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If you have already planted your herbs, you will have watched them sprout and flourish. Hopefully you will now know how very useful they can be in lots of different ways. But, using herbs from a home herb garden requires a little bit or work first.

The very first thing to do is to harvest them and getting the timing right is one of the most important things. The wind and the heat can disperse the essential oils of the herbs. You should harvest them on a still and dry day sometime around misdsummer. On very wet days, herbs make very little of their oils. Harvest the herbs just after the dew has dried form the leaves right before the flowers open. Click here for more: herb gardening at home

Harvesting the herb does not mean removing the entire plant. You just want to take what you need at that time. Also you won’t necessarily need to use them immediately after picking. You can preserve them to use later.Be careful not to take more then one third of the plant’s foliage at one time. This will help the herb to recover and re-grow. You should also inspect the plant for insects and damaged leaves before you harvest it.

Essentially, there are three ways to store your herbs; freezing, drying and #pickling’ in vinegar or salt. In order to dry herbs you need to bundle six to twelve stems together and remove any foliage near the base of the stems. You can secure the bundle with string. Then choose a cool place to hang them. If you are looking to dry individual leaves you can place them on a screen or a rack. Turn them  Remember to turn them often in order for them to dry properly. Some gardeners use machines like ovens or dehydrators etc. to dry herbs, although this may not be as good. For more visit our blog: Herb Garden Blog

Freezing is a fairly easy method of presaervation. Cut the herbs into ¼ inch pieces and place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Once the herbs are frozen, you can place them together in a bag and store them in the freezer until use.

The third alternative for storing your herbs is via a medium. For instance, you can cover herbs like chopped mint, basil or tarragon with vinegar and it will be preserved for several months. Or you can make a flavored salt to preserve herbs by alternating layers of fresh herbs between salt. When completely dry separate the brown herb from the flavored salt and store it in an airtight container.

Of course, people often use herbs fresh right out of the garden. Take care cleaning the herbs before they are placed fresh in recipes. In order to clean fresh herbs place them in a bowl filled with cool water. If there is a large quantity of herbs you can use the sink. Add about two tablespoons of salt to the water. This will keep the insects away and will not harm the plant. Then, take them out of the water and dry them in a salad spinner.

There are many different kinds of herb for many different uses. Each one will need to be picked and prepared in a slightly different way. Make sure into research the specific type of herb you are using to use it correctly. Click here for more: Herb Gardens

Related articles and ideas for growing fresh herbs

• Harvesting Herbs from Your Home Herb Garden (hbb2obm.com)
• The Home Herb Garden (hbb2obm.com)
• Preserve Surplus Summer Herbs for Winter Use [Garden] (lifehacker.com)
• Herbs on a Rooftop (blogs1.marthastewart.com)

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 9:40 pm and is filed under Gardening for Beginners, Herb Gardening, Home & Garden Improvements, Your Diet & Your Body. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.