Tricks to Sowing Seeds in Your Home Herb Garden
Tricks to Sowing Seeds in Your Home Herb Garden
Sowing herb seed outdoors sounds pretty straight forward, and it is. But there are a few tricks to sowing seeds in your home herb garden that will allow you to get the most out of what you sow, and minimize the work.
Most annuals and biennials are started from seed outdoors. And the seed can be purchased from your local nursery, or supermarket. Also, you shouldn’t worry about the quality of the seeds you’re buying. Commercially-packaged seeds are reliable in that what’s on the label is what’s in the package.
Most herbs like dry sites, lots of sun, and a hot climate. In hot conditions the concentration of essential oils are greater, and the flavor is usually stronger. If your garden site tends to be moist with rich soil, the herbs will grow faster and have a milder flavor. They will also look healthier and flower less than their hot site counterparts, and will be easier to harvest. Loamy soil with some added organic matter is an ideal seed bed. Since those conditions are also ideal for vegetables, you can plant herbs in your vegetable garden where they will thrive as well as act as companion plants.
Dealing with small seeds can be difficult, but you can distribute them uniformly if you mix them with fine sand. You can also make furrows with your fingertip or a stick and carefully place the seeds in these. Soak slow germinating seeds in warm water for several hours or overnight, and if you don’t know whether your seeds are slow germinating or not, look at the seed packet for instructions.
Once the seed is sown, take a little loose soil and cover lightly. Cover about 1/16 of an inch for smaller seeds, and ¼ of an inch for larger seeds. Moisten the soil lightly to keep the seeds in place and put wooden stakes about 12 inches high along the rows, or around the edges of the beds. Use these stakes to suspend sheets of plastic as a canopy to protect your little plants from hard rains, and cool nights. When your local weather forecast is sunny and fair, remove the plastic overnight to harden your herb plants. And when the seedlings are well established, remove the plastic permanently. However, if you live in cold country where the nights get cool, keep the plastic handy to keep in the warmth.
Remember that seeds, and later seedlings, should only be watered when the soil seems dry. To test your soil for dryness, simply stick your finger about a half-inch into the soil, and if it feels dry, give your plants a shot of water. And by a shot of water we mean dampen the soil, not drown it.
Try these tips and we guarantee you will be an expert at sowing seeds in your garden patch.
Our names are John Schepper and Maggie Guscott and we’ve been herb garden enthusiasts for many years. To learn more about herb garden plants as well as other great tips on how to create a beautiful herb garden, check out our free 10-part mini-eCourse Herb Garden 4 Beginners at http://www.herbgarden4beginners.com
My background is math textbook writing, public relatons, advertising, teaching, and a creator of eBooks on subjects I have an interest in.
For fun I hike, bike, ski, and have extensive experience as a blue water sailor.
Creating a Home Herb Garden
Creating a Home Herb Garden
Growing herbs as been a popular activity throughout history dating back to the Bible. Producing herbs in ones home herb garden has always been a time tested method of assuring a constant supply on these fine flavorful plants.
This took a backdrop with the enduring popularity of convenient food stores and mass manufacturing of these ”products”, however, actually there is a strong resurgence of interest in the joy of creating and maintaining a personal home herb garden. The pleasure and excitement of growing herbs has been rediscovered and is even practiced in small apartments in urban areas.
Returning to this wonderful and practical hobby can be for many different reasons. The home herb garden can be cultivated for economical reasons, freshness and availability of the product, the scents and flavors associated with having herbs growing in your environment. There are many other reasons that can be attributed to this pastime if not simply for the sheer pleasure of seeing these beautiful plants come to life in your environment.
If you are among the newly initiated, you may have to do a little homework to start you off in the right direction. There is a large selection of different herbs to choose from when starting a herb garden project.
There are basically 73 different herbs recognized and are divided into 4 main categories classified for their individual usage. However, certain herb can be used for more than one purpose so can be classified in more than one category.
The list of herbs is quite extensive and can be classified in 4 main categories : aromatic, medicinal, ornamental and culinary. The gardener can choose which herbs he will be growing by defining the usage he plans to use them for once harvested. This is a brief review of the 4 main categories.
Culinary Usage
The many usage of herbs to enhance the taste of food has been mentioned repeatably through history. So many recipes have been created and savored by the perfect amount of a well balanced mix of herbs.
Most often a small garden can provide for a family very well so the amount of space needed depending on the variety you may wish to grow. Since herbs are used in small quantity, 1 or 2 plants can will be sufficient for a normal household. Among the most popular herbs grown are thyme, basil, sage, chives, oregano, mint, rosemary and savory.
Aromatic Usage
Aromatic herbs are in a class of their own. They offer great pleasure to the senses if not by their beauty then by the wonderful scent of the foliage and flowers.
If you choose to grow herbs with that intention, aromatic herbs can be a very interesting garden project. The enchanting fragrances come from their oils produced while growing and are used to produces various perfumes, toilet water and other lotions.
Once harvested and dried, you can enjoy the smell of the plants for many months. They can be used to freshen the air in rooms or spaces and even used to give a pleasant smell to clothes and linen.
Aromatic herbs that are popular ; basil, marjoram, mint and rosemary.
Medicinal Usage
Before modern medicine, medicinal herbs has long been used to treat injuries and many levels of sickness. Many herbs are known and used even nowadays for their healing qualities. They play an important role in many products we by in a pharmacy, prescriptions and is used extensively with alternative natural medicine.
If you plan to grow herbs for medicinal usage, please research these herbs and capacities, They can be excellent when used in the right conditions but can be unpredictable if used randomly.
Medicinal herbs commonly used ; Ginseng, Ephedra, Catnip, Dandelion and St. John’s Wort.
Ornamental Usage
Thought not always the first group of plants to be proposed when discussing landscaping, an wisely designed arrangement of ornamental herbs can be quite breathtaking by their brightly colored flowers and foliage.
They can be combined with other plants or even other herbs to create an overall exotic layout. Among the ornamental herbs that are often used for this purpose are valerian that produces rich red blossoms, lavender and chive.
Having a basic idea of the 4 classifications of herbs is a good starting point to help decide which herbs we will be growing and how they will be used. The space available is equally a deciding factor to determine the variety of herbs that you wish to grow at a given time. Of course, you may choose to beginning your journey with a smaller garden and expand later on. Once you begin growing and using herbs for any of the ways we have classified above, it will surely a part of your daily life for a long time to come.
Eustache Davenport is a gardening enthusiast and author. He lives in Montreal and enjoy teaching his gardening secrets to work groups on how to setup, optimize and maintain an amazing herb garden. For more great tips and information on creating your own home herb garden, visit http://www.herbgardeningonlineguide.com.
Home Herb Garden – 6 Herbs To Grow
Home Herb Garden – 6 Herbs To Grow
A home herb garden is ideal for any enthusiastic cook who values flavor in their food. Most of the herbs that we commonly use for cooking are easy to grow, and once you have experienced the pleasure of picking fresh pieces for the pot, you will never want to be without freshly grown herbs.
This does not mean that you need to have a large garden. In fact you do not need a garden at all – because a large variety of herbs can be successfully grown in containers. Even if you live in an apartment building on a high level, you can grow them on a reasonably sunny windowsill.
What you decide to grow in your kitchen garden will depend largely on what you use for cooking. But you can also add other herbs, just because they look and smell nice. Four great herbs to start out with are parsley, chives, chervil and tarragon. Chop up an equal number of each of these to make the traditional French blend, fines herbs. Sprinkle into salads or use in cooked egg, chicken and fish dishes. These subtle herbs do lose flavor when cooked, so it is best to add them when the food is almost cooked, or even just sprinkle over the top to create a delicious garnish.
Parsley is one of the most common herbal species that people grow at home, and it is easily grown from both seeds and seedlings. There are two main types, curly and flat-leafed, both of which are a particularly rich source of vitamins and minerals. You can use all parsley fresh, or you can dry the leaves and use them dry at a later stage.
Chives, which are part of the onion family, are also easy to grow, and you have a choice between ordinary onion chives and garlic chives. Chop up their stems as a garnish and use, when they flower, their pink, edible flowers in salads.
Chervil is a hardy annual herb that grows best in damp, shady spots in the garden. It looks a lot like parsley and is used in much the same way. Like parsley, you can use chervil leaves fresh or dried.
Tarragon has a much more subtle and sophisticated flavour than most other herbs, and it is an essential ingredient in French cuisine. Although there is a type of Russian tarragon, French tarragon is considered to be the true type. Apart from its use in cooking and for garnishing, tarragon is commonly used to flavour white wine vinegar.
Rosemary is another very easy-to-grow herbal species. If you know someone with an established bush, just break off a piece, pull the needle-like leaves off the lower part of the stem, and stick it in the ground. It is equally at home in a regular garden or in a container, and can also be used fresh or dry.
Bay trees are another favourite, and they too may be grown in the garden or in a pot. It is a good looking plant that you can keep trimmed if need be. To dry the leaves, hang a branch in a dry, dark, well ventilated place and then remove the dry leaves from the stem before storing in an airtight container. While most people use dry bay leaves, you can also use them fresh, preferably shredded before use.
Henry Thomas is an herb gardening enthusiast who has grown herbs for over 15 years and enjoys helping others get started in this amazing activity. For great information on home herb garden, visit http://herbgardening-ultimatesecrets.com/.
His newest book, “Herb Gardening – Ultimate Secrets”, teaches beginners herb gardeners everything they need to know about.
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Read MoreGetting Buggy in Your Garden Patch? – Checkout Natural Bug Repellents for the Home Herb Garden
Getting Buggy in Your Garden Patch? – Checkout Natural Bug Repellents for the Home Herb Garden
One of the major concerns for the herb gardener is how to protect plants from insects, plant diseases, and even animals such as deer from nibbling away at their prize herbs.
Companion plants are the natural bug repellants for the home herb garden. They not only aid other plants to grow better, but they deter insects, disease, and animals from eating anything in close proximity. In so doing, they protect your plants without you having to use expensive insecticides which enable you to stay organic. This is particularly important since much of what you grow you probably intend to eat.
There are many herbs and flowers that act as companion plants. While you can certainly experiment, start with plants that are native to your area that insects already recognize.
Some of the more popular companion plants used as natural bug repellents are:
Anise – attracts wasps that will devour aphids that attack nearby plants.
Basil – repels flies and mosquitoes.
Borage — repels tomato hornworms, Japanese beetles, squash bugs, and cabbageworms, but attracts bees and wasps.
Catnip – repels mice, ants, aphids, flea beetles, and weevils.
Chives – drives away Japanese beetles and carrot rust fly.
Chyrsanthemums – kills root nematodes, and when flowering, repels Japanese beetles.
Coriander – repels aphids, spider mites, and potato beetle.
Dill – repels aphids and spider mites.
Elderberry – when made into a spray from the leaves, will kill aphids, carrot root fly, cucumber beetles, and peach tree borers.
Garlic – repels aphids.
Geranium – repels cabbage worms and Japanese beetles.
Hyssop – deters garden pests from cabbage and grapes.
Lavender – repels fleas and moths.
Mint – deters white cabbage moths, ants, rodents, flea beetles, fleas, and aphids.
Mole Plant – repels moles and mice.
Nasturtium – chases away the squash bug and whitefly.
Peppermint – repels white cabbage moths, aphids, and flea beetles.
Petunias – repels the asparagus beetle, leafhoppers, tomato worms, and Mexican bean beetles.
Radishes – deters cucumber beetles and rust flies.
Rue – will repel aphids, flies, slugs, snails, flea beetles, and Japanese beetles.
Soybeans – repels chinch bugs and Japanese beetles.
Thyme – deters cabbage worms.
Some of the herbs listed here can be made into teas and powders that can be applied directly on herb plants or soaked into the soil. However, we suggest that you consult a garden guide on this approach as some herbs can be toxic in this form and could hurt pets and children.
And finally, companion plants are compatible with some herb and vegetable plants, but not friendly with others. Research companion plants first before you plant and you will have a healthy and bug-free garden every growing season.
________________________________________________________________
Our names are John Schepper and Maggie Guscott and we’ve been herb garden enthusiasts for many years. For more information on herb garden plants and more, please visit http://www.herbgarden4beginners.com and be sure to sign up for our free 10-lesson mini eCourse, Herb Garden 4 Beginners.
Our backgrounds are math textbook writing, public relatons, advertising, teaching, and creators of eBooks on subjects we have an interest in.
For fun we travel, hike, bike, ski, and have extensive experience as “blue water” sailors.
Find More Home And Garden Articles
Read MoreCreating a Fantastic Home Herb Garden
Creating a Fantastic Home Herb Garden
Growing herbs as been a popular activity throughout history dating back to the Bible. Producing herbs in ones home herb garden has always been a time tested method of assuring a constant supply on these fine flavorful plants.
This took a backdrop with the enduring popularity of convenient food stores and mass manufacturing of these ”products”, however, actually there is a strong resurgence of interest in the joy of creating and maintaining a personal home herb garden. The pleasure and excitement of growing herbs has been rediscovered and is even practiced in small apartments in urban areas.
Returning to this wonderful and practical hobby can be for many different reasons. The home herb garden can be cultivated for economical reasons, freshness and availability of the product, the scents and flavors associated with having herbs growing in your environment. There are many other reasons that can be attributed to this pastime if not simply for the sheer pleasure of seeing these beautiful plants come to life in your environment.
If you are among the newly initiated, you may have to do a little homework to start you off in the right direction. There is a large selection of different herbs to choose from when starting a herb garden project.
There are basically 73 different herbs recognized and are divided into 4 main categories classified for their individual usage. However, certain herb can be used for more than one purpose so can be classified in more than one category.
The list of herbs is quite extensive and can be classified in 4 main categories : aromatic, medicinal, ornamental and culinary. The gardener can choose which herbs he will be growing by defining the usage he plans to use them for once harvested. This is a brief review of the 4 main categories.
Culinary Usage
The many usage of herbs to enhance the taste of food has been mentioned repeatably through history. So many recipes have been created and savored by the perfect amount of a well balanced mix of herbs.
Most often a small garden can provide for a family very well so the amount of space needed depending on the variety you may wish to grow. Since herbs are used in small quantity, 1 or 2 plants can will be sufficient for a normal household. Among the most popular herbs grown are thyme, basil, sage, chives, oregano, mint, rosemary and savory.
Aromatic Usage
Aromatic herbs are in a class of their own. They offer great pleasure to the senses if not by their beauty then by the wonderful scent of the foliage and flowers.
If you choose to grow herbs with that intention, aromatic herbs can be a very interesting garden project. The enchanting fragrances come from their oils produced while growing and are used to produces various perfumes, toilet water and other lotions.
Once harvested and dried, you can enjoy the smell of the plants for many months. They can be used to freshen the air in rooms or spaces and even used to give a pleasant smell to clothes and linen.
Aromatic herbs that are popular ; basil, marjoram, mint and rosemary.
Medicinal Usage
Before modern medicine, medicinal herbs has long been used to treat injuries and many levels of sickness. Many herbs are known and used even nowadays for their healing qualities. They play an important role in many products we by in a pharmacy, prescriptions and is used extensively with alternative natural medicine.
If you plan to grow herbs for medicinal usage, please research these herbs and capacities, They can be excellent when used in the right conditions but can be unpredictable if used randomly.
Medicinal herbs commonly used ; Ginseng, Ephedra, Catnip, Dandelion and St. John’s Wort.
Ornamental Usage
Thought not always the first group of plants to be proposed when discussing landscaping, an wisely designed arrangement of ornamental herbs can be quite breathtaking by their brightly colored flowers and foliage.
They can be combined with other plants or even other herbs to create an overall exotic layout. Among the ornamental herbs that are often used for this purpose are valerian that produces rich red blossoms, lavender and chive.
Having a basic idea of the 4 classifications of herbs is a good starting point to help decide which herbs we will be growing and how they will be used. The space available is equally a deciding factor to determine the variety of herbs that you wish to grow at a given time. Of course, you may choose to beginning your journey with a smaller garden and expand later on. Once you begin growing and using herbs for any of the ways we have classified above, it will surely a part of your daily life for a long time to come.
Eustache Davenport is a gardening enthusiast and author of “Easy Guide to Successful Herb Gardening”. He lives in Montreal and enjoy sharing his gardening secrets to work groups on how to setup, optimize and maintain an amazing herb garden. For more great tips and information on creating your own home herb garden, visit http://www.herbgardeningonlineguide.com
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