June 27, 2006

Growing a Culinary Herb Garden

Filed under: General, Herbs — Kim Whiston @ 10:37 am

For many years I have grown my own fresh herbs for cooking and seasoning. This practice has saved me money at the gorcery store, and I feel better about using my own organically grown herbs on the dishes I prepare for my family.

A culinary herb garden needs to be right outside the kitchen door. Unless you planon looking at it and not actually using it.  So close that you can just run out the back door, if you need a quick pinch of something for any meal.Areas of importance in growing herbs

·        Provide at least 5 hours of sun daily

·        Well drained soil is  highly recommended

·        Cow Manure is a good soil amendment / fertilizer

·        Space herbs properly, taking into consideration the plants’ needs, This provides good air circulation, and allows the plant to grow to its potential, the flavor is better, and the blooms are bigger.

A  Beginners Herb Garden
 

I recommend the following basics for your first herb garden.

Parsley – Great biannual plant. A small space is needed it can cover an area 12” square. Leaves are used in eggs, potato salad, and is high in vitamins. Chives – Perennial plant.  Another small space plant 10” to 12”. Don’t let other plants crowd out. Leaves are used in eggs, salads, dips. Flowers are used in vinegars and oils.

Basil – Annual plant. If you are really going to use this plant, and dry for winter use. Save at least a 3 x3 area. Start seeds outside in mid May to mid June. Keep seed heads pinched off so plant will continue growing Leaves are used for many different types of seasoning. With chicken, beef soups, and salads.Garden Sage  – Perennial plant. 2-3 foot square is good for this plant. Leaves are good for dressing, soups, dips and stews. Flowers are great dried, and in vinegars and oils.   

Mints - Peppermint, Spearmint, Apple mint, and other aggressive growing mints need of space to do their stuff. Easily a 6×6 space. Can be contained in a smaller space with a little bit of effort. Leaves are used in teas, ice cubes, jellos, cakes, pies, dips, and great in a bottle of water for special flavoring.

Salad Burnett – Perennial plant.  Small plant that needs at least 12”-14”. Do not let plant go to seed by pinching off blooms. Leaves are great in salads, and dips for a fresh cumber taste.

Pineapple Sage - Annual plant. Wonderful red flowers that attract hummingbirds. Leaves are great in salads, jellos, and drinks.

Lemon Balm – Perennial plant. Grow fast and large. Needs at least a 3×3 area. Will  reseed everywhere if let to flower and go to seed. Leaves are use in salads, jellos, baking chicken. Anywhere a lemon flavor is needed.

Of course there are many other plant options you can explore, but the above list should keep you busy for your first season.

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A Few Simple Herb Recipes

Filed under: General, Herbs — Kim Whiston @ 10:18 am

Here are a few examples of what you can do with fresh herbs from your own garden:

Lemon Pepper Chicken

4 Chicken Breasts, Lemon Balm or Lemon Grass, Ground PepperPreheat oven to 350. Spray baking dish with Canola Cooking Spray. Bake Chicken for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and place 4-6 Lemon Balm leaves or Lemon Grass leaves under and on chicken. Sprinkle Pepper to taste.  Continue baking for 40 minutes. Serve on a bed of rice or with a garden salad.

Basil Tilapia

4-6 Tilapia, Fresh or dried Basil, Bread CrumbsPreheat Oven to 350. Spray baking dish with Canola Cooking Spray. Sprinkle dried Basil in with Bread Crumbs until it looks peppery or cut fresh basil to mix with bread crumbs. Roll Tilapia in bread crumb basil mixture. Bake 20 minutes. Serve with garden salad or pasta salad

Cream Cheese Sandwiches

Rye Bread, or Whole Wheat Bread, Cream Cheese, Herbs to use: Garden Sage, Chives, Salad Burnet, Parsley to name a few Spread Cream Cheese on Bread.  Sprinkle dried or fresh herb to your preference. Top off with another slice of Bread. Cut sandwich in quarters.  Great for finger food get togethers!

Cream Cheese Ball

Cream Cheese 1 package, Sour Cream ¼ cup, Garden Sage, or another herb of your choice.

Mix together cream cheese, and sour cream. Combine with herb of your choice. Mold into a ball and chill. Serve with Whole Wheat Crackers or Crackers of your choice.

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April 19, 2006

The Hydrangeas

Filed under: General, Shrubs — Kim Whiston @ 4:07 pm

Probably the most sought after plant in the summer months. Consumers are looking for and wanting the plant with the big round blue, pink or white flowers. Heard most often, The plant that was growing in Grandmothers or Aunt Elizabeth’s yard. Snowball bush is another term. So, what is the plant they are looking for?I could go into details explaining the small white flowering viburnum that blooms in the spring. The common name snowball bush, the Latin name Virburnum opulus. But most are talking about the summer blooming Hydrangeas.

Hydrangea arborescens  –  Grows 3-5’ high and wide. The large creamy white flowers appear in June and are showy for the next 4-6 weeks depending on how dry the season is. A very dependable hydrangea, blooms on old wood, new wood, full sun, part sun and even shade.

Hydrangea macrophylla  – A larger group of plants. Some are mopheads, some are lacecap flowers. Grows commonly 3-6’ tall. Does best grown in partial sun and prefers a loose organic moist soil. In the past this particular hydrangea bloomed only on old wood. Bringing up the most asked question  -  Why doesn’t my hydrangea bloom? In recent years there are cultivars that bloom on old wood and new wood. Still a picky plant as far as location just more likely to flowers. The color depends on the acidity of the soil. You will want to lime the soil for pink to red flowers and aluminum sulphate for blue to purple flowers. Do nothing and depending on soil type you could have blue, pink and purple on the same plant.

Hydrangea paniculata  – A  type of hydrangeas that bloom a little later in the summer and have large white flowers that come to a point on the end. Often they fade to a pinkish color in the fall. They do best in full sun and can handle the heat much better than the macrophylla. There are a number of different cultivars resulting in a number of different heights and sizes.

Hydrangea serrata – I am not as familiar with this particular hydrangea as much as the others, but I am very fond of the Bluebird Hydrangea in this group. It appears to grow in sun, shade, on old wood and new wood. For me it makes a great container plant 

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Weeping Cherry Tree

Filed under: General, Trees — Kim Whiston @ 12:48 pm

A beautiful spring blooming tree. To often used in the wrong place. There are pink and white flowering cherries. Snowfountain is a white flowering form that grows 10-12’ tall and wide. There are pink forms that are on smaller grafts that still grow 12-15’ tall and wide. Generally they grow 25-30’ tall and wide.

This time of the year you will see both pink and white flowers coming from the weeping cherry. The white flower is usually growing straight up or off to the side. It has put off suckers or growths that have became strong and grown into part of the tree. The idea is to cut these growths off before they get to this point. They will come from below the weeping graft and off to the side of the trunk. By not cutting these suckers you may cause your original cherry tree to grow weak and become diseased. You will eventually lose your cherry tree.

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