Herb | Better Hens and Gardens

Drying Lavender

The lavender is blooming now, so it’s time to start drying it – I love having it around for sachets and crafts. It’s well known for its insect repellant properties and we love the fragrance.

There’s really nothing difficult about drying lavender - simply gather the flowering stems just as the flowers start to open and hang in small bunches to dry. When cutting the stems, be sure to leave a few inches of green growth on the plant – don’t go all the way down to the woody portion of the stem. When you’ve cut enough blossoms to fill your hand, wrap a rubber band [...]

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Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)

We love using fresh rosemary in our cooking (see Herbed Eggs), and find that it’s a very easy herb to grow. But a little rosemary goes a long way, so we always buy just one plant from the garden center in spring. Rosemary’s also a tender perennial, and in colder areas of the country it needs to be brought indoors if you plan to overwinter it.

Plants should be moved indoors before a good freeze, so I repotted ours today. I used a soilless planting mix because rosemary requires well-drained soil and because it’s light - I plan to just move this plant in and out each fall and spring, thereby avoiding the cost of a plant each year. I snuck a [...]

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