While I claim no great skill or knowledge about cooking that big ole Thanksgiving turkey I can tell you about a couple herbs that may help you have a successful culinary experience!; I have the good fortune to have a mom who is an extremely good chef and I'll share the recipe (or at least where to find it) that she'll be using for Thanksgiving later in this post. For now let's talk about herbs!
Herbs are great in the garden for two reasons: they taste good and they look good. What more do you need in a plant? They can be used to season all kinds of foods whether it is an olive oil based dip for bread to meats. Here's a quick look at what herbs we grew in our garden this year and how we used them.
Basil was probably the most used herb. We used it for making spaghetti/marinara sauce but also included it in our olive oil dipping sauce, various marinades for chicken, and of course pesto! Pesto is such a simple thing to make and it tastes great. Next year I'll plant a whole lot more basil so that we can save some pesto for winter.
Lemon balm was our least used herb. It looks good and smells great but we just failed to utilize it properly. It's a perennial that should come back next year and would work great in teas and with poultry. I haven't tried it with fish but something tells me that the lemony scents would blend very well with a good salmon!
We used our oregano like the basil. It's a great companion to basil in almost everything. Oregano is especially good when sprinkled on top of pizza.
Rosemary is another herb that we use constantly. I've scattered it about our garden areas as an evergreen ornamental planting, which I'll talk about later in the week. Rosemary has a fantastic scent when you brush up against it in the yard and is easy to propagate. We've used it in many foods but mostly in chicken. Can you tell we eat a lot of chicken? Lately I've started to propagate Rosemary with an extremely simple method. The technical term is called "Sticking it in the ground." Very technical. I just take a rosemary branch that is ripe (hardwood at the base) to semi ripe and strip off the lower leaves. Then I stick the ends in the ground to a depth of about 4 inches. After about two weeks all cuttings are still green but I won't check for roots unless I decide to move them. Simple and easy plant propagation can't be beat!
Thyme is an herb that I just started in the garden this fall. I grew it from seed then added it to the Japanese maple garden as a low growing herb toward the front of the bed near the patio. You can never have enough thyme, right? It's good with poultry and fish as well.
So what herbs will mom use for the turkey? Rosemary, thyme, marjoram, and sage! Marjoram and common sage (Salvia officinalis) aren't present in our garden yet although we have many other salvias.
Mom will be fixing a Citrus-Scented Brined Turkey along with many other delicious dishes. How will you fix your turkey this Thanksgiving?
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Showing posts with label Herb Garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Herb Garden. Show all posts
5 Herbs for Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving is coming up next week and soon those turkeys will be filling our homes with the savory scents of a delicious dinner to be enjoyed among friends and family (and perhaps a nap to follow). A lot of preparation goes into preparing that perfect Thanksgiving dinner and this being a gardening blog we aren't talking turkey here but rather - herbs! So for today's Friday Five post let's visit five herbs that will help make your Thanksgiving Dinner delicious!
Our family uses rosemary around our house all the time. Our favorite dish for rosemary also contains another garden favorite - potatoes! We roast the potatoes with onions, garlic, and a little olive oil in the oven until the potatoes are tender. The exact makeup of the roasted potato dish varies depending on what potatoes we have around whether red potatoes, sweet potatoes, or a combination of several kinds. Rosemary mixed with oranges and other herbs also makes a great seasoning for the turkey itself! Chopped rosemary in a small dish of olive oil with a little salt and pepper is a great substitute for butter on your bread. Rosemary is an evergreen perennial but can have issues with soggy feet. Extremely wet winters and shady areas won't work well for rosemary. Well drained locations with winter sun our ideal for successfully growing rosemary. If you give it a great location it will return for many years. Deer and rabbits won't touch it! It can make a great fragrant hedge. Rosemary is easy to propagate through cuttings.
Sage is an awesome perennial herb you can use year round. Salvia officinalis is related to other salvias and is beautiful in the garden with silver gray foliage but also tastes really nice when implemented in the kitchen. While meatloaf is not the typical Thanksgiving Day meal that's one place we use it frequently around here. It'll work great on your turkey too!
We can't forget about deserts and beverages, and that's where mint excels! Mints have been used for all kinds of mixed drinks but we use our mint mostly for making delicious sweet tea. Just add a couple chopped tea spoons of mint to a tea ball and drop in in to steep with the tea bag. Mint is a great addition to all kinds of various deserts. We've used our mint to make mint chocolate chip ice cream. Mint is a perennial with a reputation for spreading out of bounds. Plant it in a pot to avoid its propensity for proliferation. You can even bury the pot in the ground in your garden to keep its root runners in check. There are quite a few varieties of mint available but in our garden we grow spearmint, chocolate mint, apple mint, and orange mint. Chocolate mint is by far my favorite!
5 Herbs for Thanksgiving Dinner!
Rosemary for Thanksgiving
Thyme for Thanksgiving
Thyme is another great turkey seasoning. I mostly use thyme to season meat. It's easy to strip the small evergreen leaves from the stem and mix it together with other herbs to prepare that bird. Thyme is perennial and can be propagated from seed or through layering.Sage for Thanksgiving
Parsley for Thanksgiving
Parsley is another great herb for potatoes. A little chopped up parsley freshens up mashed potatoes or can be added to the stuffing (or dressing if you prefer!). Parsley is so versatile that you can add it to almost any dish at Thanksgiving and be pleased with the result! We grew Italian Giant in our garden this year. It's a flat leaf Italian type. Parsley is a biennial that produces foliage the first year and flowers the second. Plant parsley yearly for 2-4 years to ensure a steady supply by allowing the second year plants to go to seed and resow your garden.Mint for Thanksgiving
So what are you planning for your dinner?
Time for Cilantro from the Garden!
One of our favorite herbs around the house is cilantro. Cilantro seems to be one of those herbs with a flavor that you either like or don't. From what I hear those who don't like it think the herb tastes akin to soap, but here in our house that is definitely not the case. Cilantro likes the cooler weather and has some frost tolerance and as long as the frost is a light one. Since it enjoys the cooler weather cilantro is best planted in spring and fall and will reseed if the plant is allowed to got seed. This past spring I had two cilantro plants that bolted (went to seed) when the weather started to turn warmer. I let the seeds finish forming then sprinkled them in one of my small raised beds where I now have quite a few plants coming up. Three of them are 6-8 inches tall while the others are only about 3-4 inches and number in the 20-30 range. Some of them will be coming with me to the plant swap this Saturday. Cilantro can be grown indoors but I haven't managed that feat successfully. I'm a definite outdoor plant guy ~ I tend to forget the inside ones!
We use cilantro in meat dishes, Tex-Mex dishes, and of course my favorite side guacamole! And wouldn't you know it, guacamole just happens to be what I was putting together this morning. Unfortunately avocados won't grow outdoors around here so I have to wait until they are at a good price at the store and when they are we have guacamole.
Here's a recipe that I find works well for our guacamole. As in any recipe you can adjust the quantities to suit your needs and tastes.
Dave's Guacamole Recipe3 avocados (chopped)1/4 cup finely chopped onion2 small cloves garlic1/2 a lime (I save the other half for the main meal, usually chicken fajitas)1 tablespoon of chopped cilantrodash of salt (to taste)Just put the ingredients together in a bowl then mix with a fork while mashing the avocado into mush. I like to leave the guacamole with just a few small chunks of avocado for texture. I'm not a big fan of guacamole that has sour cream mixed in with it. To me it seems to dilute the avocado flavor.
Feel free to fiddle with the recipe, I do from time to time! Some people like to add tomatoes to the mix or little hot pepper sauce to spice it up.
One more thing, when you store guacamole cover it with plastic wrap so that it touches the surface of the guacamole even if you have it stored in a container in the fridge. It will keep much better if there is no air to oxidize the avocados.
An Undersung Herb - Sage (Salvia officinalis)
I think I've failed to fully express my appreciation for my culinary sage. So let's fix that! Sage (or Salvia officinalis) is one of those herbs that I use in all kinds of culinary concoctions from soup to seasonings. Almost any kind of meat tastes better with fresh sage. Chicken, meatloaf, turkey, just about everything...it's almost like the bacon of the herb world...anything goes better with bacon right?
Sage is easy to grow. The plant I harvest from (and you probably only need one unless you are cooking in a commercial kitchen operation) I planted over three years ago from seed. This sage is now about 3 ft. by 3 ft. even after getting cut back each year. The soil where my sage is planted is fairly well drained and sits slightly above grade in a raised bed created by concrete retaining wall blocks. The foliage has a silver/grey color which is pretty nifty next to my Japanese maple. My sage is in need of a late August trim which would be a great opportunity to dry some sage for winter use.
Sage is easy to grow. The plant I harvest from (and you probably only need one unless you are cooking in a commercial kitchen operation) I planted over three years ago from seed. This sage is now about 3 ft. by 3 ft. even after getting cut back each year. The soil where my sage is planted is fairly well drained and sits slightly above grade in a raised bed created by concrete retaining wall blocks. The foliage has a silver/grey color which is pretty nifty next to my Japanese maple. My sage is in need of a late August trim which would be a great opportunity to dry some sage for winter use.
What is your favorite use for sage?
Mint Mayhem! (The Herbs)
The other day I mentioned rosemary but another herb that I utilize often is mint. While mint is a great plant to have it also has a reputation. You see, once it gets established it grows fast - very fast. It can quickly overtake other plants that are near it. Some people wouldn't plant it with a ten foot pole (That would be quite a trick). But I'm not writing this post to discourage you from planting it. When summertime comes - or simply warm weather - I can't go without my sweet tea and mint makes the perfect flavoring for a great southern sweet tea. I just chop up a few springs and let the mint leaves steep with the tea bag and it makes an awesome refreshment on those days when the sun can be unforgiving. I've toyed with the idea of drying my mint and saving it for winter as an herbal hot tea. If you decide to dry mint hang the mint upside down while drying so that the oils inside the stems move into the leaves and maximize the mint flavor.
In our garden we have two kinds of mint - really two is enough, I don't need any more!
The one I use most often is chocolate mint (Mentha piperita). It has a very minty taste with a hint of chocolate. I use it in tea more often than our other mint. I also recently found a way to make a chocolate chip mint ice cream from the fresh mint leaves - some of the best ice cream you'll taste!
The other mint we have is spearmint (Mentha spicata). I favor the chocolate mint for its flavor but spearmint is good in a pinch. My only issue with the spearmint is the location I planted it. Now it's running amok over the other perennials in the garden next to the back porch. I new this would happen but did it anyway for lack of a great location. Most people recommend potting mints but you do have to make sure you keep them moist. They don't enjoy being thirsty!
How to propagate Mint:
I will either stick pieces of mint stem in a moist medium (potting soil is fine) and keep it moist until after I'm sure rooting has occurred or I'll take cuttings and place them in a jar of water. Roots will form using the water method in 7-10 days at most and very possibly faster. Mint will root along the stem and you can snip a rooted piece of stem off anytime during the growing season to create a new plant.
In our garden we have two kinds of mint - really two is enough, I don't need any more!
The one I use most often is chocolate mint (Mentha piperita). It has a very minty taste with a hint of chocolate. I use it in tea more often than our other mint. I also recently found a way to make a chocolate chip mint ice cream from the fresh mint leaves - some of the best ice cream you'll taste!
How to propagate Mint:
I will either stick pieces of mint stem in a moist medium (potting soil is fine) and keep it moist until after I'm sure rooting has occurred or I'll take cuttings and place them in a jar of water. Roots will form using the water method in 7-10 days at most and very possibly faster. Mint will root along the stem and you can snip a rooted piece of stem off anytime during the growing season to create a new plant.
Herb Seeds for 2008 (A Growing Challenge Post)
The herb garden will be a new experience for me. In the past I have used pots for the herbs, this year I'll see what I can do with the in-ground Herb Garden I have planned (Herb Garden Layout). Most of the plants will be from seed but not all! Here is what we decided on for the herb garden:
Basil
This is one of our staple herbs that we use very often. We picked several kinds including Dark Opal Purple (the name says it all, it's purple!), Sweet Basil, and Bush Spicy Globe. I'm curious about the last one as it is supposed to grow into a nice little ball shape. It should make an interestingly shaped plant for the herb garden.
Thyme
The package calls it common thyme, but common or not everyone always could use a little more thyme.
Cilantro
We love cilantro in guacamole and Mexican flavored dishes. It should go well with the peppers I have planned for the vegetable garden! One interesting note: the seeds are the spice called coriander.
Chives
I'll have to plant some potatoes in the garden to go with the chives. Chives go well with many things like chicken, burgers, and even eggs.
Oregano
This one is called Mediterranean oregano. The oregano should see a good deal of use.
Parsley
I haven't tried parsley but I thought we would give it a try.
Sage
We bought a packet of broad leaf sage seed to add to the mix.
Lavender
We have two types to try. One is the traditional Lavender augustifolia and the other is called Lavender Lady. Lavender Lady is said to flower in the first year. The plants are smaller than typical lavender at about 8-10 inches.
Rosemary
The rosemary we have will come from cuttings off of a giant plant my mother has and one that I was given at Christmas time. It's amazing how easy rosemary is to root! You can layer it or just cut it off and let it root in water.
Basil
This is one of our staple herbs that we use very often. We picked several kinds including Dark Opal Purple (the name says it all, it's purple!), Sweet Basil, and Bush Spicy Globe. I'm curious about the last one as it is supposed to grow into a nice little ball shape. It should make an interestingly shaped plant for the herb garden.
Thyme
The package calls it common thyme, but common or not everyone always could use a little more thyme.
Cilantro
We love cilantro in guacamole and Mexican flavored dishes. It should go well with the peppers I have planned for the vegetable garden! One interesting note: the seeds are the spice called coriander.
Chives
I'll have to plant some potatoes in the garden to go with the chives. Chives go well with many things like chicken, burgers, and even eggs.
Oregano
This one is called Mediterranean oregano. The oregano should see a good deal of use.
Parsley
I haven't tried parsley but I thought we would give it a try.
Sage
We bought a packet of broad leaf sage seed to add to the mix.
Lavender
We have two types to try. One is the traditional Lavender augustifolia and the other is called Lavender Lady. Lavender Lady is said to flower in the first year. The plants are smaller than typical lavender at about 8-10 inches.
Rosemary
The rosemary we have will come from cuttings off of a giant plant my mother has and one that I was given at Christmas time. It's amazing how easy rosemary is to root! You can layer it or just cut it off and let it root in water.
Tips for Growing Cilantro
Here are a few Tips for Growing Cilantro!
- First you need to realize it is a cool weather crop. When the heat of summer comes along your cilantro doesn't have much time left! It will begin to bolt (which just means it starts to flower) and the flavor of the leaves changes, and not for the better, more bitter. Plants grown in part shade will take a little longer to bolt. My advice would be to plant a couple in part shade and a couple in full sun.
Let it bolt! The easiest way to insure a cilantro crop for later in the year is to let your cilantro go to flower and allow it to set seeds. When it goes to seed collect the hard shelled seeds and either plant them directly in the garden where you want the cilantro to grow or save them to plant outdoors in fall. It's an annual so the only way for it to come back is through its seed.
The white flowers of bolted cilantro. - Cilantro doesn't need any fancy soil to grow. It grows fine anywhere the seeds land in my garden. I have more cilantro growing in my lawn right now than I do in the garden! Lighter soil may grow a better plant than heavy clay but cilantro isn't too picky.
If you are starting cilantro from seed this year start a few weeks before the last frost date indoors or sow directly outdoors after the frost. I usually have cilantro germinating in the fall. Cilantro is very cold tolerant and will survive our Tennessee winters easily. It goes dormant over the winter then explodes into growth once the spring temperatures return.
Cilantro seedlings growing in the fall. - There really is no need to fertilize cilantro, it will do just fine on its own.
- Cilantro seeds are called coriander and you can harvest them for that spice also!
Are you a cilantro liker or disliker?
5 Herbs You Should Grow In Your Garden! (Friday Fives)
I couldn't imagine my garden without herbs. Whether for making tea, dinner, or a myriad of other uses herbs are an essential part of my garden. Some of the herbs in my garden I use as companion plants in addition to their culinary uses. Herbs are awesome and you should grow them if you aren't already. What herbs do I grow in my garden? I'm glad you asked because today for the Friday Fives I'll share with you five of my favorite herbs. Please note though that these do well in my zone 6b-7 garden and may not perform the same where you are!
5 Herbs You Should Growing In Your Garden!
My number one herb, and perhaps my most favorite of all, is basil! We use basil in pesto, tomato sauces, on bruschetta, and in many other dishes. Essentially basil works great with almost any tomato dish. For companion planting I always plant some basil around my tomatoes. It repels insects like the hornworm and is reported to repel flies. I haven't seen a hornworm in my garden since I began interplanting my tomatoes and basil. The regular old Italian basil is great but my favorites are cinnamon basil and dark opal purple basil.
My then 2 year old daughter (now 4)
examining the basil harvest!
Culinary sage is another really good herb to plant. We use it in many of our meat dishes like meatloaf or turkey and is just a great seasoning in general. Sage is also an ally in the vegetable garden against cabbage moths and flea beetles. One of these day's I may actually plant it in the vegetable garden! Right now our sage is planted just off the patio where it's convenient to gather for cooking.
Sage - We like our rosemary too! It was a beautiful addition to our front walkway but sadly it faded from glory over a year ago. The cool thing about rosemary though is as long as you have a plant to take cutting from you can easily replace a lost rosemary. Just place a 6-8 inch rosemary cutting in a glass of water and watch the roots form or stick it directly in some soil and keep it moist. Rosemary when planted needs a location with good drainage and I don't recommend planting it on the north side of your home if you are in a borderline hardiness area for it. That's what caused my rosemary plants to die. I have two other starts of rosemary in a better location as well as a couple in pots so I'm good to go! Rosemary is a good repellent for cabbage moths and bean beetles so plant it around your vegetable garden somewhere!
- Mint is a tricky herb. It's great in tea and for use as a repellent for a bunch of different critters including rodents but it can spread. Let me rephrase that, it can spread a lot! Mint loves to run its roots just under the soil's surface and reach out to new frontiers - like your lawn or your garden. It's easy to pull though and if you like it enough you can dry it and have herbal mint tea throughout the winter. If you don't want to go chase a running herb use a pot to hold it in its place. You can even bury the pot with about 2 inches above the soil to give the effect of a planted well contained mint. Only you will know the truth!
Thyme is another good herb for your garden. Aside from being able to quip phrases like "I always have thyme to garden" or "there's never enough thyme in the garden," you will have a very nice evergreen groundcover herb that's also useful in the kitchen. Thyme is another deterrent for cabbage moths like rosemary and is well worth incorporating into the garden. I find it interesting that rosemary and thyme both repel cabbage moths and both have pine like attributes in their scents and flavors.
Thyme planted from seed.
What's your favorite herb?
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Planning the Herb Garden
This post was originally written on December 9th, 2007 I'm bumping this post up to see if anyone has any suggestions.
When spring comes I plan to install a herb garden in the front yard which is sloped in toward the house. Since it is winter time and most outdoor tasks are finished it is a good time to plan ahead and figure out what to put in the herb garden. I want to put in a variety of herbs, both ornamental and functional. Rosemary is a must and is easily obtained for free (Thanks mom!). It's also a good perennial herb that works as a shrub. Basil is another one I have to put in the herb garden. Italian foods are an addiction for us. I want to have a couple different types of basil. There are some dark purplish colored basils that would look great mixed in with other rich foliage. Anyone have any suggestions for good ornamental and functional herbs?
When spring comes I plan to install a herb garden in the front yard which is sloped in toward the house. Since it is winter time and most outdoor tasks are finished it is a good time to plan ahead and figure out what to put in the herb garden. I want to put in a variety of herbs, both ornamental and functional. Rosemary is a must and is easily obtained for free (Thanks mom!). It's also a good perennial herb that works as a shrub. Basil is another one I have to put in the herb garden. Italian foods are an addiction for us. I want to have a couple different types of basil. There are some dark purplish colored basils that would look great mixed in with other rich foliage. Anyone have any suggestions for good ornamental and functional herbs?
The Herb Garden
Here are some links to posts on my herb garden. It includes a basic layout.
My Herb Garden Layout
Planning the Herb Garden
Herb Seeds for 2008
Some posts on Herbs.
Layering Rosemary
Follow Up:Rosemary
My Herb Garden Layout
Planning the Herb Garden
Herb Seeds for 2008
Some posts on Herbs.
Layering Rosemary
Follow Up:Rosemary
Herb Garden Layout (A Corridor Pathway)
Here's another idea I had for my herb garden. I've been planning my vegetable garden with a shrub/perennial ring around it. This herb corridor would lead up to a small entry gate going into the garden area. The beginning of the corridor would start close to our future patio (a project for later this year). The herb garden would have the same plants as my earlier plan but the numbers on this plan have changed. I added four butterfly bushes to bring some flower color and pollinators to the herb garden.The advantage to having it in a corridor/pathway is mostly convenience. It's closer to the house and easier to reach the plants than my other plan would have been. The disadvantage is probably that it won't have the formal look. That's OK since it's more practical and I like things a little less formal anyway!
Here is the key for the herb garden:
- Stepping Stones: the stones will be recessed into the turf and planted with a low growing stepable ground cover like thyme.
- Butterfly Bushes: I have several cuttings of butterfly bush that I started in the fall.
- Rosemary: I have four cuttings that are rooted and need to get two more.
- Purple Leaf Basil
- Miscellaneous Herbs: Italian parsley, chives, mint (in pots!), Thyme, and cilantro
- Italian Basil
How to Make an Indoor Decorative Herb Planter Out of a Birdfeeder
The cold temps are keeping you indoors and you are going stir crazy. You need to do something in the garden, with the garden, or for the garden and the seed catalogs showing up in your mailbox just aren't good enough to get your gardening fix. Then do this - plant an indoor garden! Recently I put together a small herb garden that I made from a decorative bird feeder I found at Lowe's. All materials for this herb planter project were supplied by Lowe's Creative Ideas. Read on to see how I made this decorative herb planter out of a bird feeder!
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First I gathered my materials for the project which consisted of the bird feeder, sheet moss, two plastic water cups, LED puck lights, soil, and of course some seeds (basil and chives). Unfortunately my local Lowe's did not have seeds available yet but I had more than enough seed saved for this project (and probably 1000 or so more similar projects, I'm a seed addict you know.)
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The plastic bottles were just laying around the house. I had trouble locating actual pots that were the right size to fit inside the bird feeder planter so I just cut the bottles to make them into little plastic pots.
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After seeding the pots with basil and chives came the time to put the pots in the bird feeder.
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I used the sheet moss to hide the fancy plastic bottle cups. I carefully packed it in and around each side. If I happen to spill water while watering the herbs it should absorb it and prevent any major messes from happening.
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Here's how it appears from the outside. It almost looks as if a bird made a nest inside the bird feeder.
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Next I tucked the batter operated puck lights into the bird feeder lid. They came with two side sticky adhesive tape things. If I were to do this over I would get the puck lights that you plug in the wall. That would make it much easier to turn the lights on and off. The lights may add a little light for the plants but are mostly decorative.
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Last I put the top back on and found a place to put it. The seeds should germinate in a few days and maybe within a couple weeks be usable herbs for the kitchen. The herbs won't be able to stay in the little post forever but can be transplanted and replanted as the temperature outdoors warms up this spring. This would make a nice gift for a gardener or a chef don't you think?
What are you doing to get your gardening fix during the winter months?