Have you been thinking about growing a garden this year? Whether you are starting small with a kitchen herb garden or jumping in with both feet and building the vegetable or flower garden of your dreams, the time to start planning is now.
I am a huge fan of lemon balm and am on a personal mission is to inspire everyone to grow and use it. A member of the Lamiaceae (mint) family, lemon balm has vibrant green heart-shaped leaves with toothed margins and a bright lemony scent and flavor.
Welcome to our fall/winter herbal grow along! I’ve curated a collection of medicinal herbs called the Cedar House Living Herb Set offered by Halden Gardens and I’m inviting YOU to grow with me in health and soil. The set includes the following five varieties: bee balm, lemon balm, calendula, catnip and chamomile.
Grown, gathered and dried. Yesterday was for harvesting herbs from the garden. I do this every couple weeks throughout the summer. It’s a quiet, slow, fragrant task that I truly enjoy. Here are a couple tips to keep in mind when storing your kitchen herbs:
I have what is sometimes referred to as a pollinator garden. It is filled with colorful and fragrant flowers and herbs that attract and feed pollinators such as honey bees, native bees, moths and butterflies. When I harvest, I make sure to always leave plenty of blooms to keep them busy and happy. Yesterday, we watched countless butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, bees, robins, chickadees, and a pair of Stellar Jays visit our garden, so it’s working.
Belonging to the onion family, chive (Allium schoenoprasum) is a kitchen-friendly perennial herb with countless culinary uses. It has long, thin, green leaves that are grow 12 inches tall and are hollow and tubular in shape, growing in clumps. They grow lavender-colored blossoms that are also edible.
My garden is my sanctuary. It is a place where I go to turn my thoughts. To breathe. To find solace. It is a dwelling place for creativity. I wanted to bottle that calming energy into a bath soak that would cleanse the mind and ease tired muscles and joints.
This weekend, we crafted clay garden markers. They’re perfectly imperfect and I love them. This DIY is easy and fun to make so I’ve included a short supplies list and tutorial in case you’d like to create your own!