Advantages of Using Herbs From a Home Herb Garden
The herbs planted in your herb garden are extremely useful, and since you have watched them grow in front of you, there is a sense of satisfaction in the gardening work that you have accomplished. However, a good herb garden requires some amount of work before the herbs can grow and flourish.
Harvesting Herbs From Your Home Herb Garden
When using herbs from a home herb garden, it is important to harvest the herbs in the proper manner. Timing of this activity is extremely important since both wind and heat can lead to dispersion of the essential oils from the herb plants. During the midsummer time there is a need to choose a calm and dry morning for the harvesting activity of the herbs. If the herbs are harvested on a rainy day then very little oil is produced.
The best choice would be to harvest the herbs when the dew has dried from the leaves of the plants and the flowers have started to bloom. However, the harvesting process does not mean that the entire plant is removed. Only a certain portion of the herb is used. This allows for further growth of the herbs in your garden. Only about a third of the foliage from the plant should be harvested. However, you might find that some herbs may need a little more foliage left for re-growth. While using herbs from a home herb garden, it is important to inspect the plant for occurrences of insects or damaged leaves before it can be used for harvesting.
Preserving and Using Herbs From a Home Herb Garden
Typically, people preserve the herbs using three common methods. These methods are freezing, drying, or preserving them in a medium like salt or vinegar.
To dry your herbs:
- Place six to twelve stems of the herb plant is bundled together and the remove the foliage from the base of the stems.
- The bundle is secured with the help of a string.
- The next step would be to hang the bundle in a cool location, which is kept away from the sunlight.
- When drying of individual leaves, they can be placed on a screen or rack. The leaves need to be turned around to allow them to dry properly.
- Devices like dehydrators, microwaves, or ovens can also be used to dry the herbs. This is not often recommended as the herbs may turn out less satisfactory.
Freezing provides a simple solution to preserve herbs:
- The herbs need to be cut into ¼-inch pieces while being kept on a baking sheet with wax paper.
- When the herbs are frozen, put them together in a bag and store them in the freezer until further use.
Preserving herbs through the use of a medium:
- Certain herbs like basil, chopped mint, or tarragon can be easily preserved with vinegar so that it is preserved for several months.
- Using flavored salts to preserve the herbs will allow the process of keeping salts between layers of fresh herbs.
- Once completely dry, it is important to remove the brown colored herb from the flavored salt and kept in an airtight container.
- The herbs need to be cleaned before using them in recipes. Using two tablespoon of salt in water is an effective way of cleaning the herbs.
- The saltiness of the water will help drive away the insects.
- The herbs can then be dried in a salad spinner.
Related posts:
- Creating The Perfect Italian Herb Garden
- Selecting The Right Herb Garden Plants
- Where Should You Buy Herb Garden Essentials? (And other questions about growing herbs)
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