Gardening Tips at YourGardeningPro.com

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I like to cook with fresh herbs. Don’t you? Not only do they taste nice, they smell wonderful too! It’s easy to use fresh herb plants too. Just clip a few sprigs from the nearest herb and mix in with your other ingredients.

But what do you do when it’s winter and fresh herbs are few and far between?

Try freezing as a fresh alternative to drying your herbs because it is a simpler and better way to keep your herbs fresh. In three steps you can set them aside for future recipes—raise them, harvest them and freeze them. It’s not important to chop them before you freeze them. Even after they are frozen, you will not have to chop them to cook with them.

If you do want your herbs measured before you freeze your herbs, you can dice them up and freeze your herbs in ice trays. Simply fill each compartment of the ice cube tray almost to the top with chopped basil or whatever other plant you want to freeze and add water. Put these cubes into the freezer bags and later, when you’re ready mix a few cubes into your soups, stews and other meals.

Here are some herbs that really keep their flavor and taste when frozen:

• Basil: Remove the leaves from the stem just before the flowers of your basil when you’re ready to harvest them and dry them. Put the dried leaves into a freezer bag so that you can use them in the future. You can also avoid the drying out part and put your herbs straight away into the freezer. Another way to keep your basil is to layer your herbs in the bottom of a plastic container and cover your herbs with extra virgin olive oil, which will both keep and bring out the flavor. Your basil will last for several months like this.

• Parsley: It is not just a pretty garnish; you can use parsley in any Italian dish.  Parsley will work well in almost any Italian meal. Nobody appreciates parsley for it’s positive features. It cannot help it if the other Italian herb plants (like oregano, basil and garlic) have stronger, more memorable flavors.  Parsley works hard to help other herbs taste better. Mix it into any dish (usually near the end of the cooking process) and it will make the rest of the herb plants that much nicer. I put whole leaves in a freezer bag and lay it flat until it’s frozen, usually by putting something on top of my bags for a few days in the freezer. When you take out the bag to use the herb, just scrunch up the bag in your hand. No need for a knife.

• French Tarragon: If you plan to over-winter your French tarragon plant, be sure not to trim it back too much. Of course it’s better to use the leaves fresh, but you can tuck some of these leaves into a freezer bag and they will get you through the winter months. Spice up your chicken or fish dishes with this herb. French Tarragon is good for making vinegars, cream sauces and mustards.

Once you put the herb plants in the freezer bag, write the name of the plant on the outside of the bag and the date so that you will be able to tell similar herb plants apart.

Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.

Here is more information on Italian Herb Garden. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.

For a gardener, many benefits from the membership in a gardening club. Besides the possibility to connect with other gardeners and exchange opinions, you can also enjoy special deals and discounts that are only available for members. First you would have to fill in some forms in order to join a gardening club. There are websites and stores that operate in support of a certain gardening club and members get discounts for their purchases.

There are several ways of joining a gardening club. Hobbyists know each other by having met with the occasion of various events they organize. But a gardening club is open to new members too. Lots of people prefer the online version of the gardening club, while others will just go local. Some clubs are amateurish while others are professional.

There are other benefits in joining a gardening club besides the availability of discounts and special deals. Information exchange represents the heart and soul of these gatherings. Sometimes the answers to gardening challenges comes from more experienced gardeners you meet in a gardening club on the Internet. Seeking company and advice from other people is a good way of improving your gardening experience and finding out innovative ideas to implement.

The organization of online forums follows the model of a gardening club. People launch topics and they exchange opinions on them. You can further communicate with the other members of the club via email, on the phone or you can establish regular meetings. In case there is no gardening club in your neighborhood, the Internet becomes the only opportunity for joining such a community. The registration procedure you follow online remains pretty much the same as in real clubs.

Make sure to check the terms and conditions of the gardening club and find out the rights and obligations that you have as a member. Sometimes, members pay fees to support the maintenance and the administrative tasks of their gardening club, and this is a matter on which you should be informed. Find out what is required from you before you register. Make the gardening club experience a really nice one!

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Hydroponics gardening represents the cultivation of plants without soil, but that is just to simplify the explanation of a much more complex system. The plants hang with their roots in a watery solution that contains all the nutrients necessary for plant development. Apparently, it has been used for thousands of years, although at present it is not by far as extensive as regular agriculture. At present there are countries like the Netherlands, Germany and Australia that have implemented hydroponics gardening successfully.

There are many advantages to hydroponics gardening but the growth rate is the most spectacular of all. As compared to a soil plant, a hydroponic plant can grow twice faster. The specificity of the environment explains for this difference because roots cannot respond in the same way to water as to soil. In the hydroponic medium, the roots have more oxygen and the nutrients are absorbed faster. All the energy of the plant is converted into growth if it does not have to look for minerals in the soil.

Another great benefit of hydroponics gardening consists of the superior protection against disease, bug infection and fungi. Thus, hydroponic plants can grow faster because they are healthier. They provide a solution to regular gardening in very dry geographical areas and if implemented at the large scale, hydroponic systems may reduce the food crisis in under-developed countries. Having fresh food available all year round is indeed a very promising perspective.

It is up to the gardener to choose the growing medium. And the same holds true for nutrients. Both solutions and fertilizers are available in specialized stores. With 2 or 4 spoonfuls of nutrients you can create a gallon of solution for your plants. Some nutrients will accelerate blooming while others only stimulate growing. Such mixes ensure that hydroponics gardening stays effective and optimal for the plants.

When you create your hydroponic garden, you will have to choose between active and passive systems. The nutrient solution is actively pumped in active systems so that the roots have solution available all the time. They are better than passive hydroponics gardening systems that just wet the roots without providing the same level of oxygen. Even if the active variant costs more, it is worth implementing.

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I collect cookbooks and like to experiment with interesting dinners from other culture like a Mexican mole. What about you? Like me, you grow many of the ingredients if you start your own themed kitchen herb garden.

You can cultivate the major herbs in your own garden and have the freshest ingredients to add to your recipes, or experiment on your own.

You do not need a special location for your themed kitchen herb garden. You can cultivate them in containers or in your usual garden bed.

Here are some suggestions on growing your own themed kitchen garden:

• Asian: There are a lot of different cultures and folks in Asia, such as Thai, Chinese, Indian and Vietnamese, so how could the food be boring? Some fantastic herbs to cultivate in your Asian-themed garden are lemongrass, cayenne pepper, cardamom and anise. Try the licorice flavor of anise in your next Indian meal, or use its warm sweetness in your baked goods. You can also try it in tea as well as in baking a savory-sweet cookie. The growing popularity of Asian cooking has helped it fall back into favor in the US in the last few years.

• Mexican: Not a week goes by when I don’t chow down on a Mexican meal. Some spicy beans and rice or nachos can quickly hit the place. The best Mexican recipes always include these: Cayenne pepper, Cilantro and Garlic.

• Italian: Just about everybody I know has their favorite Italian pasta dish. Mine is lasagna, of course. Among the best herb plants to use in your Italian dinners are basil, fennel, parsley, garlic, marjoram, oregano, rosemary and thyme. You can add garlic to all your favorite Italian meals and savor the oniony taste! Put a little garlic on your roasted chicken or add it to your soups and stews. You can even put some chopped garlic in your mashed potatoes. Be warned, the longer you cook garlic, the milder the flavor becomes so do not overcook it!

• Middle East: If you haven’t tried any of the exciting and flavorful foods from the Middle East and Northern Africa, you are missing some fabulous dishes. There is such variety in the array of herbs used in Middle Eastern cooking. Add chick peas, couscous and figs to your pita and herbed yogurt sauce for something super special. Try these herbs to spice up your Middle Eastern dinners: cardamom, garlic, parsley, rosemary and saffron.

• German: You don’t have to wait for October to cook up an Octoberfest meal at home if you have the right herb plants used in German cuisine. These are a couple of the best and most often used in authentic German dishes: chives, dill, horseradish, sage and thyme. Horseradish, which is in the mustard family, is a great condiment, opening the sinuses while adding tang to the taste buds. Use it to add some extra twang to beef, fish, cream cheese spreads, potato salad, mayonnaise and meat loaf.

Unless you use too much of your plant in cooking, your herb will keep growing and provide you with ingredients for other meals. When you remove a few leaves from your sage plant, it can grow back. Most herbs appreciate being cut back from time to time and will likely grow bigger and fuller as a result.

Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.

Here is more information on Fresh Herb Gardening. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.