Herbs

Would you like a list of winter spices or wonder what the best herbs for Christmas are that you can grow and use in recipes? This Christmas spices list is for you! The holidays will soon be here and a home-cooked dinner, along with all the trimmings, is on many menus this year. Whether your …

Would you like to know the best herbs for roasting turkey? Thanksgiving is coming soon and a roasted turkey is on many menus. If you are cooking turkey for the first time, you may find yourself asking “What herbs and spices go with turkey?” You can just place a turkey in your oven and roast …

Let’s have a look at cooking with bay leaves. These little green leaves pack quite a punch when it comes to adding flavor and aroma to your recipes. Bay leaves are commonly used in soups and stews, sauces, and marinades, where they simmer alongside other ingredients. Whole bay leaves are most commonly used due to …

Welcome to our guide for how to dry bay leaves from your own backyard bay laurel plant. It is so much easier than you might think! Dried bay leaves are sold at most supermarkets, but if you have your own plant, you can easily dry the leaves to use in your recipes (and the flavor …

It is coming to the end of the herb growing season for many of us. Did you know that  you can freeze herbs to make them last longer? When summer turns to fall, the thought of losing those fresh herb flavors in your recipes because of the cold can be disheartening. Fortunately for us, there …

Discover how to grow rosemary easily with this step by step tutorial. Fresh rosemary is one of my favorite spices.  I use it all the time in Italian cooking and also in many of my chicken recipes. This herb easy to grow and is a great one to start with for those who are new …

This visual guide to herb identification makes identifying herbs a snap. How well do you know the names of the fresh herbs? Many herbs look quite similar, so it’s easy to be confused. Do you often ask yourself – “What herb is this?” I can’t tell you how many times I have come back from …

Bay Leaf plants are slow growing trees with leaves that are used as seasoning in cooking. It is also known as bay laurel, sweet bay and simply laurel. If you enjoy growing herbs, this is a great one to try, since it has a very aromatic flavor. Bay leaf plants are a member of the …

The flavor dried dill just can’t compete with that of the fresh herb. Let’s check out some tips for growing dill. Fresh dill is a very popular kitchen herb. It is highly aromatic and really easy to grow. Fresh herbs are something that I grow year round, both indoors and outside, either in pots or …

Tarragon is a perennial herb with an anise-licorice flavor that is often used in French cuisine. Follow these tips for growing tarragon in your kitchen herb garden. This herb comes in several varieties, depending on the region that it is grown. I find French tarragon the hardest to find for sale. It is worth sourcing …

Many beginning vegetable gardeners make the common gardening mistake of starting too large. If you don’t have a big yard with room for a large vegetable garden, try growing a vegetable garden on a deck.  Vegetable gardening is one of the great pleasures of the summer months for many gardeners. But for many of us, …

These 20 seed starting tips will help you to get your garden going early this year. With seeds, it’s never too early to get gardening! There are some plants that need a long time to mature, and others, like bell peppers, which need extra time to turn red. Starting seeds indoors helps with these. I’ve …

These tips for sage plant care will help you get the most out of this popular garden herb plant. Garden sage is a culinary herb that is often used around the holidays to flavor your stuffing, but I use it all year round as a flavor component for chicken dishes. Sage is not just for …

Growing herbs can be expensive, particularly if the plants that you choose are annuals that will only grow for one year. Try choosing from this list of perennial herbs instead. They will give long lasting value, year after year. Fresh herbs can be frozen in fall, so it’s possible to enjoy their flavor all winter …

Get a head start on spring gardening by starting seeds indoors with Jiffy Peat Pellets. These handy peat pots have the perfect soil for seedlings and they can be transplanted right into the ground as soon as the weather is warm enough. Some plants need a long time to mature. Others, like bell peppers, need …

Growing Cilantro is quite easy as long as you take care to keep it away from the hottest heat. Love it or hate it, cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) is still one of the most popular herbs for kitchen gardens . Cilantro is a staple of Mexican and Asian cooking. It makes a great garnish and is best served …

Growing chives is very easy to do. These tips will show you how to plant, grow and harvest this tasty herb. Chives are a perennial herb found throughout the world. They are a very versatile herb that can be grown in herb garden beds, in patio containers and flower pots. This popular herb is a …

If you like to cook French cuisine, growing chervil is a good idea, since the fresh herb is hard to find at local grocery stores and Farmer’s Markets. Chervil is a delicate herb that comes from the carrot family.  Close cousins are dill, parsley and fennel. Chervil is a native of Southeastern Europe, southern Russia …

Which herbs should choose for your indoor garden?  Here are my top 10 picks for herbs to grow indoors. There is nothing quite like the taste of fresh herbs to really add a boost to your home made recipes.  Many gardeners enjoy growing herbs outside during the summer months, but winter temperatures will kill them …

I love growing herbs in my garden but most of them die off in the winter months.  Since I use herbs for cooking all the time, my answer is growing herbs indoors during the winter. Some herbs are annuals and need to be planted each year, and others are perennials and will continue growing year after …

Rosemary is normally quite easy to control if you keep it in a pot, but if you have it growing freely in the garden, it can easily get woody and shabby looking. This is when these tips for pruning rosemary are helpful. All garden plants need pruning at some stage, and rosemary is no exception. …

Have you ever been in a garden setting and wondered how to identify a plant that you have just come across? So have I! That is where the PlantSnap mobile app comes into use. With this handy phone app, all you need to do is snap a photo of the plant, and PlantSnap will give …

Fall is the time to start thinking about preserving herbs that seem to be in abundant supply right now. It is getting to that time of the year again.  My vegetable gardening projects are slowing down and I have to start thinking about the first frost.  No worry though. It’s easy to preserve herbs by …

And growing herbs for kitchen gardens is so easy to do that any home cook can have a supply of them on hand all the time. Why pay retail prices for herbs? There is nothing quite like growing herbs to add tons of flavor in recipes.  They add a fullness of flavor that dried herbs …

Mother Nature has the perfect answer  for summer bugs- mosquito repelling plants! We can grow annuals, perennials and herbs that will keep the bugs away naturally. With summer comes lots of outdoor living.  Sadly, that can mean lots of mosquitoes. I don’t like to use chemical products so this natural solution is great for keeping …

Did you know that May 19 is Plant Something Day? The weather is warming up and gardeners are itching to get growing! Do you remember those days from years ago when May baskets were added to a friend’s doorway on May Day, the First of May?  I remember those days, fondly, and it saddens me …