Common Herb Gardening Plants – Basil, Dill and Lavender
It doesn’t matter of you are a novice or an expert at gardening, it is still considerably easy to start a herb garden. It is not only a fragrant addition to your home but it will definitely come in handy for many of your kitchen needs. Herbs are essential in making holistic cures and preventive measures for slight illnesses. Herbs also give depths to the flavor of your cooking. Herbs are also hearty and stalwart plants but you should pay attention to the specific care needed for specific herbs.
Basil – This herb is one of the most commonly grown and is highly regarded by herb garden enthusiasts all over the world. The Basil herb grows well in climates of low humidity and fertile soil. Spring is the perfect season to start growing the Basil plant, but only after all threats of frost have been alleviated as this plant is highly sensitive to cold temperatures and may become damaged if exposed.
When planting Basil, it is important to remember to place each plant about twelve inches apart. This way, it will let each plant gain access to adequate water, enabling it to grow into a healthy plant. It takes approximately six weeks for the Basil to sprout leaves that are suitable for collection and use. When the harvesting is done, a proper drying method will result in a flavorful dried herb that can be used in a wide variety of recipes to tantalize your taste buds. This robust herb would have grown to approximately one or two feet tall and sprouted deep green or even purplish leaves with small white flowers during warm summer months.
Dill – Nothing could be simpler than growing the tasty herb Dill. A handful of seeds tossed into your garden will produce stalks that reach anywhere from two to four feet in height. This particular herb is an excellent addition to many recipes and adds a beautiful display to your garden. Dill plant stalks produce a cluster of lavish yellow flowers combined with unique feather like, blue-green leaves.
The Dill plant is a sun loving plant, so areas with full access to sunlight will ensure a thriving plant. A distance of eight to ten inches between plants is the best way to ensure a hardy crop. After planting, it is important to go back in a couple of weeks when the plants have grown about an inch in height and thin out the area around each plant. This process will ensure that each plant receives its required amount of nutrients from the soil as well as ensuring each plant is exposed to sufficient sunlight.
The Dill plant is useful in many ways. The beautiful bright yellow flowers make an excellent tool for decorating while the seeds and leaves are the perfect addition to dips and salads. You can harvest the flowers when they are in full bloom and use them as part of your fresh flower or dried flower arrangements. After the yellow blooms have blossomed for approximately two weeks, you can then harvest the Dill seeds. A good way is to trim the flowers and dry them upside down, while suspended over a plate or a piece of paper. Such a method lets the seeds fall, ready for collection for other uses. Finally, crumbling the dried leaves is another way to add the distinct taste of Dill to any cherished recipe.
Lavender – One of the most beautiful and fragrant herbs is Lavender. This aromatic plant makes for a wonderful ground cover for any herb or flower garden as it produces delicate pink and purple flowers nestled on very tall stalks. Lavender is a plant that grows all year round and is at its optimum during the warm summer months. Lavender is frequently a major ingredient in aromatherapy, soap making and potpourri mixes.
This hardy herb is easy to grow, however if choosing to start from seed form, may require a little extra work and TLC. A good way to cultivate this herb is to get fresh plants or root cuttings from a nursery near you. Such plants grow well in sunny areas with alkaline rich soil that is not water logged. As the winter months approach, the beauty of these plants will fade, however, during the next spring and summer seasons these plants will return more hardy and lush then the last.
Each of these herbs are a delectable treat offered by nature. Growing such herbs is relatively simple and they have many uses, having them in your collection will add to the fragrance and pleasure of gardening,.
Watch the video related to gardening plants
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Help answer the question about gardening plants
Tags: container, cooking, garden, gardening, gardens, heikenfeld, herbs, kitchen, plants, rita
September 1st, 2004 at 12:57 am
I’ve used a lot of containers for herbs over the years from baskets to porch boxes to large clay pots. I think the key, as with herb beds, is matching the plants that have the same needs and to be realistic about the size of the plants
September 1st, 2004 at 1:40 am
can one use plastic pots or must it be terra cotta?
thanks
September 1st, 2004 at 3:18 am
Great video. I’d love to purchase your seeds and do a show about it on my pod cast. GAiL
September 1st, 2004 at 1:09 am
recycled water? whats the water from a nuclear reactor. don't use that but if its from anything that would have nutriants it would be real advantages. as long as its not toxic waste are full of oil are something like that
September 1st, 2004 at 1:33 am
Both will survive inside during winter. Both root easily (and will grow happily) in water (use clear container.)
A few other annuals that overwinter inside:
Geranium
Begonia
Hoya
Hibiscus
Dichondra
September 1st, 2004 at 11:47 am
If you grow plants under different colors of cellophane it will affect their biomass. Since chlorophyll is the predominant pigment in most plants (all the green ones), the plants whose chlorophyll is most efficient will have more energy and grow faster. Chlorophyll absorbs red light most efficiently, and green light least efficiently, so a decent hypothesis to make would be that the plant under the red filter would grow the best, purple or orange might be second best, blue or yellow might be third, and green would be worst.
September 1st, 2004 at 12:11 pm
Better homes & garden has a free interactive landscape planing website. You'll have register to log on to their website (You don't need to buy anything or subscribe to their magazine).
"Plan-a-Garden lets you design anything from a patio-side container garden to your whole yard. Use your mouse to "drag-and-drop" more than 150 trees, shrubs, and flowers. Add dozens of structures like buildings, sheds, fences, decks — even a pond."
P.S. You may also have to close their magazine ad. by clicking on the x
http://www.bhg.com/bhg/story.jsp?storyid=/templatedata/bhg/story/data/planagardenhome_03022002.xml
Garden Styles & Plans from Better Homes & Garden:
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plans/
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plans/special-spots/foundation-garden-plan/
Plans from HGTV:
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_landscaping_design/
Lowe's Landscape & Garden planner
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=pg&p=Down_to_Earth/GardenPlanner/gardenplansplash.html&rn=none3D
Garden planner
http://www.gardencomposer.com/demo-planner-1.html (demo)
http://www.gardencomposer.com/demo-planner-15.html
BBC Gardening- Virtual Design
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/design/virtualgarden_index.shtml
DIY Planner
http://www.curbly.com/DIY-Maven/posts/1496-FREE-On-Line-Garden-Planner
Thought you'd like to see some landscaping design ideas from this Just Gardeners website:
http://justgardeners.com/hrsc/articles/art_landscape-design.html
This site contains a gallery of forum users's own pics too:
http://justgardeners.com/hrsc/ourgardens/ourgarden_pages/ourgardens_cornus.html
http://justgardeners.com/hrsc/ourgardens/ourgarden_pages/ourgardens_donnalockman.html
http://justgardeners.com/hrsc/ourgardens/ourgarden_pages/ourgardens_jill.html
Garden Web's Landscape-design forum:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/design/
Good luck!!! Hope this is helpful.
September 1st, 2004 at 5:56 pm
Agave, cactus, ephedra, nolina=bear grass, many types of yucca, our Lord's candle, chamise, manzanita, desert holly, red barberry, ceanothos, Texas ranger, hollyleaf cherry, catalina cherry, lemonade berry, California buckwheat, needlegrass, sage, coffeebery, columbine, dudleya, fescue, iris, snowberry, desert marigold, chocolate daisy, pink fairyduster, and many, many more!
Try the Arizona Native Plant Society, P. O. Box 41206, Sun Station, Tucson, AZ 85704
September 3rd, 2004 at 12:46 am
Oregano is such an easy herb! The benefit is that is can be used for such a wide variety of things, and it is a perennial so it will come back every year!
Other no brainers (and I know this from my own personal experience) is lemon verbena, thyme (lemon thyme as well) rosemary, mint, and lavender, and basil.
I have had some troubles with sage, but maybe it doesn't like Ohio weather, so the humid/hot might be good for it! Pretty much any herb is workable, just buy from a good source (preferably a farmer's market) and read any labels. I know having them indoors vs. outdoors makes a difference as well, so what I share is just from having outdoor herbs. (I just dug up the ground, plopped them in, and they lived!)
Good luck!
September 3rd, 2004 at 12:58 pm
Garden Web…. they've got forums for everything and the advice from their 'regular' folks is pretty darned good!…
http://www.gardenweb.com/
clik on 'gardenweb forums' to get started….
September 4th, 2004 at 3:34 am
hey can you send me one of those disks of basil thanks awesome video
September 4th, 2004 at 6:20 am
think outside the box remember all the mark brothers and most large outlet stores have there own garden shop — get a job there!!!
September 4th, 2004 at 7:14 am
if you want color, you will have to plant annuals, which are beautiful but must be replanted every year (that's why they are called annuals). If you want greenery, then perennials are your best best. Perennials are good in that they come back every year, but they aren't very colorful. It sounds like you live in a pretty mild climate, so you might have luck with the annuals, they may not ever die on you. I like snapdragons, peonies (very fragrant and much easier to grow than roses) and gardenias. For perennials, nothing beats the hardy mum.