Herbs

There are so many herbs that I certainly am not going to go into them all. I love herbs~ to grow, to brew, to eat, to smell... Herbs can be a wonderful addition to your home and garden. If you have limited space like I do herbal container or kitchen gardens may be just the thing for you.

Mints~ Mint is one of my favorite things to grow. There are so many types of mint Peppermint, Spearmint, Mint Julep, Chocolate Mint, Orange Mint, Lime Mint, Pennyroyal, Basil Mint, Ginger Mint, Lemon mint, Pineapple Mint, English Mint, etc. Uses: Mint tea can be used for settling an upset stomache or soothing a sore throat. It is also quite nice for soothing your nerves. You can use it in potpourri and saches to scent your world. Growing For me Mints are very easy to grow- as easy as growing weeds basically. I have grown them in full sun and full shade and been successful. Basically: plant, water, watch grow. It is a good container herb *if* you are planning on harvesting it. If you don't harvest it it will out grow it's container fairly quickly. You can trim the mature leaves and stems back. Mint replicates (or whatever you want to call it) by sending out tendrils from the bottom of the plant these tendrils seach out a good place for a new Mint plant to grow. I have never cut any of these tendrils for fear of hurting the plant (hey, I never said I was an expert.) However, the mature stems and leaves can be harvested. The Mint leaves grow to a certain size and then start to die as new leaf buds take their place. You can cut these leaves off and either boil them immediately to enjoy a lovely tea, crush them for use them in a recipe or dry them and save them for later use. To Dry: This is easy as well- if you just cut the leaves lay them out on a plate on your counter for a couple of days and they'll be dry. Save them in a labeled jar or ziplock bag. I have also been told you can also freeze them fresh- but I always dry mine. Once your Mint plants are mature and are reproducing you can trim them back stems and all then tie them together and hang them upside down to dry. If you do this too early, however, you will miss the tiny, fragrant and beautiful blooms that the mature plants have. Even without the blooms though your Mint plants will smell very, very good.

Chamomile~ Chamomile is another very pretty and fragrant herb. It had delicate whispy leaves and small daisy like flowers. Chamomile makes a lovely tea that tastes a bit like honey. Uses: "It is considered a preventative and the sole certain remedy for nightmare..." From: A Modern Herbal by Mrs. M. Grieve, 1931 While I am not certain if the above is true it is a wonderful herb for soothing the nerves and calming the stomache and helps with gastrointestinal issues (gas.). So, I suppose it may help if it's nightmares caused by discomfort in the body. Chamomile, in a large amount, can be boiled until very strong and used as a hair rinse to enhance natural blond. Growing Chamomile can be a bit, er, touchy, when it's young. It doesn't seem to like very hot temperatures and too much direct sun makes it droopy. Keep it well watered (not drenched/moist soil) and give only a few of hours of direct sunlight a day during the hottest part of the Summer. I lost my first Chamomile plant because the directions on the tag said, "Full Sun" so I gave it full sun and it drooped and drooped and, well, died. The second one I kept in the shade during the hottest part of the day only giving it sun in the morning and the evening and it grew like crazy. You can snip the flowers and dry them for tea. Until you have mature plants though you probably won't have enough flowers to make more than a cup at a time or maybe for use in an herbal blend.