Your Home Herb Garden Needs Managing in the Fall
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
Autumn brings the colors of gold, brown, red and maroon to your yard along with the call to enjoy your home herb garden. Autumn is a beautiful time of the year, not too hot and not too cold, and a great time to work with your herb garden plants.
Your blooming plants will give you seeds for growing garden herbs in the spring. You can confine the seeds by placing a paper bag over the blooms. Tie the bag to the stem and cut it away. If you want to separate the seeds from the pods, then rub the bag together. Store the seed in any container that you prefer. I put them in envelopes with labels and the envelopes go into a shoe box.
Dry your herbs by cuting the stems and tie them together, then hang in a dry location. Sun light will strip the taste and dry up the oils in herb that are drying, so find a good dry and dark location. Once they are dry you can strip the leaves and place in a container for your culinary needs. If you have a specially nice looking twig, then wash and put in oil or vinegar. The flavored vinegar is great for adding to your meal. I save nice looking jars just for this reason. Once I have the jars filled and rested for two weeks, I add a bow and give as gifts. Use your tarragon vinegar in salads and add the garlic oil to your vegetables.
The other drying method is to cut the herbs, strip the leaves laying the leaves on paper or a screen to dry.After the leaves are dry, you can store them for your use. Now, is the time to cut back the woody parts of the herbs and let them go to sleep for the winter. Check your herbs and bring those that need the warmer climate in doors for winter.
You have cleaned up your herb garden with the cutting and drying, but, you are not finished. Autumn is not the time to forget to plant. Garlic, chives, french tarragon and thyme are great autumn plants. A few more herbs for growing and planting in Autumn are dill and parsley. Add these to your planting if you are in a warm or hot climate. Add shallots and saffron to your bulb planting schedule along with your daffodils, narcissi and tulips.
Autumn is a wonderful time of the year to be out in your home herb garden clipping, thinning and planting. Spending time in your home herb garden is so much fun in the Autumn. You will enjoy your dry herbs in your favorite recipes.
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October 20th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Nice tips on collecting seeds! Now it is time to plant them into small pots in the kitchen, I am will sow my herbs this week. Here is how I am going to do this mightyherbs.blogspot.com/2009/09/doctor-seed.html.