Better Homes and Gardens BH&G Growing & Using Herbs 2023

Flowers are fragrant and vegetables are delicious, but herbs have the power to amplify pleasure and health like no other plants in your garden. Herbs can change everyday cooking from basic sustenance to gourmet fare. Herbs can soothe, assist healing, and even make you—and your home—smell wonderful. And they can do all these things whether freshly harvested or preserved. That they are so useful and beautiful seems almost too good to be true when you discover how easy and inexpensive it can be to grow them yourself. Cultures all over the world have treasured herbs for millennia, and the most adaptable and beneficial of these plants have crossed continents and oceans. Many of our favorite easy-to-grow herbs pack powerful antioxidants into their leaves and flowers and are capable of significant health…

these pages provide a passport for an herbal adventure that will acquaint you with the realm of these amazingly useful plants. Throughout the ages, people have gathered herbs and used them for sustenance and healing. Wild plants first ensured people’s survival, then cultivated plants evolved and became an indispensable part of the household. The reasons for growing and using herbs—beauty for gardens, flavor for foods, fragrance for homes, and well-being for bodies—have endured and expanded worldwide. Just a few pots of homegrown herbs on a sunny deck, patio, or windowsill will transform everyday meals with fresh ingredients and save money too. You’ll want to gather snippets of herbs for fragrant bouquets, refreshing cocktails, and gifts for friends. Start exploring the world of herbs now to find more ways to incorporate them into…

LAVENDER (Lavandula sp.) ► Perennial ► Height: 12–36 inches ► Propagate: cuttings, division, seeds ► Light: full sun ► Preserve: air-dry ► Uses: bouquets, cosmetics, culinary, fragrance, medicinal Lavender tolerates drought, heat, and wind but not high humidity, wet soil, or poor drainage. Amend a planting area with grit and gravel. Plant lavender at the top of a slope or in a raised bed. Choose varieties suited to the climate where you live. Read more about this on page 82. To promote dense plants and repeat blooms, shear plants by up to one-third after they bloom. All lavender varieties are edible. Remove the buds from the dried flowers and use them sparingly in desserts or as a substitute for rosemary in savory dishes. Thanks to lavender’s clean, fresh scent and its calming effect, the herb is delightful in…

A DREAM GARDEN … brings you JOY.… suits your home’s STYLE & your PERSONALITY.… offers SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE in the household.… creates BEAUTIFUL VIEWS from various vistas.… demands LITTLE UPKEEP.… fits your BUDGET. herb gardens come in all sizes, from potted plants outside the back door to a front yard dedicated to homegrown harvests of herbs, fruits, and veggies. Whether herbs replace a lawn or fill flowerbeds, they can yield enough lasting beauty and fresh, delicious ingredients for meals to fulfill all your wishes. For many gardeners, dreams of a kitchen garden combine utility with aesthetics. Follow a traditional herbs-only plan that is organized and symmetrical like the wheel garden, left and below. On a smaller scale, plant a kitchen garden in a 20-inch container, right, that can be moved and changed anytime.…

any plant that has a place in Ona Belk’s Denver garden also has a purpose. Raised beds hold an array of vegetables as well as parsley, cilantro, rosemary, mint, tarragon, sorrel, sage, and other herbs for cooking and baking. “For me, the most important thing is to have an edible garden, a medicinal garden,” she says. “Whatever is growing, I make use of it.” In addition to the culinary herbs, calendula, borage, lavender, roses, and other flowers contribute bouquets. And even the landscape plants—including trees (linden, hawthorn), shrubs (elderberry, aronia, red currant, black currant, gooseberry, serviceberry), and groundcovers (‘Elfin’ thyme, woolly thyme, clover)—yield flowers, berries, and leaves with versatile potential. Resourcefulness comes naturally to Ona. She grew up in a small Lithuanian neighborhood of urban Chicago where the rowhouses were full…

Like many garden plants, herbs have varying needs, but luckily for gardeners, most are not fussy. Sure, there are exceptions, including lemon verbena, borage, and other tall herbs, which need staking to keep them growing upright. Although some herbs (lavender, rosemary, bay, sage) tolerate dry conditions, others (basil, cilantro, parsley) prefer a consistent supply of water. Tempting as it is to jump in and grow a wide variety of herbs at first, instead grow only a few herb varieties until you’re well acquainted with them. Choose herbs that you will definitely use. Get to know each plant and its needs throughout the growing season. Then add to your list of must-haves. HERBS ARE AMONG THE EASIEST PLANTS TO GROW. THEY’RE MOSTLY VIGOROUS AND HAVE FEW PROBLEMS WITH PESTS AND DISEASES. GROWING HERBS Start with…