|
Home / Home / Gardening
How to Grow Cooking Herbs
By:Linda Paquette
How to Grow Cooking Herbs
Grow your own cooking herbs to add fresh zest and flavor to your menus year-round!
Is It a Cooking Herb or a Spice?
The first thing to know in selecting which herbs to grow is the difference between cooking (culinary) herbs and spices. The cinnamon stick you put in your hot chocolate or apple cider is a spice while the parsley on the edge of your plate is an herb.
1.Cooking herbs are usually the fresh or dried leaves of plants while spices are the ground seeds, roots, fruits, flowers, and/or bark.
2.Herbs grow very well in temperate zones, while spices generally come from tropical areas.
3.Herbs add subtle flavor, whereas spices are generally more pungent and add more robust flavor.
Herbs run the gamut of about 70 cultivars, broken into categories of medicinal, ornamental, and aromatic as well as culinary or cooking herbs. To start growing cooking herbs, it's best first to select where and how you want to grow them.
Site Selection
Most cooking herbs thrive in just about any location that gives them plenty of light, good drainage and nutrition. In addition to outdoor garden spots, culinary herbs can be grown in patio containers, as indoor herb gardens, or in greenhouses using soil-less growing techniques like hydroponics or aquaponics.
Outdoor Cooking Herb Gardens
For easy access, plant your herb garden as close to your kitchen as possible. Herbs grown in full sun have denser foliage, darker color, and higher levels of the essential oils that add flavor to your recipes. Good air circulation and drainage are also important to the success of your cooking herb garden. The size of your cooking herb garden, of course, depends on the space you have available for growing. Generally, an area 20 by 4 feet accommodates a satisfactory variety of cultivars.
Many herbs overlap in category. Border your cooking herb garden with some cultivars that have ornamental or aromatic qualities as well as the culinary. However, remember that the main purpose of this garden is for use in your kitchen.
Place cooking herbs that you use frequently in less conspicuous areas so that you won't leave big holes in your garden when you harvest them for cooking!
Most culinary herbs thrive under the same growth conditions as the vegetables they enhance and as such are a natural addition to your vegetable garden. Some cooking herbs even have properties that repel common insect pests and garden diseases, which is an added benefit to your vegetables.
The best time to amend soil with nutrient rich compost is when you till your garden plot. Herbs have coarse roots that benefit from chunky organic matter, which helps excess water drain away and also helps provide good air circulation.
After planting your cooking herbs, skirting them with a two to three-inch layer of mulch helps soil retain moisture. In addition, composting and mulching helps you maintain the neutral to slightly alkaline soil that most herbs prefer
About the Author
Linda is an author of
Gardening Tips Tricks and How To Artciles.The next part read the rest on Digg
del.icio.us
Blink
Stumble
Spurl
Reddit
Netscape
Furl
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com
|
|
| Top Gardening Articles |
- 1). Mulching Benefits / Organic And Inorganic Mulch Types By : Francis Kilkelly
Mulching is the practice of placing a loose surface onto the surface of soil in your flower or vegetable garden in order to protect, insulate and beautify the area. This loose covering is called a mulch and it can be either of an organic or inorganic variety. Examples of mulches include compost, stone and grass clippings. Every gardener should understand the many benefits of mulching the soil in their garden.
|
- 2). Beautiful Calla Lilies By : William Berg
The Calla Lilies are plants belonging to the Zantedeschia genus in the Araceae family. The genus contains seven plant species and they are all commonly referred to as Calla Lillies. Some of them have other common names as well. Zantedeschia aethiopica is also known as giant white arum lily and common arum lily. Zantedeschia albomaculata is sometimes sold as spotted arum lily, and Zantedeschia rehmannii is known as the pink arum lily.
|
|
|
|
|
- 5). Problem Free Patios, Paving And Paths By : James Kilkelly
If you are thinking of creating a patio, courtyard or path within your garden, then I have some helpful information for you.
Where to place a path
Have a good look at your garden, even if you are just viewing from the comfort of your kitchen, this may give you an idea of where paths should be placed. Viewing a curved pathway, particularly one that wraps behind a border will entice the viewer to exit the house and follow the path to discover what lies at its end.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- 9). Getting to the top with flagpoles By : Tom
Are you in search of the most up-to-date help regarding flagpoles. When you are looking for excellent information about flagpoles, it will be eas
|
|
|
| New Gardening Articles |
|
|
|
|
- 3). Making Your First Garden By : Joe Bella
The first thing in garden making is the selection of a spot. Without a choice, it means simply doing the best one can with conditions. With space limited it resolves itself into no garden, or a box garden. Surely a box garden is better than nothing at all.
|
|
|
- 5). Dream Home Gardening By : Anna Woodward
Home gardening is tricky business. Do you ever wonder how you can get your garden to look like those in popular home-and-garden magazines?
|
- 6). How To Make Sure Your Wildflowers Survive In Your Home Garden By : Gregg Hall
If you have ever taken a walk in the woods you may have seen all the beautiful flowers that can be found right in nature. Did you think to yourself, I wonder what these would look like in my yard? If you have wondered this same thing, here are a few tips for you to make sure your flowers will survive.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
