Mint is a wonderful and versatile plant with many uses. It’s one of those herbs I will always have in my garden, no matter where I live or what I’m growing. You can use it to make essential oils, teas, and cookies, and even use a leaf or two in a refreshing cocktail. The flowers...
Herb Gardening
If you visit a market, you’ll probably see tons of products labeled as ‘organic.’ Everything from pizzas to burritos to bread. But how does all that organic stuff in the grocery store relate to organic gardening?
Truthfully, it doesn’t really. All that stuff, even if it’s organic, is still processed and a far cry from an organic garden.
Organic gardening is a practice that seeks to work with mother nature instead of against her, cultivating a garden ecosystem that bolsters your plants and reduces pest issues naturally.
Organic gardens are nearly always without any kind of synthetic chemical use, be it pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or fertilizers. Organic gardeners use natural techniques to reduce common problems that gardens experience.
Organic gardeners often plant a diverse array of fruits, vegetables, and herbs. They also use natural solutions, like lady bugs and praying mantises, for getting rid of unwanted insect pests. The objective of a garden shouldn’t be to go scorched earth and destroy all pests, but to reduce their numbers enough that those beings can continue to survive and so can your garden. It’s the natural way to go about growing your own food.
The benefits of organic gardening speak for themselves. When you set up an organic garden, you do a lot of good for the environment and yourself. The fruits and vegetables you grow are healthier for the earth and for you too. And let’s face it, organic produce just seem to taste better than the conventionally grown stuff you find in the store!
For gardeners who love growing lavender, there’s nothing worse than a dying lavender plant. We pour all this effort into growing a beautiful, fragrant lavender plant, only to make some kind of mistake and watch it slowly wilt and perish. If you’ve noticed your lavender plant isn’t doing too well, don’t fret, but do take...
Many gardeners have some form of lavender in their garden, simply because it’s one of the best and easiest herbs you could grow! The smell, the texture, and the way they look, lavender is an excellent plant to have in your garden. However, there are a few tricks to fertilizing lavender the right way without...
For most gardeners, fall is the time to wrap up the garden for the year. By mid-September to mid-October, depending on your climate, most of your garden plants have died off for the year. While many gardeners hang their hats up in fall, garlic lovers are just getting started. Why? Because you can plant a...
Basil is a really popular herb for gardeners everywhere. It’s easy to grow, produces amazing, fragrant leaves and flowers, and goes in a ton of different culinary dishes. My personal favorite way to use basil is in making pesto. But all plants can be susceptible to problems and basil is one of them. One of...
When it comes to herb gardening, growing chives is something I don’t think I could do without. Every garden I’ve ever planted has a little section devoted to chives. Their flavor is great and I love their pink, tuft-like flowers. Chives are remarkably easy to grow, often requiring next to nothing from the gardener who...
Whether or not I even use them in the things I cook, I love to grow herbs. One of the herbs you will always find in my garden is thyme. It’s a beautiful, fragrant, low-growing perennial herb that erupts in flowers that my local native pollinators just can’t seem to get enough of, and frankly,...
Mint is a favorite perennial herb of mine. I always have some growing in my garden. Currently I have spearmint, peppermint, and chocolate mint growing in my garden. I don’t think I could tell you which is my favorite! Let’s take a little time to do a deep dive on one of my favorite herbs....
Cilantro is something I have to grow in my garden every year, and I do it for free too. How? Because I harvest the seeds! Cilantro is one of those plants that are so easy to grow and propagate, I wonder why any gardener wouldn’t grow it. Plus, thrown into some fresh guacamole – you...
The blossoms of May Night Salvia are recognized for their vibrant color. They are also prized for attracting a variety of colorful fauna to the area. May Night Salvia is only one of many plants in the fascinating genus that has something unique to offer growers with a wide range of preferences. In 1997, it...
The Yarrow plant is also a fragrant herb with several medicinal benefits. Gordaldo, devil’s nettle, nosebleed plant, old man’s pepper, milfoil, sanguinary, thousand-leaf, soldier’s woundwort, and thousand-seal are some of the other popular names for this species. The flowering plant Achillea millefolium, also known as the common Yarrow, belongs to the Asteraceae family. It is...
Rosemary is a very easy plant to cultivate, and once established, this perennial herb will last for years. Rosemary is a beautiful shrub with needle-like leaves and bright blue blooms. Evergreen Rosemary blossoms bloom throughout the spring and summer, infusing the air with a pleasant pine scent and attracting numerous pollinators like bumblebees. Gardeners use...