Make a Lavender Wand

By the beginning of summer, you should have enough lavender up and ready to make lavender wands. Lavender wands are always popular gifts for birthdays and around the holidays. I make a big batch during the summer, and tie them into my Christmas gift bows. These wands are an aromatic addition to a lingerie or linen drawer, closet, or laundry room. Lavender permeates the area in which a wand is

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Christmas Gift Ideas: Seed Packets with Markers

Christmas is coming. . . really. I'm sorry to remind you, but it is. One of the many great things about herb gardening is that you have the raw material for some wonderful gifts. If you plan ahead, you can make unique herb offerings quickly and inexpensively. For the next couple of months, I'll be giving you some examples.Here's one: Fabric Wrapped Herb Seeds with Popsicle MarkersThis fall,

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Tips for Growing Herbs Indoors

Many herbs are well suited to domestic life and thrive indoors. With some attention to their special needs, you can keep an indoor herb garden that will give you fresh herbs year round.Indoor Herb LightingThe biggest challenge to the indoor herb gardener is light. Lighting is critically important to all plants, but herbs seem to be especially sensitive to the right light conditions. If you can

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How to Make a Basic Tea Rub (Oh, and Some Variations)

Chef Ming Tsai has quite a presence on the web, and he uses rubs to create some wonderful recipes. One of his signature rub ingredients is tea. Other cooks have picked up the practice of using tea as a flavor base in rubs, artfully incorporating them in anything from mouthwatering BBQ to sea scallops. I don't know where the practice started, but I'm glad it did.If you'd like your next seared tuna

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Growing Bay Leaf (Bay Laurel)

Bay or sweet bay (Laurus nobilis) is the leaf from a tree in the Laurel family. It's an evergreen that originated in the Mediterranean, where it grows to a height of 40 feet. Bay laurel is beautifully appointed with medium sized, glossy, green leaves. It is not winter hardy in areas that experience freezing weather.Luckily, bay can be cultivated in a container and brought indoors to overwinter.

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Make Your Own Old Bay Seasoning Blend

One of the more well known of the crab seasoning blends, Old Bay Seasoning, sold by McCormick & Company among others, is a household staple in many parts of the United States.

It has great flavor, and is less dependent on salt than some other popular seasonings – but delivers good flavor. Want to make your own? I've been experimenting with this classic seasoning, and here's my take on it.

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Want an Herbal Teeth Whitener?

Try Sage and StrawberrySage has been used as means of whitening discolored teeth for centuries, and it still works today. Together with strawberry, it's a natural solution for treating a yellowed and dingy smile.Make a paste of one large sage leaf, one strawberry, and one teaspoon of baking soda. I blend the ingredients in a mini-food processor. Apply the paste to your teeth for five to ten

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Make Your Own Garlic Juice or Powdered Garlic

Make your own garlic juice and garlic powder. The process takes some time because it involved peeling lots of garlic cloves. You may decide afterward that buying prepared garlic products is easier and just as tasty, but every herb fanatic should try it once.Here's how.Instructions for Making Garlic Juice1 bulb of garlicMesh strainerCoffee FilterPeel one bulb of garlic (this will give you a

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Recipe for Bechamel Sauce With Herbs

Bechamel sauce, white sauce, is one of the most basic sauces used in cooking. It's an easy sauce to make if you remember to keep stirring the ingredients throughout. Never stop stirring, use medium heat, and pick a thick pan that will evenly distribute the heat.Some béchamel recipes call for heavy cream, while others make due with whole milk. Some will even cheat and use milk, but up the butter

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Moussaka Recipe with Aubergine (Eggplant)

My friend Emily's grandmother was Greek and taught her some great Greek dishes which she's shared with me over the years. She's actually partly responsible for my interest in herbs and spices. One of her best recipes is for Moussaka. I've updated some things, grilling the eggplant and using sun dried tomatoes instead of tomato paste, but otherwise it's pretty close to her grandmother's

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Greek Herbs and Spices

Greece has an ancient, almost mystical culinary tradition. Whether you are interested in making a nice moussaka, Greek salad, or stuffed grape leaves, you'll want to know something about the signature herbs of this sun kissed Mediterranean country. So, get out your olive oil, phyllo dough, feta cheese and kalamata olives, tune up your bouzouki, and lets explore Greek flavor. Follow the links to

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Dittany of Crete

I am a devoted Harry Potter fan. I don't know what it is about the wizarding world, but it makes me happy just thinking about it.In rereading the final book in the series, The Deathly Hallows, Harry and his friends get themselves in quite a few scrapes. It's interesting that Hermione, a young female wizard, is the one who performs most of the first aid. Often she's the only girl-woman around.

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Vermiculite

Vermiculite is heat expanded mica. It is often used as a starting medium for seeds and cuttings. Sometimes referred to as a soilless medium, a feature that makes it free of disease, vermiculite has no nutritional value, so some sort of liquid fertilizer should be used when propagating plants with using this method.As a additive to potting soil, vermiculite helps create a friable, light, mixture

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Wicking

Drawing moisture upward through capillary action. Potted plants that need to be watered often respond well to wicking. Fill a dish under the plant's pot with marbles or small stones, and then with water just short of the top of the stones. Thread twine from the top of the plant's pot, through the root ball of the plant, and out the drainage hole. Trail the twine into the reservoir under the

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Transpiration

The process in which a plant releases water through pores on its leaves.This is a glossary entry that will help you understand some of my blogs better. Plants have a vocabulary; most specialized areas of learning do. Pick up one new term a day, and in no time you'll be a pro.

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Heal-In

The temporary placement of plants in an interim medium until they can be planted in their permanent containers.This is a glossary entry that will help you understand some of my blogs better. Plants have a vocabulary; most specialized areas of learning do. Pick up one new term a day, and in no time you'll be a pro.

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Tropical

A typically warm and humid growing region that doesn't experience freezing temperatures.This is a glossary entry that will help you understand some of my blogs better. Plants have a vocabulary; most specialized areas of learning do. Pick up one new term a day, and in no time you'll be a pro.

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Semi-Tropical

A warm and often humid growing region that experiences infrequent temperature drops below freezing.This is a glossary entry that will help you understand some of my blogs better. Plants have a vocabulary; most specialized areas of learning do. Pick up one new term a day, and in no time you'll be a pro.

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ornamental

A plant that is grown for its visual appeal.This is a glossary entry that will help you understand some of my blogs better. Plants have a vocabulary; most specialized areas of learning do. Pick up one new term a day, and in no time you'll be a pro.

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Harvesting Herbs

The process of harvesting the herbs you've cultivated is one of the most satisfying aspects of growing them. The fragrance of cut herbs fills the air around you, permeates the skin of your hands, and makes you feel blessed. Your basket is full of different textures and shades of the most peaceful green, and all of your harvest can be useful.In the fall, I've made a workbench for myself on our

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Lavender Salt

My friend Eric was interested in making lavender salt to sprinkle on asparagus and wilted spinach salad. It's tasty and easy to make. Here's how.Recipe for Lavender Salt4 tbsp. dried lavender flowers1 c. fine salt (Coarse salt doesn't work as well.)Glass jar with a tight fitting lidMuslin fabricFirst ProcedurePlace two tablespoons of lavender flowers in a length of muslin and wrap securely with

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Make Your Own Portuguese Linguica Sausage

Linguica is a robust Portuguese sausage that receives far less attention than it deserves. Unlike its cousin, chorizo, linguica is more flavorful than hot, and takes full advantage of its signature ingredient, paprika. Linguica works as well with egg and fish dishes as it does with beef in hearty stews. If you are having trouble finding a local source for this under-appreciated delicacy, try

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Friability

Soil texture that is evenly loose, light, and crumbly.This is a glossary entry that will help you understand some of my blogs better. Plants have a vocabulary; most specialized areas of learning do. Pick up one new term a day, and in no time you'll be a pro.

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Herbaceous

A plant with soft tissues. Not woody.This is a glossary entry that will help you understand some of my blogs better. Plants have a vocabulary; most specialized areas of learning do. Pick up one new term a day, and in no time you'll be a pro.

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Cultivar

A blending of the terms cultivate and variety. A cultivated plant variety, rather than one occurring in nature.This is a glossary entry that will help you understand some of my blogs better. Plants have a vocabulary; most specialized areas of learning do. Pick up one new term a day, and in no time you'll be a pro.

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Dampening Off

A disease in young plants in which the stems are attacked at the soil line by fungus.This is a glossary entry that will help you understand some of my blogs better. Plants have a vocabulary; most specialized areas of learning do. Pick up one new term a day, and in no time you'll be a pro.

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Cachepot

A plant container that does not come equipped with a drainage hole.

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Complete Fertilizer

Fertilizers that contain nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium are considered complete because they provide the three minerals absolutely necessary for plant growth.10-10-10 Fertilizer - What the Numbers MeanThis is usually represented on the front of the fertilizer container with three numbers separated by hyphens. Like: 10-10-10. The first number is the nitrogen content, then phosphorous and

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Air Layering

Propagation by slicing a section of woody stem and securing the open cut with a damp medium like peat moss. After roots form, the new plant is removed from the parent.This is a glossary entry that will help you understand some of my blogs better. Plants have a vocabulary; most specialized areas of learning do. Pick up one new term a day, and in no time you'll be a pro.

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Make Lavender Sugar Cookies

You might think it's a little too hot to be baking, but it's not too hot to start harvesting your lavender buds. Once you've made lavender sugar, you can make some very tasty lavender sugar cookies. They are buttery and have that added lavender zing. You might even want to pair them up with some refreshing lavender ice cream. Start making your lavender sugar now: Lavender Sugar Cookies.Sometimes

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Acidifier

An acidifier is any soil amendment that decreases the soil's pH. This would include:Substances That Increase Soil Acidity SawdustPeat mossSulphurWood chipsCottonseed mealLeaf moldCoffee grounds (Be sure to compost them first.)Herbs and Plants That Love Acidic SoilSorrel (French), blueberry, honeysuckle and dandelionThis is a glossary entry that will help you understand some of my blogs better.

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