Why People Need A Spaghetti Garden
One of the delightful 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 medicinal purposes. That practice is slowly coming back.
A spaghetti garden is one of the most well liked 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’ll need for delicious Italian meals. They are even straightforward to grow in a sunny window for your all year use.
Let us take a harder look at the spaghetti garden herbs:
+Oregano is an evergreen ground cover plant. Oregano is a prolific grower that will send out shoots that grow to 6 feet in a single season. If pruned and bunched, oregano can grow into a tiny border plant. It would 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 cropping can start. Pinch off the top 1/3 of the plant, just above a leaf intersection. The young leaves are actually stronger dried than fresh and are the most flavorful part of the plant. To dry, lay the leaves on newspaper or a drying screen in the sun until the leaves crumble easily. It will retain its flavor for months.
+Bay leaves add a good hint of spice to stews, soups and spaghetti sauce. The bay laurel is a tiny tree that grows about a foot a year, this makes it suitable for growing in a container. If you live in a mild climate zone leave the container outside, but if temperatures go below 25 degrees keep the tree in a pot and bring it indoors 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 rapidly 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 cropping. Pinch off the top 1/3 of the plant, just above a leaf crossover. Pinch off any flower buds before they go to seed. Six to eight plants will supply enough basil for the complete neighborhood.
+Garlic is probably the simplest plant to grow. Break apart a clove of garlic, and plant the cloves about 4 inches apart, 2 to 4 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 2 cloves from each bulb and replant them.
+Parsley is maybe the most used herb across the world. You will find both flat (Italian) and curly types. They complement the flavour of everything from sauces to hearty stews. It is used 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 favors a little shade on a hot bright day, and should be kept watered to avoid 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.
Do you enjoy cooking and learning more about food? If yes, you may also visit cooking101.org to learn more about the many different kinds of recipes and cooking ideas that will be useful next time you are in the kitchen. Also, you might want to check out how to make mushroom pasta.
