Herb Gardening Yearly Outlook: Map Out Your Annual Garden Plan
When spring rolls in and your inner green thumb starts dreaming big again, it’s time to map out your annual garden plan! Even if your outdoor space still has traces of spring snow, now is the prime time for dreaming, scheming, and planning your herbal garden of delights. A little forethought now can set you…
How to Make Newspaper Seedling Pots for Your Garden This Year
Growing food in your backyard (or even on a porch or windowsill) is one of the simplest and most rewarding ways to nourish yourself, be self-sufficient, and connect with nature in a hands-on way. The following excerpt is taken from Gardening for Everyone by sustainability expert Julia Watkins which shares everything you need to know…
To Pot or Plot: The Advantages of Container Gardening
Whether you’re planning your garden for the first or the fiftieth time this spring, deciding what to plant where is an essential part of the process. Whether to pot or plot the plant in your garden should be part of your considerations. You may choose container gardening if you have a lack of traditional garden…
Protect Plants Over the Winter: The Importance of Overwintering Your Garden
Preparing your garden to rest for the winter is just as essential as preparing your garden for planting in the spring. In fact, the work you put in at the end of the growing season can give you a jumpstart come spring. Overwintering is an umbrella term, under which there are several strategies for preparing…
Growing an Edible Flower Garden
No garnish elevates a drink or dish quite like an edible flower. While I am sometimes able to find edible flowers among the fresh herbs in my local grocery store, nothing beats the quality and freshness of being able to pluck them fresh from my garden. Growing an edible flower garden is easily done in…
Prepare Your Herb Garden With These 4 Spring Tasks
Spring is an exciting time in the herb garden! So many beloved herbs are perennials, and as they begin to sprout and grow after the long winter slumber, we may have visions of abundant harvests ahead. By preparing your herb garden for the season with these spring tasks you can make that vision a reality….
Planting the Rainbow: Incorporate Plants Into Your Garden Based On the Color of the Blooms
Gardening is a hobby that can fulfill both the utilitarian as well as the aesthetic sensibilities within the human soul, but you don’t always find both in the garden. I grew up with gardens that were either designed around production and output or designed for aesthetic purposes. However, you don’t have to choose. Planting the…
Gardening By the Moon: How Lunar Planting Deepens Your Relationship With the World You Live In
When we hear a phrase like “gardening by the moon,” it can elicit mystical and magical thoughts. However, this is an ancient (rather than new age) method for managing agricultural work that continues to be a tool for farmers today. One of the most popular planting guides ever produced, The Old Farmers Almanac, uses lunar…
Plant Personalities: How Growing Plants Deepened My Relationship With Them
I can proudly shout from the rooftops that I am a giant nerd! I am obsessed with herbalism, plant personalities, and creating deeper connections to the earth. This path is a lifelong study, which is one of the many reasons I am drawn to it. As an herbalist, I can continually read, study, play, and…
All-Natural Pest Control Treatments
This excerpt is from Tammi Hartung’s book Homegrown Herbs and is reprinted with permission from the publisher. There are numerous methods for controlling insect pests in the garden, field, or greenhouse. Prevention will always be your best approach, but if that fails, consider beneficial insects or nonchemical pest controls. Do your best to address problems…
5 Easy to Grow Perennial Herbs for Busy Gardeners
For anyone who has attempted gardening, it can be hugely disappointing to spend an entire weekend setting up your garden and then watch your garden plants decline or wither because you were wrapped up in work and life responsibilities and didn’t have time to take care of it. On the other hand, having a garden…
How and Why To Start an Herb Garden
As a kid growing up in Ohio, I really looked forward to the growing season. My father always had a love for plants (mainly flowers) and would take us to the local garden centers to grab the flowers for that year’s gardens. However, when our family first moved into our house there were no plants…
How to Grow Echinacea
Echinacea (Echinacea spp.) is an herbaceous, flowering perennial native to North America. This plant has a long history of use and is still a popular herbal supplement today. Unfortunately, over-harvesting and the destruction of its native habitat have affected wild echinacea populations, and it’s now included on United Plant Savers’ list of “at-risk” plants. Learning…
Seed Scarification: What Herb Gardeners Need to Know
Seeds are packaged by nature to survive the elements. A tough outer shell protects the tender plant embryo inside. Some seed coatings are tougher than others. Seeds with the toughest coatings can be hard to crack, which is why they germinate at much higher rates when exposed to conditions like fire, freezing, or digestive processes…
5 Herbs That Thrive in a Southwest Garden
The first step to growing a successful Southwest garden is appreciating the environment in which you are growing. Depending on where you live, you will have a different distribution of the resources you need to grow, like sun, water, and quality soil. In the Southwest garden, gardeners have an abundance of sun. In the heat…
10 Herbal Crafts for Long Winter Days
There’s nothing better than a hot cup of tea and a winter herbal craft project to help brighten long, cold days in the Northern Hemisphere. These 10 herbal craft projects are inspired by plants, and a few of them even involve taking a walk to find materials in nature, which is therapeutic in and of…
12 Permaculture Principles to Use When Planning Your Herb Garden
Permaculture is not just a way of growing things. It is a movement — a way of life. Permaculture has its origins across many cultures, spanning the history of humanity. In the 1970s Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren defined and organized it into what we now know by the term “permaculture,” which means “permanent…
5 Herb Gardening Books To Inspire Your Next Botanical Garden
This is the time of year when a day with slightly above average temperatures and sunshine leads to a longing for spring. Seasonal changes, such as the snow beginning to melt or the days growing longer, tempt us outside for just a bit longer each time. Once quick, dreaded trips to the mailbox evolve into…
Keep The Bugs Away With These 6 Natural Pest Repellent Plants
Summer is a great time of year because you can be outside doing lots of fun activities you can’t enjoy when it’s cold out such as swimming, barbecuing, or playing games outside in your backyard with your friends. Something that often keeps people from enjoying their time outside are bugs, and they can make you…
The Interesting Story Behind Victory Gardens
Community gardening and composting have become common in the last 10 to 15 years, but their history goes back to World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945) when gardens became a necessity both in the United States and in the United Kingdom. Food was an issue in World War I, and victory gardens…
Herbal Citrus Eucalyptus Hand Salve: A Gardener’s Best Friend
Do you itch to get outdoors and dig into the garden when spring finally arrives? Does your pent up motivation from a long winter cause you to dig in a little too far, leaving you with rough calloused hands? Or, inflamed blisters and insect bites? I can account for all three! Maybe it’s my motivation…
Pollinator Gardens 101: Helping Mother Nature
Have you noticed less bees buzzing around or a decrease in monarch butterflies in your area? What about a decrease in hummingbirds or moths? Our earth is in trouble, which puts us in trouble since we depend her pollinators for much of our food. Today, I’d like to share some brief information with you about…
3 Easy Herbs to Grow From Seed
Tuning in to the cycle of the seasons is an integral part of wellness, as our connection to the earth roots and nourishes us in myriad ways. I revel in the cozy cocoon and silence of winter after living out loud and hot in the summer and pushing through the ramped up pace of back-to-school…
Reflections of an Herb Gardener
To those who are afraid of starting an herb garden, don’t be. The rewards of having your own fresh herbs to use and dry, the therapy of working in the dirt, the ability to sit quietly and meditate in your own special place far outweigh the “errors in judgment” one can make. Looking back at…
How To Make Easter Crafts for Kids With Herbs: Planting A Living Easter Basket Tutorial
Springtime is here filling the air with the fresh scents of new life and sunshiny days! And with Easter just around the corner, there is no better time than now to enjoy some bonding craft-time with the children in our lives. If you are looking for a break from the ordinary Easter crafts for kids,…
How to Craft the Perfect Herb Planter
Earth is home to an incredible array of natural herbs that have been integral to society for as far as we can see into the past. Herbalism is a proud tradition of knowledge, community with nature, and responsibility. Herbs are available for such a myriad of uses that it is nearly impossible not to encounter…
6 Natural Ways to Deter Insects From Your Herbs
Herbs tend to be relatively low-maintenance plants, which is one reason they are so popular to grow. They also add to our lives in more concrete ways, like providing delicious additions to family meals, preventing infections for minor cuts or scrapes, and providing many other health benefits. So it stands to reason that these wonderful…
Garden Of Whimsy, Making A Fairy Herb Garden
Invite the whimsy and magic of fairies right into your garden by creating a lovely place for them to live. Make your little garden useful too by choosing edible and medicinal herbs which will fill it with beautiful fragrance to enjoy. Making a fairy herb garden is all in fun and a wonderful way to engage…
Growing Herbs in Unlikely Locations
When you picture herb gardens, you might think of luscious outdoor spaces that are filled with exotic fragrances, beautiful colors, and paths to wander leisurely from one area to another. For the vast majority of herb growers, however, this scenario simply isn’t possible. Most gardeners grow herbs because they believe in their natural health benefits,…
Designing An Herb Garden
This is the second article in a two-part series on planning and designing your herb garden! Part I – Tips for Making An Herb Garden Plan – discusses planning your garden – choosing a location, prepping the soil, and gathering plants. Part II – Designing Your Herb Garden – discusses design ideas for theme gardens and color selections. …
