Fresh Herb Gardening

By Dewitt Guillen


Are you wondering on what things to do during your free time? Herb gardening is one of the best things to do amongst choices. You can simply grow your own herbs at home and at the same time be productive on your own free time. There are many varieties of herbs to choose from that can be used for culinary dishes, home cooking or even for medicinal purposes. Herbs are at their very best when they are harvested freshly. Their efficacy is very good and gives you very productive and best results. Making an herb garden is very simple start with and helps a great way to overcome dullness of your spare time.
There are many types of herbs to choose from such as oregano, parsley and thymes. It gives out a wonderful aroma and scent that is very pleasing to your home or office environment, creating a refreshing and cool atmosphere in the area.
In harvesting fresh herbs, it simply requires enough sunlight and adequate water, but there are some herbs that require minimal exertion. Healthy soil and proper drainage is also needed as it is one way not to strain out the taste of the herb that you have planted. Fertilizers are optional as long as the soil used is suited enough to produce herbs that are of good quality. Identifying a nice spot to plant and put up your herb garden also matters on the production of your planted herbs. It is advisable to plant herbs on dry soil. Excessive water causes the soil to be much damped that it reduces the flavor of the herb that you are growing.
These herbs are very essential to everyone and is used as a great part of everyday life, may it be in cooking, decorative or medicinal purposes. Oregano and parsley are some kinds of herbs that best suited to be grown indoors. These are perfect for culinary purposes as it adds and brings out the flavor of the dish being prepared. Herbs can be dried as it can be used for garnishing and may also be an additive to the dish being served. It is a very good method used to preserve the herb if you had ample production and need to keep these for future purposes.
In using herbs as medicine, they do it as sprayed dried, a process that involves particle distribution as to have precise quality standards, thus resulting to have great effects and uses to those who use herbal medicine. These developed medicines derived from herbs are very popular to tropical countries since most herbs grow on these kinds of climate.
Lavenders is also a type of herb that crafts your garden with a fantastic color, bringing out the beauty of your herb garden, plus the scent that it gives is very pleasant. A healthy soil also acts a vital function in herb gardening for it is the base of the herbal plant that you are growing. Fresh herbs are fitted in all aspects where you can use it in home cooking, decorations or for ornamental and medicinal purposes. Cultivating your own herbs and producing them freshly gives satisfaction to one's fulfillment and get to enjoy what you have worked hard for, thus, giving a great satisfaction level on you esteem and your confidence for your produce is very grand.
Dewitt is an herb expert. For more great informations on fresh herb garden, visit http://www.herbgardeninformation.net/
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Easy Gardening - Parsley Varieties

By D. Perse

Parsley is one of the most well known herbs and also one of the easiest to use. It tastes fresh and its flavor goes with almost any food except deserts. You can sprinkle it on your eggs or add it to almost any other dish on your menu. You can use it fresh or dry, year-round. It also beautifully embellishes your dinner plate sprinkled chopped on top of the food or as side decoration.

We know and grow three parsley varieties:

• Curly parsley or curly leaf parsley
• Italian parsley or flat leaf parsley
• Hamburg parsley

Curly parsley is bright green, its leaves more or less tightly curled and coarser than the leaves of Italian parsley. It is restaurant chefs’ favorite for garnishing. Curly leaf parsley’s growth is compact, usually not very vigorous, the stems are quite short and it therefore makes and excellent edging in flower beds. Its color is a perfect match to hot pink, bright orange, red and yellow blooms.

Italian parsley grows usually taller, more vigorous and has more taste than the curly kind. Flat leaf parsley is glossy green, its leaves softer (and easier to chew on while eaten fresh), on longer stems. It shouldn’t miss in anyone’s garden. Flat-leaved parsley fits in your flower bed as well and works great for filling blank spots in your perennial border.

Hamburg parsley is more often used and grown in Europe. On top of flat, great tasting leaves, its parsnip-like root is also edible. The root can be used fresh (sliced or grated in your salad) or cooked in any soup or stew. Hamburg parsley’s root has a distinctive, peppery taste. Which parsley variety to choose is completely up to you and what you want to use this great herb for. All three are rich in vitamins A and C. They all grow in sun to partial shade, in well drained soil. While you can easily find flat and curly leaf seedlings in any nursery, it’s very unlikely to find the Hamburg parsley so you’ll have to grow this gem from seeds.

See parsley photos at: http://dariasworld.info/photo_parsley.htm

Copyright © 2007 D. Perse. All rights reserved.

D. Perse is a student of Herbology at Clayton College of Natural Health, passionate about growing herbs and collecting interesting facts about them, including history and legends, medicinal uses, recipes, growing tips and more. Website http://www.dariasworld.info is devoted to herbs and offers tons of free information for the purpose of educating and empowering, never to diagnose, prescribe or treat. Because one's health is in one's own hands.

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Getting Your Garden From The Source

By Clinton N. Maxwell

Many people don't know where to begin when they are talking about planting a garden. They have good intentions and they have a great deal of interest in planting a garden they just don't know where to start. Once you have figured out what to do and how to begin your garden planting then you should be fine; however sometimes people need a little bit of guidance to get them off on the right foot. If you are one of these people and you need some help in getting yourself going on your garden situation that you can often go down to the hardware store or the plant store and buy plants which are ready to be put into the fertile soil. While this may seem like some to be a bit of a copout it is a way that many people are able to appreciate the garden situation and are able to begin their garden without too much money being spent.

Buying Your Seeds Direct

If you don't want to introduce live plants into your soil because you don't know how good your soil is that one of the things you can do is buy your seeds direct. Seeds are sold through catalog offers or through the use of the Internet and they allow for people to be able to begin their garden without even leaving their home. If you feel like you have good soil to be able to support a plant then you should certainly see about getting some seeds for your garden.

However many people don't even know where to begin with their soil. For this you need to be able to buy some good topsoil and till the soil so that it will be able to support your plants and generate routes down deep enough that the plans will be able to live. For some instructions on this you can go to numerous online resources or you can even buy a book. There are plenty of books about gardening which are available and which will tell you what type of soil you need for what planet is he want to grow. The latest information is probably the best so if you can get a newer book or if you can get a newer edition of the classic book or if you can just go on the Internet you would be able to find all the information you need.

Low Cost Is the Way To Go

If you are concerned about money then you should probably not be investing thousands of dollars in your garden; there are many interesting and fun ways to keep the costs low and still enjoy your yard. If you want to find out more ways about how to keep the costs down on your gardening you should definitely head over to one of the gardening super centers. There are people at any of these great home improvement stores who'll be able to talk to you at great length and in great detail about what type of money you would need to spend for what type of plant is to look at the grow; then you can go home and order them on the Internet or through a catalog.

Clinton Maxwell's summaries are published on lots of web pages associated with chain saw sharpeners. You might discover his work on Oregon chain saw sharpener at other sources for Oregon chain saw sharpener information.

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How to Plant a New Garden

By Douglas Hill

When gardening, before anything is planted, it is highly recommended that the soil is prepared properly. To learn more about this go to my article Soil Prep For Your New Garden for more info on this area.

There are two ways you can plant your garden, from transplants or seeds.

There are a few decisions you will need to make before buying your seeds. First you should take a good look at your garden and be realistic with the amount you can plant. It is better to have more plants and little variety than lots of variety and not enough room to grow a substantial amount of anything. For new gardeners, choosing your seeds will be a little difficult as well. You want to strike a balance between their ability to tolerate disease, the amount of time you have daily to put into your garden, and the time of the season they will mature.

There are numerous places to buy seeds. You can go to a nursery, gardening centers, online, or from mail order catalogue. I would recommend you buy new seeds every year to avoid poor germination the next season. You also do not want to save seeds from your harvest to plant next year. I know that it sounds like a nice sustainable way to produce a good harvest year after year but the problem lies with the fact that we plant more than one vegetable in our garden at a time. The plants that would grow from seeds from last year's harvest will be hybrids of the plants they are supposed to be, due to cross pollination with other plants in your garden. Another thing to remember is that seeds can transmit disease from one year to the next so save yourself a lot of work and aggravation and just buy new seeds every year. One last thing to remember about handling your seeds is that they are chemically sprayed to kill off any disease that may be on or in the seed. This practice also helps prevent the seeds from rotting before you can get them in the ground. So always remember to wash your hands when you are done.

Now it is time to plant your new seeds. There are two methods you can employ; you can sow your seeds by scattering them or planting them in furrows. I would recommend you take the time to plant them properly in furrows so you can regulate the amount of seeds you plant in every square foot of your garden. When planting, try to shoot for a depth of not more than three times the seeds thickness. If you plant too deep the seed may germinate and be too deep to make it to the surface and if too shallow it may be washed away by rain or watering or it may be blown away by the wind. After you add a little bit of mulch on top of your seed row to help you conserve moisture all you have to do is watch and wait.

If you decide to go with the transplant route there are a few more points I want to make to ensue your transplants take. First you need to "harden" your plants. It doesn't matter if you choose to buy them or grow them yourself you must acclimatise your new plants to the outdoors. I recommend you keep your plants in a shady, dry, and windproof location outdoors for 8-10 days before planting. Over the course of this time you should gradually increase their exposure to the sunlight so they can get used to the warmth of the sun. Also to note, during the hardening period you should allow your plants to dry out a little between watering. The hardening period will help your young plants get used to the harsher conditions when growing outdoors than inside a garden center or your home. The day before planting give them a good watering to help them

Them main goal of transplanting is to not disturb the roots too much. It is nice when you can buy your transplants if biodegradable peat pots because you can just plant them into the soil, pot and all. The only recommendation is for you to make sure you completely bury the pot because it can wick out the water from around the plant. If in a non biodegradable pot then you should carefully take the plant out of the pot and gently tease the roots free from the big ball that they have probably become. Plant immediately and only do one plant at a time. Do not take them all out of their pots and then try to plant them.

Once you plant your new plants they may need protection from direct sunlight or frost (depending on the season you plant in). If you are concerned about the sun then lay a wood board down, leaned up so it creates a sun shade. If the possibility of frost is the problem then drape plastic over you plants to avoid getting frost on them. If you use plastic make sure to put small holes in it to allow the plant to breath during the day. You could burn your plants instead of save them.

Hi my name is Doug and I live in the Okanagan Valley in British Colombia BC. I have spent most of my life working my way through various different career paths that has helped me develop a diverse knowledge base to which I write on. For more on gardening and more for your home and health needs go to http://homeandhealthmishmash.blogspot.com/

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What Is Vertical Gardening?

By Janet Combs

ve you ever dreamed of harvesting your own fruit and vegetables, fresh from the garden? Have you ever baulked at rising produce prices, and spent an arm and a leg on fresh produce only to take it home and find it bland? Have you ever wished you had a spacious backyard to grow your own corn and strawberries, but gave up your dreams because you work in the city and live in an apartment?

What if I told you that you can harvest as much fresh fruit and vegetables as you'd like from your very own garden with only the space on your balcony or windowsills.

You might think it is a crazy idea right?

With today's vertical gardening techniques, you can grow your own produce as long as you have somewhere sunny, be it a balcony, porch, or alleyway along a fence. With vertical gardening, you train your veggies to grow up, not out.

So what exactly is vertical gardening and why can it give you season after season of satisfaction and impressive crops of fruits and vegetables?

Vertical gardening relies on the fact that plants will grow where ever there is light, nutrients, and support. This means that even if your cucumber vine is growing from a pot straight up a wall, it will still produce!

Long ago, it was commonly thought that only with expansive amounts of land can one grow produce. The problem was that before the advent of pots, irrigation, and soil conditioners, each plant relied strictly on what was in the soil beneath it to survive.

This meant that a given plant would consume a large amount of soil in order to produce a given amount of fruit.

Today, we can engineer optimum conditions for a given plant in a milk jug, and watch it produce many pounds of vegetables. This is possible through the application of science and careful planning of your garden well before planting the first seed.

Do not be discouraged, although the process may seem labor intensive and difficult, it truly isn't. After only a few weeks you will understand most of the theory and after a single season you will become a seasoned professional at growing your own produce indoors or in small spaces. Imagine covering an entire wall with bean vines, cucumbers, and tomatoes.

Imagine the satisfaction you will get when you bite into your very own produce, which will taste many fold better than that which is available at the store. This and much more is possible with vertical gardening!

So, if you have decided that vertical gardening may be something you would like more information about, scour the Internet for more info. You will be surprised at the resources available, and I am sure if you set your mind to it you could be harvesting your own fruit and veggies this year. Vertical gardening may be bringing fresh produce to a balcony near you soon.

Get your free copy of Container Gardening Secrets.
In our special free report we share the best kinds of containers to use, the ultimate potting mixes for huge harvests, how to make your own self-watering container, which pots never to buy, and much more!
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Flower Garden Layouts Benefit Any Landscape

By Katie Appleby

Flower garden layouts are as diverse as the plant varieties within them. And for the gardener looking for an original touch this is great news. When it comes to garden layouts a little preparation is all that is needed to create a beautiful and bountiful garden space worthy of any garden show.

The best time to get a jump start on any flower garden layout is well before the last frost has broken. During the bleak months of January and February sunny prospects come in the form of mail order seed catalogs. This is the time to access your garden needs. Garden catalogs offer exceptional plants as well as information and tips to help gardeners have a successful season. And as the color deprived minds flips through a catalog in February while the ground is most likely frozen ideas often soar.

One of the first issues that any gardener must decide is where the garden will be located. The soil and lighting conditions will have a tremendous amount of influence over what type of layout and plants can be used. Shady conditions will accommodate different plants than sunny ones so gardeners must know their area before investing in plants. Another major consideration is space. Obviously larger spaces can accommodate larger garden layouts. However an extremely large space may look better with several small shaped gardens as opposed to one large grouping of plants. Small spaces, although a challenge, are not necessarily at a loss for grandeur. Incorporating texture, color and even potted plants can mean putting many different plants in a small space while creating a manageable and beautiful addition to any landscape.

Once these considerations have been calculated gardeners are free to begin deciding on colors, textures and pleasing plant combinations. Perennial plants, plants that will generally survive growing season to growing season, are a great way to invest in a flower garden for years to come. But for color and bloom all season long incorporate annuals or flowers that will last only one season.

For the look and feel of a traditional English Garden look for a combination of perennials and annuals that will tolerate moderate sun. Tall perennials can be planted in threes behind a colorful array of annuals for a flower garden layout that is guaranteed to please.

Flower garden layouts can be functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. Borders and background gardening can add major curb appeal to almost any property. Buildings, fences and hedges make great backgrounds for most flower garden designs. They add depth to the garden and the garden in turn adds depth to the structure. Creeping plants such as Morning Glories or Clematis are an asset to fences and they create a wonderful backdrop for other flowers such as a tall Zinnia or a random grouping other colorful annuals. Walkways look great with a trim boarder of low growing flowers such as Begonias, Pansies or Marigolds. But remember to allow room for each plant to grow or the walkway will become a path of overgrown flowers.

Katie Appleby is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about flower garden layouts benefit any landscape please visit Free Gardening Guide for current articles and discussions.

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Sharpening Gardening Tools

By James R Shaw

Sharpening serrated or straight blade kitchen knives is relatively easy. Gardening or woodworking tools, on the other hand, can look a bit more challenging to sharpen, especially if you are not an experienced knife sharpener. Still, with a bit of experience and the right sharpener, it is possible to sharpen your own tools, including axes, shears, pruners, and chain saw blades.

When these blades start working poorly, you know it's time to sharpen them. Instead of taking them to a professional knife sharpener, considering using a sharpener at home. You'll be able to quickly sharpen those blades and get on with your work, instead of having to take them in another day.

You can sharpen most of these with a simple sharpening file. This metal file has ridges on both sides to remove some of the metal on your blades. Sharpening stones can be used not only on knives but also on these larger tools. There are even specific files for sharpening axes, chainsaw blade teeth, and other tools. Chainsaw blades do require a specific round shape and the size of the file depends on the size of the teeth, so make sure you are using the right one for your chain saw.

Coarser files remove more metal, making them ideal for blades that have been nicked or otherwise damaged by use. Smooth files can make a smooth finish and razor-sharp edge; depending on the tool you are sharpening, you may not need a very smooth file.

To use a file to sharpen your axe, chainsaw blade, or other tool, simply use it as you would for a kitchen knife. Draw the blade across the file, removing metal. Because of the size of the blade, it may be easier to hold the blade in place with a clamp or vise, and then draw the file across the blade. Unlike with kitchen knives, the most important step when dealing with gardening or woodworking tools is that you remove enough of the edge to expose a new surface. At the same time, do not remove too much metal, making the blade too thin, or it will bend or break if you try to use it against a hard surface, like wood.

When sharpening garden tools, especially grass clippers, pruning shears, or similar tools, make sure that you keep the original angle on the blades. Each is designed to have a very specific bevel. Always try to keep this angle when sharpening the blades. Use long strokes, covering as much of the length of the blade as you can on each stroke.

This method does require some practice, but outdoor tools, due to their thickness, are often the best blades to practice your knife sharpening skills on. Other methods for sharpening tools include stones, sharpening wheels, and bench grinders. An electric sharpening wheel or grinder will be the fastest method of removing metal from the edge of the blade, but you don't need expensive or professional sharpening equipment to keep the edges of your tools sharp. You just need to know how to use the equipment you do choose.

Sharpen 'Em Has a huge selection of sharpeners for your gardening tools check out our Bench Stones.

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