The Joy Of Planting In Your Own Italian Herb Garden
There is just nothing like the taste of home grown tomatoes from your very own Italian herb garden. You can shop all year long, and whether tomatoes are in season or out of season, they will just never be as tasty and nutritious as the ones you grow yourself. How many times have you shopped for tomatoes in the grocery store, and they are pink, or they are grown in a hot house. There is just something that is not right about them. They were obviously grown either somewhere that they should not have been grown, or in an artificial way just to produce for the supermarket.
If you do a lot of cooking, you will want to plant the herbs that you use the most. Along with your vegetables of choice, your herbs should be planted in the garden at the appropriate distance from each other, and it helps to label them, as well. Since they are going to be eaten, be sure not to add pesticides. Use an all-organic fertilizer. If you are not sure if your fertilizer is organic, you can use the soil from your backyard mixed with rabbit manure or chicken manure for best results. You can also add your own mix of various organic amendments.
For Italian cooking, you may want as many parsley, basil, oregano, and thyme plants as you can fit in one area. For Mexican cooking, some cilantro would be great. Try to keep the cilantro far apart from the parsley, as they look very much the same. There should also be a row of peppers, hot and sweet.
Dill is great in potato salads and deviled eggs. It looks like a very delicate plant, but do not let it fool you. In some cooler places it grows like a weed, and it does not even need direct sunlight. If you like having lamb for dinner, you will want to grow some woody rosemary plants. And sage is wonderful for soups and stews.
If you are fortunate enough to live in a climate that brings a long spring and summer to your backyard, you may grow enough herbs and vegetables to give to neighbors and friends, or even sell to local markets. You might also consider giving some of your herbs and produce to needy food pantries.
If your summers are short, you’ll wish to grow as a lot as you are able to, and there are lots of points you are able to do to use your home grown create for that rest of the 12 months. Numerous of them could be frozen for later use. The peppers could be cut up into pieces, placed in baggies, and they’ll last all 12 months within the freezer for whenever you require them. Hot peppers could be dried and hung in decorative bunches. They could be added to vinegars, placed in decorative bottles and given as gifts.
Some herbs, like basil, are better frozen along with a sprinkling of olive oil. It keeps them just a bit moist and separates them better when they are ready for use. Sage can be dried on the stalk and used just that way. You can place it is a small vase and use it as you need it.
You are able to feed your loved ones wholesome, all organic foods that you simply have planted your self all 12 months lengthy. The cash you’ll save from not getting to depend on the supermarkets is going to be nicely worth getting your personal herb garden.
Filed under Gardening by .