Posts Tagged: herb garden plants

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25
Jan 11

Herb Garden Kits – The Surprising Tip to Start Herb Garden Plants on Overdrive

Herb garden kits. Successful herb gardeners secret weapon? Who knew? In case you are not familiar with growing kits, here’s a basic description of what they are and how they work. A garden kit normally includes a plastic or peat tray, sometimes divided into sections, some potting soil, herbal seeds, and a clear plastic dome or cover.

Why herb growing kits work

Although garden kits are often marketed to the beginner, they are an example of how keeping a task simple and removing possible problems at the start of a project, is often the wisest way forward even for an expert herb gardener. Because the soil supplied in a herb garden kit is dry and packed in an airtight bag, the problem of introducing mold or fungus as you start herb garden planting, is decreased significantly.

Once your seeds are planted, a gentle misting is all that’s required. The simple clear plastic dome, which snaps over the seed tray, prevents evaporation. Once placed on a sunny windowsill or counter top, you will soon notice that the kit creates its own little environment within the clear cover. Really, it’s a tiny little climate within the world under the dome.

After your initial misting or moistening of the soil in the tray, water evaporates from the soil and rises to the top of the dome, where it condenses and forms water droplets. The droplets of water gently “rain” back down to the soil and seeds in the tray. This is exactly the way weather systems are created on Earth. (Water from lakes and oceans evaporates and rises to the top of our planet’s atmosphere, where it gathers to form clouds, and falls back to Earth as rain.) Because your herbs are now set to autopilot and in effect, are caring for themselves, growth is stimulated quickly and very effectively.

How herb garden kits give you a jump on spring for your outdoor herb garden

If you start your herbs in a kit in late winter or very early spring, because they grow so effectively with a minimum of stress to the seedlings, by the time the season for outdoor gardening arrives, your herbs in the garden kit, are literally busting out all over. To an observer walking by your yard in early spring, it seems as if you have magically summoned a thriving and somehow mature “instant garden.”

Although I won’t cover it here today, there are some very special tips for really ramping up your home herb garden using herb garden kits. These tips turn a good method, into a great method for getting a jump on spring herb garden plants.

Gardening — 1 Comment
10
Apr 10

Herb Garden Plants – Bay/Sweet Bay/Laurel

Ocymum barilicum (Labiatae)

Appearance:

Bright green smooth leaves, punctuated by lovely fluffy-faced beige-yellow flowers at midsummer, make the bay easy to identiify. lt is vital not to confuse it with cherry laurel – Prunus lauroceracus – which produces prussic acid.

Description:

Of Mediterranean origin, the bay is an evergreen tree, It is usually grown as a bush, and it hates the cold. For this reason alone it has come to be cultivated habitually in large containers – often on wheels to move into shelter. Its branches may be trimmed tc size and into formal shapes. It decorates porches, yards and balconies, and can be moved into shelter if necessary in the winter. In warmer districts it is a good plant to grow as the surrounding hedge to the herb garden. The height and shape of the hedge, or of individual bushes, can be controlled by clipping and pruning. Be careful when planting in the open. The bay can become a large tree and should be planted well away from the house.

Usage:

In the kitchen a crushed leaf of bay may be added to prepared meats, stuffings, casseroles and chowders. It is one of the essential ingredients of bouquet garni, with the companionship of parsley and thyme. Bay is one of the very few herbs which is not used fresh as the flavour can be far too pungent. However, many people use fresh bay in curries as they are already strongly flavoured.

History:

Bay, or sweet bay (the latter name being preferred in America) is a highly esteemed inhabitant of the herb garden. In classical times heroes and poets were adorned with garlands of bay leaves. The Latin name of the plant is honoured to this day in the title Poet Laureate. Also laurel wreath honouring heroes.

Cultivation:

Cuttings taken with a heel in early summer (when the new spring growth has hardened a little) and trimmed to about 10-15 cms (4-6 ins) long are the most reliable method of propagation. lnsert them in pans or pots, potting up individually when the roots are established, and keep them this way for a year or so before planting out. You may also want to try layering of established plants in summer as an alternative method of propagation. Once plants are established spraying with a fine spray keeps the leaves shiny, clean and attractive.

Harvesting:

Several sprigs cut just before the flowers bloom, tied together and hung in a warm, dust-free place will provide the cook with convenient leaves of bay for culinary flavouring.

Pete Steel has grown herbs for 25 years in several different climates and soils. The result is a book on herb growing called “Kung Fu Herb Gardening Exposed”. It covers all aspects of herb gardening and herb usage.

Other than that animals are life essentials and fishing is wonderful. The sea is the only environment that counts next to a garden plot.

See more about herbs at http://herbgardenblog.com