Jan
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Herb Garden
Herb gardening is gaining popularity by each day, and justifiably so. Herbs have various advantages and herbs can turn out to be quite useful. Contrary to popular belief, herbs are as much grown for their beauty and pleasant aroma as for their use as in cooking.
Apart from all this, herbs can also be dried and stored for use in cooking during winter months. This is done by first cutting the tops of the leafy herbs, and after washing it is hung for water to evaporate. After this, the stems are tied together and hung up in paper bag so that they may dry out. After a period of two to three weeks these leaves are removed, crumbled and dried in oven. Thereafter these may be stored in a jar.
Basil can easily be said to be the most commonly used and known herb. Basil and another herb known as Dark Opal look beautiful in any garden and are used for decorative purposes. While Dark Opal looks fabulous with its dark red leaves and pink flowers. However, apart from looks, Basil is also very useful as a flavoring in pastes and tomato juices.
Chives look petite and resemble blades of glass, however, they are rather strong, and can grow very well through droughts. They are perfect for herb gardening, more so if the gardener wishes minimum fuss. Chives taste great when used in egg based dishes, salads, and various sauces.
Another very versatile and useful herb known as Mint is widely used in mint jelly, lemonade, mint juleps and various fruity drinks. It is easy to grow and is known for its unique characteristic minty smell.
Another two herbs which appear in almost every herb garden are sage and thyme. They are employed for flavoring chicken, soups, pork, turkey, and other sausages. Another asset of Sage is its beautiful spiked blue flowers.
Arguably the herb with the best smell in all herbs grown in herb gardens is Lavender, and is widely used in candles, or as perfume scent, or in improving the smell of linen chests. Also, its light purple colored flowers look lovely.
Borage (utilized in salads), Sweet Marjoram (flavors soup, salad and fish), Chervil (made use of in egg dishes), Dill (used in pickles, flavors meats) and Sesame (flavors cookies, breads and crackers) are some of the other herbs grown in herb gardens. Thus a gardener with his own herb garden can use the herbs from their garden for various purposes like cooking, smell or looks. Grow herbs in your garden, it will turn out to be cheaper as compared to those of the store-bought kind and will be fresher and will have better flavor.