One of the pleasant pleasures of life are herbs. Besides adding beauty to your garden they make foods taste better and provide a pleasant scent 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 that has a bright 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 will need for delicious Italian meals. They are even straightforward to grow in a sunny window for your year-round use.
Let us take a harder look at the spaghetti garden herbs:
+Oregano is a perennial ground cover plant. Oregano is a prolific grower that can send out shoots that grow to 6 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 plenty 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 intersection. The young leaves are basically 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 till the leaves crumble easily. It will retain its flavour for months.
+Bay leaves add a good hint of spice to stews, soups and spaghetti sauce. The bay laurel is a small tree that grows about a foot per year, this makes it OK for growing in a container. If you live in a mild climate sector leave the container outside, but if temperatures go below twenty-five degrees keep the tree in a pot and bring it inside during the winter.
+Basil seeds itself so simply that you may never need to buy another plant after the first year. There are many different types of basil, but all grow quickly 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 harvesting. Pinch off the top 1/3 of the plant, just above a leaf intersection. Pinch off any flower buds before they go to seed. 6 to 8 plants will supply enough basil for the entire neighborhood.
+Garlic is probably the simplest plant to grow. Break apart a clove of garlic, and plant the cloves about four inches apart, two to four inches deep in a light soil. Gently water and watch them grow. You may crop when tips of the leaves turn brown but don’t let them flower. Just dig up the bulbs, and use them. To keep a fresh supply take one or two cloves from each bulb and replant them.
+Parsley is probably the most used herb across the world. You may find both flat ( Italian ) and kinky types. They complement the flavour of everything from sauces to hearty stews. It is employed as a garnish on plates, or cut up and added to soups, dressings and salads. Parsley adds vitamins and color, and silently 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 bright day, and is going to be kept watered to duck shriveling and drying. Pinch back older stems to the base, permitting new leaves and branches to grow.
Grow your own tomatoes and you are well on your way to changing into an Italian chef.
If you find this article useful, you should also check out cooking101.org to learn more about some easy techniques of cooking all sorts of quality meals, including tomato pasta.
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