Making Your Own Herb Garden

What are the benefits to growing?

Gardening is beneficial and can address a number of challenges we are currently facing. Home grown herbs and lettuce provide significant health and economic benefits. Patio gardens are promoting sustainability, community development and cost effectiveness. If that is not enough reason, then looking at the health benefits should be enough. Gardening increases physical activity and mental health.

What plants are good to grow?

There are shade loving edible plants that do grow well in a small scale; herbs and lettuce are winners for creating a small garden.

Herbs:

· Wintergreen

· Mint

· Chives

· Garlic Chives

· Lemon Balm

· Rosemary

· Basil

· Thyme

· Sweet Woodruff

· Parsley

· Ginger

· Endive

· Dill

· Bay

· Oregano

· Moujean Tea

· Chervil

· Cilantro

Lettuce:

· Spinach, Okinawa in specific

· Lettuce

· Swiss Chard

What do I grow my plants in?

To grow your own small scale Herb and lettuce garden you are well off using recyclable materials that can be found around the home or neighborhood.

Containers:

· Cinder Blocks

· Sacks

· Shallow beds, such as the bottom of a recycle bin or a tire on its side with the top cut off

· Pots, such as two liter bottle bottoms or gallon jug bottoms

What materials are needed?

To start you will need to invest in either seeds or small plants. Potting soil is also needed and don’t forget to water your plants!

Where can I purchase materials?

There are a number of places within southwest Florida to purchase herbs and lettuce seeds and plants:

· ECHO’s Tropical Fruit Nursery

· Local Farmer’s Market’s

· Lowes

· Home Depot

· Green Thumb Farmer’s Market

· Farm-Op Inc.

· Little Lori’s Farmer’s Market Inc.

· Immokalee State Farmer’s Market

How to prepare Herbs?

Herbs can be used for a variety of things such as medicinal purposes, for teas and in culinary dishes.

Cooking with Fresh Herbs: Cut herbs as close to when you want to use them, wash small amounts thoroughly under running water and pat dry, and finally mince herbs into tiny pieces unless the recipe calls for sprigs.

Drying Herbs: Harvest herbs mid morning, cut healthy branches from your tree and remove dry or diseased leaves and any insects, rinse with cool running water and pat dry, remove the leaves around the lower inch of the branch, bundle branches together and tie either with string or a rubber band, place bundle in a paper bag upside down, tie the bag closed around the herbs and hang bag upside down in a warm airy room. Check herbs after about two weeks to see the progression and monitor until herbs are dry. Once herbs are dry store in air tight containers, they are best when used within a year of harvest. When you use dry herbs you typical crush them, a good rule of thumb is that one teaspoon of dried herbs is the same as 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs in cooking recipes.

How to prepare lettuce?

To prepare lettuce, cut the leaves off of the plant and wash thoroughly, it is best when the lettuce is used fresh.