The hard work of herb gardening has been completed.
You tended your herbs and watched them grow into mature, useful plants.
Now the fun begins as you get to use your herbs from your home herb garden.
It is a little more complicated than buying a little jar off the supermarket shelf, but it is infinitely more satisfying as well.
Of course you will have to harvest the herbs so that you can use them.
Be sure that you pick them at the most opportune time, when it is neither too hot nor too windy.
In that way they will have the highest concentration of essential oils.
A morning that is dry and calm will be to your advantage for harvesting because fewer oils are produced on humid or wet days.
When you harvest you will not take the whole plant but will take a portion of the growth.
Do this on a mild day in the middle of summer, after the dew has dried but before the flowers have opened.
Check for pests and damage on your crop before harvesting, and only take about one third of the plant.
The remaining foliage will allow the herbs to grow again.
They may surprise you and be an even more attractive plant when they do.
At the time of harvest you can choose to use fresh herbs or you can preserve the fruits of your herb gardening labours.
Herbs can be dried, frozen, or preserved in a medium and stored in bottles and jars.
One method of drying is to make bundles of a few stems, stripping the lower part and tying several together.
Hang these bundles upside down, in a brown paper bag or in the open air.
You can also place individual leaves on a cookie sheet or tray and dry the leaves in doors, or out doors, in a dehydrator, or microwave, or oven.
When completely dry cut them into small pieces, seal in a container and freeze them.
They can be frozen in a small amount of water in ice cube trays as well.
Preserving fresh herbs in a medium like salt, vinegar or oil is also a possibility.
Once you have dried your herbs in salt, sift out the dry brown herbs and store that seasoned salt for later use.
If you choose to pack the herbs in jars and cover them with vinegar, or oil, they will need to be refrigerated until you use them.
You will also use your herbs fresh from the garden.
Be sure they are clean when you do.
Place your herbs in a bowl or basin filled with cool water.
Use two tablespoons of salt for about a gallon of water.
Salt drives insects away but does not harm the plant for your use.
Your salad spinner is the quickest way to quickly dry your freshly washed greens.
Enjoy using your fresh herbs in all the traditional ways.
You tended your herbs and watched them grow into mature, useful plants.
Now the fun begins as you get to use your herbs from your home herb garden.
It is a little more complicated than buying a little jar off the supermarket shelf, but it is infinitely more satisfying as well.
Of course you will have to harvest the herbs so that you can use them.
Be sure that you pick them at the most opportune time, when it is neither too hot nor too windy.
In that way they will have the highest concentration of essential oils.
A morning that is dry and calm will be to your advantage for harvesting because fewer oils are produced on humid or wet days.
When you harvest you will not take the whole plant but will take a portion of the growth.
Do this on a mild day in the middle of summer, after the dew has dried but before the flowers have opened.
Check for pests and damage on your crop before harvesting, and only take about one third of the plant.
The remaining foliage will allow the herbs to grow again.
They may surprise you and be an even more attractive plant when they do.
At the time of harvest you can choose to use fresh herbs or you can preserve the fruits of your herb gardening labours.
Herbs can be dried, frozen, or preserved in a medium and stored in bottles and jars.
One method of drying is to make bundles of a few stems, stripping the lower part and tying several together.
Hang these bundles upside down, in a brown paper bag or in the open air.
You can also place individual leaves on a cookie sheet or tray and dry the leaves in doors, or out doors, in a dehydrator, or microwave, or oven.
When completely dry cut them into small pieces, seal in a container and freeze them.
They can be frozen in a small amount of water in ice cube trays as well.
Preserving fresh herbs in a medium like salt, vinegar or oil is also a possibility.
Once you have dried your herbs in salt, sift out the dry brown herbs and store that seasoned salt for later use.
If you choose to pack the herbs in jars and cover them with vinegar, or oil, they will need to be refrigerated until you use them.
You will also use your herbs fresh from the garden.
Be sure they are clean when you do.
Place your herbs in a bowl or basin filled with cool water.
Use two tablespoons of salt for about a gallon of water.
Salt drives insects away but does not harm the plant for your use.
Your salad spinner is the quickest way to quickly dry your freshly washed greens.
Enjoy using your fresh herbs in all the traditional ways.
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