrot flies.

Another benefit is the pollination of plants in your garden. Hyssop, sage, savory and thyme are herbs that attract bees and butterflies which then pollinate your other plants. They also invite hoverflies, whose larvae feed on aphids and other garden bugs.

Other 'herbal protectors' include dill, a repellent to spider mites, scented geraniums which clean up leafhoppers; pennyroyal which chase away aphids and southernwood which seems to be avoided by ants, aphids, cabbage moths and flea beetles. And finally mint is also a good repellent to almost every pest, from cabbage caterpillars to mice.

Using your herbs in recipes

It is important to remember that using fresh herbs from your garden in recipes is different from using dried herbs. Fresh herbs are much less strongly flavored than the dried ones. As a general rule, a teaspoon of any dried herbs is equally strong to a tablespoon of fresh chopped herbs.

Live healthy through good eating habits. It all starts with the knowledge on preparation of healthy food. Here is a simple, step-by-step system for shopping, cooking & eating the worlds healthiest foods (all natural, organic produce & grass fed meats) and gluten & soy free as well. All compiled in HEALTHY URBAN KITCHEN COOKBOOK or for further information you can visit www.HealthyEatingHabit.info

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