Gardening

Spring begins for me when I start planning, preparing, and planting my garden. I live in a duplex and only have space for a narrow raised bed and a few containers, so I have to be deliberate in my plant selection. I'm also not known for my gardening skills; my family looks with pity upon most of the plants I bring home, knowing they probably won't last long. That said, I have found several herbs that even I can keep alive. And the benefits of growing an herb gardenmake these aromatic plants well worth growing: they don't need much room to thrive, you can easily use them in your cooking, and herbs taste so much better when they are fresh-picked. But you may not have considered that an herb garden can also save you money. Read more at Yahoo.

As people have spent an extended period of time at home this past year during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, home cooking has become increasingly popular. At the same time, people are trying to limit trips to the grocery store, so it's difficult to stock up on fresh herbs. It can also get expensive very quickly. Using fresh herbs is great, because they add amazing flavor to different foods, and can help bring a dish full-circle. They also make eating at home a little more special. They can kick your meals up a notch both in taste and presentation. Plus, when you're cooking, it's fun to head over to your adorable kitchen herb garden to cut off just what you need. So grow your own herbs right on your kitchen windowsill, and add a bit of sunshine to each plate ... and hopefully your day ...

There’s nothing better than cutting some fresh cilantro or rosemary from your own garden to enhance your cooking. If you've been thinking of how to create a herb garden in your outdoor space too, we've got a brilliant hack to help get you started. A gardening expert recently shared a tip to help your herbs plant strong roots so they can flourish. The hack costs nothing, as it makes use of the cardboard core of toilet paper to encourage healthy roots. In the latest Grow, Cook, Eat, Arrange podcast episode, garden expert Sarah Raven recommends using the cardboard core of toilet paper to train the roots when planting a herb cutting. ‘I use root trainers or cardboard loo rolls for shrubby herb cuttings like rosemary, thyme and sage,’ she says. Continue at Gardening Etc.

The diversity of herbs is amazing. The Herb Garden in the Master Gardener complex located at 9020 Airport Road, shows many plants which are commonly known for their use in cooking plus many others that may be deemed useful as medicinal or ornamental herbs. Another fun and fascinating use for herbs, however, is as natural dyes for fabric, paper and beverages. To that end, the Herb group (lovingly known as the Herbies) are in the process of developing a Dye Garden which will contain plants that may be used in dyeing. The art of dyeing using natural plant material has been around since ancient times. Today, folks are trying to use fewer synthetic products and are opting for a natural method. The method of dyeing is a lot of fun, but it does require several steps. Read more at Houston Chroni...

If you're curious about growing your own food, investing in a smart herb garden is a great first step. It's not only more sustainable than buying herbs from the grocery store (let's be real, those don't tend to last long), but it's also an eco-friendly solution to food and water waste. All these perks aside, herb gardens double as modern and elevated decor! So go ahead: embrace the trend and channel your inner gardener at the same time with these smart planters. LED Self-Watering Multi-Herb Garden This LED Self-Watering Multi-Herb Garden ($200) makes it super easy to grow the delicious herbs you love, with minimal effort required. More at PopSugar.

Banish from your mind the romantic idea of an “everything under the sun” pretty aromatic jungle that may be the herb garden of your memories or fantasies: most of us have neither the space for such a thing nor the time to maintain it. Here, I aim to provide those who have not successfully grown herbs before with some basics about how to succeed with the most familiar culinary herbs, together with suggestions as to ways to slot some of them into a small garden, even to grow a few cut-and-come-again-everyday herbs together in a convenient place outside the back door, in a courtyard or on a balcony. Unsurprisingly, it is not a question of “one size fits all”, so you need to know something about each herb’s basic needs and growth habits... Continue at the Telegraph.

Seasoned gardeners know that a diverse mix of plants makes for a healthy and beautiful garden. Many believe that certain plant combinations have extraordinary (even mysterious) powers to help each other grow. Scientific study of the process, called companion planting, has confirmed that some combinations have real benefits unique to those pairings. Companions help each other grow and use garden space efficiently. Tall plants, for example, provide shade for sun-sensitive shorter plants. Vines can cover the ground while tall stalks grow skywards, allowing two plants to occupy the same patch. Some couplings also prevent pest problems. Plants can repel harmful organisms or lure the bad bugs away from more delicate species. These combinations of plants do way better, together: Roses and G...

The International Herb Association established National Herb Week in 1991, and every year since 1995 they have chosen an Herb of the Year. The Herb of the Year must fulfill its mandate by being useful in at least two out of three categories: medicinal, culinary or decorative. This year that herb is parsley, Petroselinum crispum, and it qualifies on all counts. Parsley was cultivated as early as the third century BC. The Greeks tied it to their horses before battles to make them impervious to weapons. The Romans used it as a garnish and flavoring and decorated their tables and floors with it to absorb unpleasant odors. Medieval Europeans believed that if you spoke your enemy’s name while plucking a sprig of parsley, your enemy would drop dead. Parsley came to the U.S. with the early sett...

Did Santa stock your shed this Christmas? Perhaps a new shovel or shiny hand pruners? There are so many tools we can use to avoid using pesticides, but sometimes you have a decision to make. Like, do I get to eat the broccoli or are the cabbage loopers going to eat it all? I would say one of the most important tools in the shed, if not the most important, is knowledge. Especially when it comes to pesticides. The Trident Technical College horticulture program will be teaching an online pesticides class this spring. At the end of the semester, students are prepared to take the Commercial Applicator license exam. They are required to have a license to legally apply pesticides to a property that is not their own. Keep reading at Post & Courier.

I recently moved to a new garden; thankfully, it came with a house attached. The garden is small and wildly inclined, so, rather than dive into the challenge, I did what you are always told to do with a garden: leave it be for a year to see what it does, what hidden gems (or otherwise) might lie temporarily unseen, waiting to spring forth. Accordingly, I left the beds alone. Instead, I filled pots with compost and trowels of grit and planted herbs. I may not have grown any vegetables or fruit, but that rectangle near the back door made my summer and changed so many meals for the better. It refreshed my belief that there is nothing better you can grow than herbs: they dress up the staples in delicious clothes, look beautiful, draw beneficial insects into your garden and for a large part —...