Some Tips To Consider On Using Herbs From Your Home Herb Garden
Planting herbs of your own in your home herb garden really has a lot of advantages. Herbs have a lot of uses to those herb growers. Although engaging yourselves in growing herbs requires extra effort for them to grow and flourish and will give you your expected outcome.
If you are planning to use the herbs, you should harvest them first but before doing so, you should consider the time you will harvest a certain herb. The weather at a certain place affects the good harvest of a herb. Some herbs are affected by the season especially during harvest time. Their essential oils can be dispersed by the wind and the heat. It is already a common practice that herbs are harvested during dry season because herbs have fewer oils during the wet season. If you harvest a herb, you only get a certain part of it and not the entire plant. Harvesting the herb does not mean you have to use it at once at the time you picked them but you can preserve them by keeping it in the refrigerator. In harvesting, you have to inspect for insects and leaves that are damaged from the herbs.
Harvested herbs can be stored for few months after it has been harvest. There are ways on how to preserve your harvested herbs. First, is by the power of sunlight often known as drying. Just bundle six to twelve stems without foliage altogether and turn them every now and then to properly dry them. Second way is by freezing. An easy way to preserve because you just have to put the herbs in the refrigerator, and once they are dried, you can put them together in the bag and store it for future use. And the last way of preserving is by soaking the herbs in a vinegar or flavored salt and keep it for months. When the herbs are already dry, separate the brown ones and store it in a sealed container.
Of course, owner of a home herb garden often use herbs fresh right out of the garden. Take care cleaning the herbs before they are placed fresh in recipes. In order to clean fresh herbs place them in a bowl filled with cool water. If there is a large quantity of herbs you can use the sink. Place about two tablespoons of salt in the water. The salt in the water will drive away insects without damaging the plant. Remove the herbs from the water and dry them in a salad spinner.
Herbs are used in different ways, they are harvested and chopped in different procedures. Be sure that you are knowledgeable with the herb you have for your proper usage of it.
Jack Grant is an herb garden lover and improved his skills in Italy. Get the secrets on how to cultivate your own Home Herb Garden and get FREE tips. Click here.
