One of the delightful pleasures of life are herbs. Besides adding beauty to your garden they make foods taste better and provide a pleasing smell to the air we breathe. In George Washington days everyone had a herb garden that they used for culinary, teas and medical purposes. That practice is slowly coming back.
A spaghetti garden is one of the most popular kitchen gardens. Anyone which has a sunny patch of ground or a window-box can grow these herbs of parsley, garlic, basil, bay laurel and oregano. A little garden space can easily yield all the herbs that you’ll need for delicious Italian meals. They are even straightforward to grow in a sunny window for your year-round use.
Let us take a more detailed look at the spaghetti garden herbs:
+Oregano is an evergreen ground cover plant. Oregano is a prolific grower that will send out shoots that grow to six feet in a single season. If pruned and bunched, oregano can grow into a small border plant. It might rather have light, thin soil and heaps of sun, so keep it on the south side of your garden. When the plants reach 4-5 inches harvesting can start. Pinch off the top 1/3 of the plant, just above a leaf crossing. The young leaves are really stronger dried than fresh and are the most flavorsome part of the plant. To dry, lay the leaves on newspaper or a drying screen in the sun until the leaves crumble easily. It will keep its flavor for months.
+Bay leaves add a good hint of spice to stews, soups and spaghetti sauce. The bay laurel is a little tree that grows about a foot every year, this makes it appropriate for growing in a container. If you live in a mild climate zone leave the container outside, but if temperatures go below 25 degrees keep the tree in a pot and bring it indoors during the winter.
+Basil seeds itself so simply that you may never need to buy another plant after the 1st year. There are a few different sorts of basil, but all grow rapidly and need frequent pinching back to stop them from growing tall and leggy. When the plants have reached about 6-8 inches tall, you can begin cropping. Pinch off the top 1/3 of the plant, just above a leaf junction. Pinch off any flower buds before they’re going to seed. 6 to eight plants will provide enough basil for the complete neighborhood.
+Garlic is perhaps the best plant to grow. Break apart a clove of garlic, and plant the cloves about 4 inches apart, two to 4 inches deep in a light soil. Gently water and watch them grow. You may crop when tips of the leaves turn brown but do not let them flower. Just dig up the bulbs, and use them. To keep a fresh supply take one or 2 cloves from each bulb and replant them.
+Parsley is probably the most used herb in the world. You may find both flat ( Italian ) and kinked types. They complement the flavour of everything from sauces to hearty stews. It is used as a garnish on plates, or cut up and added to soups, dressings and salads. Parsley adds vitamins and color, and quietly brings
out the flavor of other ingredients in the dish. Parsley is a biennial, flowering in its second season. It likes a little shade on a hot sunny day, and is going to be kept watered to avoid shriveling and drying. Pinch back older stems to the base, allowing new leaves and branches to grow.
Grow your own tomatoes and you are well on your way to turning into an Italian chef.
Do you enjoy cooking and learning more about food? If yes, you may also visit cooking101.org to learn more about the many different kinds of recipes and cooking ideas that will be useful next time you are in the kitchen. Also, you might want to check out recipe for mushroom pasta.
Tags: Make Your Own, Spaghetti Garden
