Posted on 04/13/2024 2:01:01 PM PDT by orsonwb
Grow Culinary Herbs right at home. Includes tips on Soil Preparation, Planting, Fertilizing, Watering, Weed Control, Insects, Diseases, Harvesting and Storing.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtu.be ...
Herbs are most definitely the best bang for effort and buck.
I simply can’t keep japanese beetles off the basil. If left unattended for a weekend in the summer, I will find an entire basil plant stripped bare by those little bastards....
Japanese beetles are quite the pest. I might try some light row cover fabric of my basil this year to keep them off.
Our friend a neighbor built an incredible greenhouse in which she grows all sorts of vegetables and herbs year-round. Somehow aphids found their way in and their population can explode overnight. She uses beneficial wasps to control the aphid population. She was showing us photos of the aphid husk left behind after the wasp eggs hatch in the aphid and find their way out. It was pretty incredible.
She can’t eliminate them, but keeps the population under check. Fortunately, we don’t have Japanese Beetles here in North Idaho. I remember my mom always battling them in her rose gardens in upstate NY and west of Philadelphia. Horrible pest.
For what herbs cost to buy, they are worth growing.
I grow garlic every years.
I have an oregano patch that is taking over the raised bed it’s in. That and sage are perennials.
Thyme is a little tougher to grow, but can do well. I had great luck with it in NY and have not done well with it here in NH.
Most of the common herbs do well in a garden even in the northern states.
Green lacewings control aphids, too.
She uses those, too. Plus ladybugs.
mark
I liked Peaches the best
Does anyone know how long powdered garlic and onion and pepper stays good in storage for seasoning?
I planted a small plant of oregano from a garden show last year. It easily quadrupled itself before winter came, and now that it’s spring, it’s raring to go again. I am going to have to divide it for sure. Is it invasive? One of my friends suggested that it was, so no one wanted any when I offered it.
I also bought 4 French tarragon plants, which are hard to find. Usually it’s Mexican (good enough) or Russian (don’t bother) tarragon. I left them outside instead of putting them in a pot and bringing indoors for the winter. Though the plants died back, all four have sprung forth, and three are looking really nice already. The fourth plant gets a little too much shade, I think, but it is just growing a bit slower.
I use more cilantro in my cooking than I seem to be able to grow, so that’s one of the only ones I purchase year round anymore.
If anyone has tips for growing cilantro in zone 5b/6a, I’m all ears.
No, I don’t.
I store my spices in canning jars in the freezer.
The jars prevent freezer burn and loss of flavor, and the herbs stay very fresh for a long time.
If you buy peppercorns, they should keep far longer than ground pepper.
Considering the way the stuff grows, I wouldn't be surprised at all that it's invasive. I've just started ripping the stuff up and tossing it.
I pick up my herb at the store by the ounce grown by professionals
“I pick up my herb at the store by the ounce grown by professionals”
I always pick my new sourdough strains from big corporations, instead of family strains that have been loved for long time
I’m looking for Sassafrass Roots. It Spring and the roots make the best Tea to thin the thick winter blood. My grandmother always made the tea in the Spring. Now I’m old and need a natural blood thinner. The Sassafrass trees grow in the south.
L8r
Aphids attacked my chile pepper plants. I got rid of them by spraying the plants with diluted soapy water in a spray bottle. Use dish soap with a lot of water. Knocks then right out.
I’m looking for Sassafrass Roots. It Spring and the roots make the best Tea to thin the thick winter blood. My grandmother always made the tea in the Spring. Now I’m old and need a natural blood thinner. The Sassafrass trees grow in the south.
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