More than a Culinary Delight

Every healthy kitchen has herbs and spices maintained in its cupboard. They provide healthy addition to all dishes. They are medically usages. Researches continue investigating herbs and spices to discover any other mysterious validity.

There are many common herbs and spices we use every day that has added benefits that we might not think about. For instance when we think of cinnamon, we might think of apple pie and breakfast buns, but many know cinnamon for its anti-inflammatory properties as well. It is used by many as an aid to lowering blood pressure and reducing cholesterol. Cinnamon sticks can be steeped to make a healthy tea. Just add a little lemon and honey.

Flavor and Health will be added widely

Another healthy herb is rosemary. It is known as anti-inflammatory and used medically. It has a flavor similar to the lemon. If add eggs, it will be delicious as well.

A common and well loved ingredient in our list of herbs and spices is garlic. It is believed to have anti-microbial properties and helps build immunity against a number of cancers. Garlic helps to prevent cardiovascular disease and lower blood pressure. Garlic is used in a wide range of dishes including sauces, soups and stews, along with marinades and salad dressings.

The famous fennel is known of its antioxidant powers. It has anti-inflammatory characteristics as well. Italian kitchen is using fennel in some delicious foods, such as chicken, pork and sausages. Fennel is eaten either as a raw vegetable, or a roasted one. It can be used a side-dish as well. Its flavor likes the anise’s one.

Peppermint Brings to mind images of striped candy canes and other sweets, but actually peppermint contains high levels of antioxidants and is also believed to contain anti-microbial and antiviral substances. Peppermint can sooth an upset stomach and may help to relieve pain. Fresh peppermint is used with strawberries and other fruits, vegetable dishes containing peas or carrots and is a refreshing addition to any salad.

At last, not only do herbs and spices are used in kitchen, but they also are using medically. Their benefits are many, especially if related with cardiovascular and arranging blood pressure as well.

The walkways you install into your landscape can make your garden more accessible, retain its beauty, and ad to the overall design. They are an integral part of your garden’s look and feel. Functionally, walkways offer a path through your garden that allow people to traverse them without disturbing the plants, grass, and other things you’ve set out for them to enjoy. It doesn’t take long for the places where people often tread to start to look trampled and faded if there are no walkways to protect it.

The beauty of walkways comes from the aesthetic mix of both the materials used and the shapes they and the walkway’s path take. Just as color can make them match or clash with the overall ambiance of your garden, their shape can either cut through the design or flow with it beautifully.

There are a variety of materials to make walkways from, each with its own design elements and functional properties. Interlocking concrete blocks and cobble-stone style bricks are the most popular choices. A bed of either heavy sand or small-pebbled gravel is usually laid and then the interlocking bricks are hammered into place using a wooden or rubber mallet. Bricks are laid in a similar fashion, being pressed together and tamped into place to firmly set them. This “floating” foundation allows the ground to heave with frost or moisture without dislocating the pathway.

Walkways are so integral to the design of a well-made garden than they are usually planned right from the beginning sketches and drawings before work even begins. Elements like bordering flowerbeds, concrete or rock edges, or bark strips are common walkway enhancers, defining the path’s edges for the eye.

Well-made walkways will have a slope or “crown” to them (a hump in the middle) that allows water to drain off so that it does not puddle on the walkway. This makes the walkway safer to traverse, cleaner, and keeps puddles from forming for mosquitoes to congregate in. The bricks and stones used are usually well-textured so that they have a good frictional quality to give a good grip when walking on them, minimizing slipping and dangerous falls.

Other common elements that are included in walkways are casual seating areas (benches, platforms, etc.), handrails for bridges or raised areas, or lighting elements for nighttime ambiance, and perhaps a great pool background to enhance the whole area. Other additions such as bird baths, feeders, squirrel hutches, pet-friendly plants, and other additions can make lively animals move in and around the walkway to give great entertainment and life to the gardens around the walkway.

Exotic and tropical flowers and plants continue to grow in popularity amongst home decorators and garden hobbyists. They are some of the most beautiful and brilliant plants available and come in a huge variety of colors and textures. Some are almost alien in appearance and can mesmerize the beholder.

Entering your own tropical garden can be like leaving the world for a tropical paradise vacation. It’s no wonder this hobby is becoming so popular nowadays.

Raising tropical plants and flowers successfully requires dedication and work, but it is not difficult or laborious. In fact, it’s a lot of fun once you get started!

Outdoor or Indoor? If you live in a gardening zone lower than eight, you’ll probably not be able to grow your tropical plants outdoors full-time. Growers in these zones often keep their plants in portable containers so they can be moved in and out of doors to match the season and weather. Greenhouses are also popular for this area of growing.

If you live in a warmer climate, however, you can probably plant a tropical garden outside, permanently, and use mulch or other layers to shield the plants from the worst weather.

Containers The container you use will depend not only on your sense of style, but also on the size of the plant at maturity. Some plants get quite large, so a larger container will be needed. Often, growers will start a plant in a smaller container and move it up in size as the plant grows. This is fine if you have the time and expertise to do this properly. For most of us, though, this is a lot more work than we’re ready for, so choosing a large enough container to start with is best.

The drainage properties and water retention properties of the container are also important. Most tropical plants require lots of water and need that water to be retained, so a container without drainage is optimal. Other plants will require long dry spells followed by lots of water, so an appropriate pot should be considered there too.

Humidity If you’re in a dry zone and your plants require humidity to thrive, you’ll want to consider options to keep the air around the plants moist. A greenhouse usually does this quite readily, but a room in your house or growing in the back yard is not so accommodating. In these cases, you’ll want to consider misters, shrouds, and other options that can help the plant keep humidified.

Other plants, such as the moth orchids, will prefer it to be dry, so you’ll need to make sure they’re out of reach of lawn sprinklers, the watering of other plants, etc. A humidity level for moth orchids is ideally at 55-75%.

Many plants will adapt to considerable changes in their environment without too much problem, but knowing the needs of your tropicals is important if you want them to look their best. Caring for them is a work of love, though, and is enjoyable year-round. So try growing some exotic plants and escape to a tropical paradise!

Many people think that referencing color is a great way to identify a houseplant. However, it takes more than just a typical houseplant name to be able to know its scientific species. It does not matter if you are trying to impress someone with your skill or knowledge concern houseplants, some people go to great lengths studying as much information as possible to know all about a particular plant.

There are various ways to go about finding out information about plants. Your local library is an excellent starting point, it will have books containing many pictures about every kind of plant you can imagine. An encyclopedia will show pictures, have in depth information, as well as genus and species names of many kinds of plants. You can use the pictures in the book to compare and make reference to the plants you have at home.

If you plan on breeding or creating hybrids of your houseplants, than it is important you know all you can. You can determine which plants to cross pollinate and create beautiful varieties. How you cross them is up to you, but knowing the information beforehand will enable you to do it correctly.

A Rose By Any Other Name?

When seeking information about your indoor houseplants, there are many who wonder if knowing the actual name is really all that important? Is it really going to matter if you have a corn plant or an exotic dracaena fragrans massangeana. This plant is non-flowering and its foliage is striped, many people find it appealing just for that matter alone. There is also a similar relative of the dracaena fragrans massangeana, called the striped dracaena around the house or also known as, dracaena deremensis. This particular variety has a thinner, longer type of foliage.

The scientific names of these houseplants, indicate that they need to be kept indoors. Due to their need for partial sunlight and minimal watering requirements. Some other species of this family are flower producing, most are admired and used for their foliage such as the majesty palm. Plants care guide and books can let you know the differences among houseplants which will allow you to choose the most attractive ones for your house.

Another common houseplant is the ficus, it has tall stems with some reaching as high as six feet or more, with irregular shaped leaves. A ficus elastica, is a smaller member of the ficus family, and can easily identified by using a plant book. But, the more this plant is more widely known by its more popular name, the rubber tree.

What Are The Benefits Of Organic Gardening?

Many people have been seeing the benefits of organic gardening in their lives over the last few decades. It is a way of cultivating plants that does not use artificial chemicals that may damage the planet, kill wildlife and possible injure the health of people who eat the produce that is grown with the aid of these pesticides and weed killers.

It is too soon to be sure what the effects of mass chemically assisted agriculture and genetically modified crops will be, either on consumers or on the earth. They simply have not been around long enough for anybody to be sure. In the face of this uncertainty, more and more people are turning to organically grown fruit and vegetables and meat that has been reared on organic land.

Organic gardening and agriculture is nothing new. In fact, if you go back beyond the last 60 years or so, everything was grown organically because laboratory-produced pesticides and fertilizers simply did not exist.

We tend to think of organic food as a modern trend, but it is not at all. The word is new because there was no need for it before, that is all. The organic way of growing things was practiced throughout history from the time that people first learnt to plant seeds until very recent times. It is the chemicals that are the modern fad.

It was the introduction of the pesticide DDT in farming in the 1950s that led to a turn in public opinion. Books like ‘Silent Spring’ by the well known natural historian Rachel Carson, published in 1962, started an environmental movement that has grown steadily in the decades since. The book’s title came from the discovery that DDT was damaging the egg shells of birds, preventing them from reproducing. At the same time, it killed many of the insects that were their food. Carson envisaged a world where there would be no more bird song.

Largely as a result of this movement, DDT is now illegal in almost all countries. However, many other pesticides are available both to farmers and to us as gardeners, and we cannot know what the long term effects of using them will be.

Most gardeners have a fairly small area of land to nurture, and there is no need to use chemical sprays on our home grown flowers and vegetables. If our tomato crop fails one year, we will not starve. If our honeysuckle becomes diseased, perhaps it is time to replace it with another climbing plant. If our roses are home to more insects than we would like, we can wash them off or encourage their natural predators to inhabit our garden too.

There may be more benefits of organic gardening than we currently know. Isn’t it better not to take a chance with our land, our lives and our children’s health?

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Whether you are growing herbs outdoors or in a container garden, good soil is one of the most fundamental conditions for encouraging healthy plants. While the sun is important for the energy they need for growth and reproduction, these chemical reactions can only occur with components from the soil. For this reason, it is important to grow your herbs in soil which provides all the necessary nutrients.

Water content, nitrogen and phosphorus content, alkalinity, and acidity, are all factors controlled by the soil in which your herbs are planted. Keeping all of these at the right level is one of the most important things you can do to help your herbs thrive. You should do some research on your herbs to find out the necessary soil levels.

In container gardens, all of these levels are up to you to completely control. In outdoor settings, nature provides some help, but you should still monitor these levels to ensure optimum herb growth.

Different herbs have different requirements. For example, lavender grows best in dry, alkaline soil with good drainage. Sage can get root rot if you keep the soil too moist. Nurseries or garden centers can help you determine your herbs’ needs and find soil that will help your herbs achieve maximum growth.

Soil is usually categorized as sandy, clay-like, or somewhere in between. Soil with a clay component retains water, while sandy soil provides good drainage. Most herbs require something in the middle of these two extremes. The addition of good compost can help you achieve the right balance, but you should understand your herbs’ specific requirements to choose the right soil.

When growing herbs, you also need to watch for pests. These include flying bugs as well as bugs in the soil, which is yet another reason to monitor your soil conditions. However, herbs can also help keep some pests from attacking your other plants. For example, planting herbs can help deter aphids that may be attracted to the scent of roses and certain vegetables. Chives, mint, basil, and cilantro also help control pests. For example, basil can keep tomato hornworm from ruining your tomatoes.

However, you should be aware that some herbs attract pests. Dill and yarrow can attract wasps, but keep some species of beetles away. Tomato hornworms attack dill, but this can keep them away from your tomatoes.

If you are growing herbs but want to avoid pests, you may want to consider a neem oil as a natural pesticide or insecticide. However, keep in mind that if you plan to use your herbs for culinary uses, you should avoid pesticides if possible.

Growing herbs does not have to be difficult. However, if you want healthy plants, watch for pests and provide the right soil type for your herbs.

The idea of organic horticulture appeal to some as a pursuit particularly those who have a green finger. This might not be everybody’s cup of tea so consider yourself lucky if you are amongst those who can grow green things out of the blue. Organic gardening involves particular skills: you have to know the type of dirt, what kind of flowers you can place on them, how you will take care of those plants, aside from the many other considerations that you must be aware of when you are serious about it.

All this might seem confusing to a beginner but if you are an experienced hand, then these aspects are already familiar to you and you could comfortably begin the organic way to grow things. First of all, this method of gardening is different from the regular means of gardening as the effort required could be almost double.

The essential rule of organic gardening is that synthetic tools are used only when it is necessary and not otherwise. This includes using gardening ingredients like pesticides and plant foods. Procure all that you need for your horticulture from the earth and then use them for your efforts. This would enable you to produce anything you wish, like flowers, vegetables or any other green you wish. Hopefully you are getting what we are trying to say, and that is this is one way to work in conjunction with nature.

Can plant foods also be organic?

If you are wondering if this is at all feasible, it is, and you are there to make it. You can make your own compost from the materials found in your garden. Things that you would require are fallen leaves and twigs and animal manure but it would depend of the type used and other elements.

Organic Pesticides

Organic horticulture wants, as much as possible, to stay away from pesticides. Usually handpicking of individual worms and other insects is not feasible so go to the local store and ask for organic pesticide, which are easily available. The conventional way to go about it is to remain alert and kill the worms and other insects, as soon as you see them. You should only turn to the organic pesticides when it gets too much and uncontrolled - and you can no longer handle it. Another way is to let in animals, which enjoy to feed on these garden pests. This way, you’ll have some help in cleaning those pests up and this also helps the other animals satisfy their hunger.

As a pursuit, this may be time consuming so if you cannot devote enough time into it, might as well find a partner or drop the thought until you’ve found the right time to carry on with the tasks. Organic horticulture really entails a lot of hard work so you had better be prepared to perspire in the process. If you feel tires during the process, simply think about how much good you are helping nature. This is a simple way to give thanks to nature for all the goodness that has been presented to you since birth.

Brilliant red, snowy white and rosy pink Amaryllis blooms bring a festive air to your home, and add showy splashes of red, white and green to your Christmas decor. Since Amaryllis bulbs are so easy to grow you may want to buy a Twinkle Twinkle or Candy Floss or other happily named Amaryllis for your home or as a gift.

Thankfully, you do not need a green thumb to successfully grow Amaryllis, and as the thick stalks rise up, visitors will stop in their tracks and say “wow, what is that?”, even before one bloom appears. These are spectacular holiday plants.

Select the largest bulb you can find, which will provide flowers six to eight inches across. The growers have done much of your work for you, by nurturing and fertilizing the bulbs in ideal conditions. All of their energy is already in the bulb, so all you need to do is provide a sunny indoor location near a window and water once or twice a week.

Buy a bulb already in a pot, an ideal gift to give or for your own home, or buy a bulb and select a pot that is slightly wider than the bulb, and that has a drainage hole. Add a small amount of potting soil, leave the top one third of the Amaryllis bulb uncovered, and it is ready to grow. I add colored glass florist’s marbles on top of the soil for a pretty effect. Ceramic pots are my choice since their weight helps stabilize the plants as their huge flowers open, and as the sturdy stalks grow quickly, turn the pot to keep the stalks heading straight up.

Amaryllis can be planted outside in zones 8 or 9 to 11, after the holidays, or kept indoors in their pots, for blooms next year.

Planting time is the key to when flowers will appear. Dutch Amaryllis bloom six to eight weeks after planting and South African Amaryllis bloom in four to six weeks. Favorite South African varieties include Twinkle Twinkle Holiday Star, also called Star of Holland, which blooms in glorious red with a white star in the center, Lemon Lime in a rare delicate lime color, Candy Floss with deep rose pink flowers, and the pure white of Al Fresco. Merry Christmas Amaryllis is the most popular Amaryllis in Europe, with red velvet blooms that are eight inches across, on twelve inch tall stems. From its name alone, who could resist adding the red Merry Christmas to their home? Spectacular Dutch Amaryllis include the gorgeous red and white striped Clown or Candy Cane, Minerva with its white centers and red edges, Red Lion with its bold cherry color, and the refreshing pink Rozetta. A new Dutch Amaryllis is Dancing Queen, with white double flowers streaked with red, that measure eight inches across and Grand Cru has the deepest burgundy blooms that can be imagined, on twenty four inch tall stems.

I bought my Candy Cane bulb and a blue glazed pot at a local nursery, which gave me a nice selection of colors. You can also buy from a large array of online and catalog nurseries. John Scheepers 860 567 0838 www.johnscheepers.com, White Flower Farm 800 503 9624 www.whiteflowerfarm.com, Park Seed Company 800 213-0076 www.parkseed.com and Blooming Bulb 800 648 2852 www.bloomingbulb.com are excellent sources.

I have included many more Green Thumb Christmas Tips in the brand new book I co-authored, “Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts: Stories to Warm Your Heart and Tips to Simplify Your Holiday.” Leafwood Publishers. www.Christmas-Scrapbook.info 1 877 816 4455 toll free

Terra Hangen writes numerous devotionals and articles on prayer, gardening, faith, nature and wildlife. Her publishing history includes national print and online publications such as Vibrant Life, Dog Fancy, Lutheran Digest, Flower and Garden, and Hobby Farms and an essay in the Rainy Day Book. Terra and her family enjoy living on the Monterey Bay in California.

To learn more about Terra, follow her blog at ‘http://tinyurl.com/6rf4tq

Lawn Maintenance For Fall

Winter is coming, is your lawn ready? Many people are tired of mowing and just stop paying attention to their lawn when the grass growth slows down. Take time in the fall, before and after your favorite football games, to do a little lawn maintenance. Here are some easy to follow steps to help you tuck your lawn safely in for its long winter rest.

Related site: How to transform your worn-out lawn, guaranteed!

1. Rake the leaves that fall on your grass. Depending on the number of nearby trees, you can wait until all the leaves are down or go at it once a week during leaf-falling season. In my opinion, it’s better to keep on top of it or the leaves will be tucked in every nook and cranny of your landscape with each new wind storm. Leaves make good mulch when they’ve been torn to shreds. When they’re whole, they tend to matt on your lawn, suffocating it. If you have a mulching lawnmower then mulch them up and spread them in your garden or throw them on your compost pile.

2. Take care of weeds now. If the problem is not severe, it’s best to weed by hand. You can easily find the weeds when your grass starts going brown/dormant and the weeds remain bright green.

3. As the temperature has generally started to cool down in autumn, this is a good time to over-seed or fix bigger patches of empty grass areas with sod patches. Do this sooner rather than later so the roots have time to get established before they get hit with the really nasty weather.

4. Don’t totally stop watering or mowing your lawn. You definitely will make adjustments from your summer schedule, but your lawn still needs some care. Water well before your ground freezes for the winter. If your area doesn’t get natural moisture in the winter you should water occasionally.

5. Fall is the time to apply a winter fertilizer. Find one that is appropriate for your area and your lawn type. Your lawn needs nutrients before the long winter, much like a bear needs plenty to eat before it hibernates.

Remember, you grass may go dormant in the winter, but it’s still alive. It stops growing, but it’s just taking a break. If you take the time to do the above fall maintenance steps, you will have a lawn that weathers the winter well and is ready for you next spring.

Related site: How to transform your worn-out lawn, guaranteed!

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Hot Bed Gardening: A Return To Tradition

Hot bed gardening is one of the traditional methods of raising plants that may be little known these days, but is seeing a revival among organic and environmentally aware gardeners in cooler temperate climates.

Did you ever wonder where the phrase ‘hot bed’ comes from? You will read or hear it often in the news, when they talk about ‘a hot bed of political dissent’ or ‘a hot bed of radical views’. It has nothing to do with the bedroom! In fact it is a gardening term.

Hot beds were very popular in Victorian times when many new gardening techniques were developed. It was a way to grow crops in colder weather than they could normally stand, without the benefit of modern heated greenhouses.

These days, many people are switching off the electricity and going back to hot beds to reduce their carbon footprint and benefit the environment. Here is how it works.

A hot bed is used for forcing cucumbers, melons, strawberries, salad vegetables and any other crop that is desired out of season. Heat is created under the plants by the action of manure. Traditionally, horse manure was used and this is probably still the best. It needs to be fresh and should be well mixed with straw.

If you have the time, leave the manure in a heap for 9 days, turning top to bottom every 3 days. Shake each forkful as you move the pile. Water it after turning if the weather is dry. This process starts off the fermentation and helps it to produce an even heat in the bed.

You can create a hotbed either in an unheated greenhouse or outside. If outside, you can build a frame to protect it from the worst of the weather. This will be a wooden sided, sloping frame with a glass lid - the traditional cucumber frame shape.

If you do not have a greenhouse and do not want to build a frame, you can try the pit method. Here you will dig a pit which initially needs to be about 6 feet deep. The first 3 feet will be filled with the manure straw mixture, the next foot with a mix of topsoil and ripe compost, and the final 2 feet remain empty so that the earth around forms protective walls. Again a glass lid over the top will increase effectiveness.

The 3 foot depth of manure should be well compacted, whichever method you are using. Tread it down before topping with the soil and compost mixture.

Seeds can be sown either directly into the top soil or in seed trays placed on top of the bed. Start with lettuces and radishes in January. After about 2 months the manure will lose its heating power, so you will need to dig it out after this crop and replace with fresh.

Then sow plants of the cucurbitaceae family in April or May, depending on your climate. These include zucchini (courgettes), squashes and pumpkins, cucumbers, melons and gourds, plus anything else that you want to try in hot bed gardening.

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