Monday, January 28, 2013

herbs and other delights

Borage - Borage puts down a long taproot which pulls up nutrients from deep in your soil into its leaves. At the end of the season you can put it in your compost pile and, when composted, will add lots of nice nutrients to your garden. Plus, it's pretty and the edible flowers look really spiffy in ice cubes!

Basil - PESTO! Need I say more? 

Dill - an essential in Italian Wedding Soup, and of course, dill pickles!

Fennel - the beneficial insects love it and it's fun to snatch a licorice-y treat straight from the garden!

Lemon Balm - I read in my mother's herb book that Lemon Balm is quite renowned for its beneficial qualities, and it's delicious in tea. Apparently it's also delicious to bees, and since I'm trying to grow several fruit and berry varieties, we need the bees!

Stevia - thought I'd try growing some of this natural sweetener this year.

I already have a few other things going, or seed packs in my basement - oregano, lovage, sage, and mint are the ones that I'm hoping will overwinter. Anyone else have a favorite herb?

Ok, I seriously want some of these (although I don't need 144 of them) - cow pots! Hahahahah. Made out of composted cow poo. Seriously, who comes up with this stuff? I don't love using peat since it's a non-renewable resource, but some seedlings just don't transplant well. I guess someone came up with a compromise. :)

I'm hoping to pick up a few of these too, to see how the soil in my various gardens is coming along. I put in a new 4x8 foot bed last year, and everything in there did terribly. The "soil" I had bought from Canadian Tire turned out to be mostly peat moss, which was disappointing. I think there just weren't enough nutrients available in the soil. That's why I planted a cover crop late last year (although not in enough time for it to grow much, oh well). Anyway, I'd like to see what else I need to add to it, aside from compost.

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