Amy's Herb Gardens Blog

Fall is a great time to add a lot of bulk to your compost pile. While you are clearing up the finished garden items and other chores, be sure to follow these simple composting tips.

• Only add plants and other natural waste that is not diseased.
• Do not forget to mix up any remaining compost to *fertilize* your new addition with good bacteria.
• Now is the time to add more coarse material, as it will break down all winter. In the spring, if there is anything left, you can easily remove it.

More on composting:

• Composting video
• More Composting Info
• Plastic Storage Bin Composter


Photo © 2008, A. Jeanroy

This time of year is perfect for saving your herb seeds. When your herbs are nearly finished flowering and they have turned brown and dry, tie a paper bag over the top of the herb to catch the seeds. You can then cut just below the bag and catch any seeds that will jar loose.

Once you have your seeds captured in this manner, it is easy to remove the seeds by hand, by rubbing the dried seedheads, still contained in the bag. Once this is finished, you can sort out the seeds from the chaff if desired.

My favorite tip for seed saving is to store any seeds in dried milk powder. You can keep your individual seeds in small handmade envelopes. Then place these envelopes inside of a glass container with at least 1/4 cup of dried milk powder. The powder will ensure that the seeds remain perfectly dry throughout the winter.

A reader recently asked if dandelion greens can be preserved for the winter. She wanted to save them for her canary to eat in the winter. Dandelion greens are wonderful, dried! I feed my cockatiel the large leaves, clipped to the side of his cage. He nibbles on them for fun. I also use the crumbled bits, directly on his food.

Dandelion is probably one of my favorite herbs. It is all purpose, from root to leaf tip, and grows anywhere. Fall is the time to harvest the roots. They are nutritious and readily available just about anywhere.

Harvesting the roots in fall, ensures that the plant's energy is stored in the root, and not used in making leaves and flowers. When I accidentally pull them up early, the long taproot is as skinny as a pencil. In fall, these same roots will thicken and more than double in size. A few hard frosts is all that is needed.

Photo ©Flickr user Akk_rus

Learning about herbal gardening and using herbs, often means learning a new vocabulary. I have started a new Glossary to explain what many common herbal words mean. Do you have an herbal word that you think should be included? Please leave your comments below.

On a holiday note, this weekend is the last hurrah for the summer. Our gardens are growing much slower, weeds are starting to go to seed, and your garden notebooks should be full of what worked and what didn't this growing season.

Pick those last lingering weeds! Even if your herbs are finished, the remaining weeds will drop their seeds and be ready to drive you crazy next year. Think about using a green cover crop now. It is the perfect time to plant. Don't think that because you have smaller gardens, that you can't benefit from them. Your local feedstore will sell as much or as little seed as you may need.

Herbal question of the day: What herb did you grow for the first time? How did it do?

Photo ©Flickr user, Woodley Wonderworks

In honor of this herbie holiday, I wanted to share some ideas for replacing with herbs in your cooking.I am a firm believer that adding spicy heat is NOT a replacement for salt. Yes, spicy is good, but simply heating up my mouth to a fire temperature, not replace a good sea salt. A little bit of cayenne pepper can enhance flavors without heating up the whole dish. Use a light hand. Another flavor that enhances the natural salt taste in foods is lemon. Add some powdered lemon peel and powdered cayenne pepper to your salt free mixes. I found a super recipe using only herbs at About.com guide to Home Cooking. Peggy Trowbridge Filipone, offers a tasty looking recipe for an herbal salt substitute. If you are interested in a no salt/low salt alternative, remember these tips:

• Add your salt before serving or at the table! No need to salt as you go, many diners will add their own salt before they even taste it. Which is another good reminder: TASTE your food first!
• Add naturally salty or salt enhancing tastes to your herb mixes. These include Dulse or other seaweeds, lemon and a bit of cayenne.
• Do give yourself a chance to learn to like salt free or low salt foods. Your tastebuds get used to all that extra sodium, and need a chance to readjust.
• If you are looking for low salt, try one of the many sea salts and grind it on your foods. The taste is less salty and delicious!

There are many ways to design an herb garden. If you are interested in learning more about herbal healing, you can grow a garden that will offer herbs that have a lot of easy to find information. These herbs can also be made into herbal remedies with a basic herbalist's knowledge.

I hope that this list of 5 best herbs for an herbalist's garden, will inspire you to rethink the way you look at some of the more common herbs. It is surprising what these plants can offer.

When learning about healing herbs, remember these three things:

• Cross reference any herbal remedy three times. This means finding three trusted herbal healer's opinion on what an herb can be used for.
• Start with simple remedies. Simple means less herbal ingredients per remedy. There is a place for elaborate combinations of herbs, but more often, one or two herbs will work very well.
• Remember to keep your medical practitioner informed of any herbal remedies or supportive care that you may be using. Herbs have their place in any healthy person's life. Just like any medicine you may be taking, they should be disclosed to allow your healthcare provider to create a complete health picture.

Photo © Flickr User Ndrwfgg

There is something about the sparkle in soda, that makes a drink special. I do love drinks as a fun break during the day, but don't like all the unnecessary sweetness. Usually, too sweet drinks make me more thirsty.

I also like drinking teas. My herb teas are more lemony and tart, than sweet. I do add some dried Stevia, but often, honey is the sweetener of choice.

Today's recipe for Lemon Balm Soda, should be considered a jumping off point for your culinary experimentation. Try it with mint or anise, for example. This would be a great after dinner treat.

If you make up the herbal part of the recipe ahead of time, you could have a couple of choices for your party guests. Just pour some over ice, add soda water, and a sprig of some complimentary herb. Your guests will be impressed and you all will be refreshed.

Enjoy!

Photo © Jessie Hirsch