My New Herb Garden

With another blogger's recommendation, I headed to Amazon to check out a book about growing herbs. 

I have always been interested in growing herbs; however, my only success so far has been with mints and basil.

I was not real happy with the recommended book contents.

That was OK because I found this one instead. 

Oh my!

I knew this one was for me.

Anything you have ever wanted to know about growing herbs will be found in this book, Homegrown Herbs by Tammi Hartung. 

The tag line for this book is, "A Complete Guide to Growing, Using, and Enjoying More than 100 Herbs".

No lie. 

It's true.

This is the best gardening book I have ever had in my hands. 

I can spend hours and hours trying to devour it. 

There are wonderful pictures of all the herbs.

Within ten chapters she covers things like: growing and using; selecting plants and designing a garden; soil secrets; propagation; maintenance; pest and disease; harvesting; herbal preparations for medicine and personal care; cooking; and herb personalities. 

The charts scattered through the pages are my favorite feature.

At a glance you can discover:

Plant Habitat Preferences

Plant Characteristics and Requirements

Planning A Theme Garden

Propagation At A Glance

A Guide to Beneficial Insects

Harvesting Guidelines

Edible Flowers At A Glance

Plant Name Cross-Reference

I got real excited when I discovered the theme garden chart.

I am particularly interested in collecting as many of the "tea" herbs as I can find. 

I buy bulk hibiscus and generally make a large pitcher of it. 

This week, I decided to make a small pot of hibiscus tea.

I used stevia, spearmint, lemon balm and hibiscus.

When I make a large pitcher, I also add the juice of one lime. 

My new herb garden is conviently right at my backdoor.

The window in the above picture is my kitchen. 

The garden is still a work in progress as I am fighting bermuda grass and nut sedge. 

And the only way to get rid of it is to keep digging it out. 

I plan to eventually mulch this with a gravel.

Even though my gardening progress is slow, I'm still enjoying stepping out the door at dinner time to fetch a herb or two.

For example,Tuesday evening just as I was preparing talipia for the oven, I stepped out and snipped some Mexican tarragon, rosemary, and parsley.   

Mexican (also called Texas) Tarragon, Tagetes lucida

Pineapple Sage

So far, I have 25 different herbs. 

When I first started buying them I went with a list of what I hoped to find. 

Soon I realized if the garden centers had it, I wanted it.

You may have noticed that many of my herbs are in containers. 

Many herbs require good drainage and not so much water. Containers are my version of raised beds to accomodate this habitat preference.

I haven't sampled all of them yet but so far, I have enjoyed what I have used. 

The most important recommendation I could make is; if at all possible, make your herb garden right at your back door. 

And you will not be disappointed in the book. 

Promise.