I just recently bought this book from the local powells book store and hav found the most helpful to me so far. I honestly think it is the best one i will ever find. It includes everything from a *detailed* descriptions of more than 75 herbs to step by steps on how to make cuttings, divisions and also gives a few recipes here and there. There are probably more than 30 graphs on anything from pests ( pics, descriptions, their fav. plants, how to get rid of them) to how deep to plant certain seedlings ( when, and how much to water them ect... ) . I highly reccomend reding it and adding it to your library. please tell me what you think.
Okay. i have a tomato plant that started to have these weird.. rash like...things on the stems they are getting bigger and now i am worried. i am also trying to make cuttings from some of my herbs and on a young basil plant it is starting to appear on the base of the plant. i checked online but could not find anything. i really hope you can tell me how to get rid of this thing.. and what it is! (sorry for the blurry pics)
Okay. I really wanted to have some roman chamomile over the winter in a pot........ so i dug up and divided it.. and now the one in the pot is dying. any ideas?
Since i am just starting with this herb stuff i have a really simple tea that i experimented with one night and found that it actually tasted good! here it is: *THIS IS FOR ONE CUP OF TEA*
INGREDIENTS
* about 5 sprigs of spanish lavender (any lavender will work though)*
* around 5 or 6 leaves of chocolate mint ( again, vary the mints)*
HOW TO MAKE
* boil one cup of water while you go outside to gather your herbs
* when the water is boiling remove from the heat and place on a heat safe pad
* remove leaves from stems and rince of dirt, pesticides, or anything you do not want to eat, from your herbs
* tear herbs up with your hands to realese a litlle more flavor and set them in an infuser ( a built in infuser that in inside a teapot is best )
* let the oils infuse anywhere from 5 to 10 min. depending on how stong you want your
tea... if you let it infuse londer it will be stronger.
* pour into a teacup and add sugar. ( the sugar amout i use is about half a spoonful but
feel free to vary the amout.
ENJOY!!!!!!!!!
does anyone know what this is??? they are everywhere in in my garden but they especially love my catnip plant.. i cannot tell if the eat the leaves or if they just rest there. Is anyone familiar with this bug? the smaller ones resemble spit bugs, they are smaller and a transparent green with no stripes. pest or no?
this is a pic of a spider waiting to gobble up some of the pests in my garden. although spiders really creep me out, i am really very thankful to have them in my garden. thay eat all the bugs that eat my plants and do not do much else. it happens this spider is also in my catnip plant... perhaps eating the unlnown bug in the picture above?
GRRRR! of all the pests in my garden i HATE the slugs!!!!! this is a trail of one that was creeping over my walls outside. the always hide under the roman chamomile and make it all gooey and slug infested. i have to check under all my chamomile clumps every other day, pick out all the slugs, and dispose of them. i do it by using the good ol' salt.. but i have heard some people just cut 'em in half with garden shears. personally i think that would gross me out too much.
I am not sure you can see this clearly but as it shows, our tomato plants have grown to heavy for their own good. the pictures above show how they even bent the metel gaurd all the way down to the ground. We have this problem every year! the tomato plants, when the tomatoes are growing ripe, topple over from the weight! it does not hurt the plant though, all of the tomatos still fully develop and we are left with too many!! any of you have this problem?
YAY! finally the tomatos are turning red! mmm mmmm mmmmn. you know what this means... salad, salsa, sandwiches. just in time for mid-summer. anyone else have any ripe ones? these ones in the picture are getting there. we already took in a batch of about 10 or 11 of them... we always end up pretty much throwing baskets of them to our freinds we have so many by the time they are all ripe.
Hi everyone! I just joined and was wondering: am i the only herb lover on vox? It seems that everywhere i look i cannot find any fellow herb gardeners. please tell me if you do love herbs...... i am starting to feel like an outsider :(
fun with the new bubble blower!
Do you doodle? Show us.
this is my doodle!
this is a small small excerpt of a story i am writing.. if i get good reviews i will post more.. i am still at the very very beginning so there is not much to it.. but please tell me if you like it! it is about a small girl and boy trying to survive during the holocaust.
false imperfections.
Dustin Austerlitz looked longingly up at the small but blinding speck of light that shone through the huge pile of dry chalky rubble that was covering him. The dark covering around him used to be his family's kitchen which had consisted of a small stove, an equally small icebox, and a dirt floor. Dustin had, earlier or maybe even the day before been walking through the small space, when he heard a deafening roar and screaming, a sound that had never entered his ears before. Soon this sound was followed by an explosion that sent Dustin flying into the small stove, the impact of which knocked the little boy unconscious.
How long had it been since then? Hours judging by the darkness that suffocated him. A small sliver of silver light that shone through the tiny hole above the small cave of debris he was trapped in looked to him, like a feeble ray of hope, though he knew it was only the moon. Dustin sat in stone silence fearing for what would happen if he moved, until the first sign of day erupted light into the small surroundings he was trapped in. The new found light cast an eerie glow on all the objects surrounding him. he looked to his left and saw a closed bread dish that was thickly coated in dust. He raised his small hand and cleared of the layer revealing the shiny metal beneath. the dust he had just stirred up made him cough and he realized his throat hurt very much. He needed to find a way out. Dustin was still terrified of being crushed if he moved any of the remnants of buildings blocking his way out above the prison so he just contented in calling out for his parents "mutter?"
"Vater?"
Of course, all that answered him was the stony voice of silence. He looked around him and realized that he would most likely never see his family again because they were probably all dead, and that he would be absolutely alone for the rest of his life. While thinking these thoughts and sitting alone in the dark space that made him slightly claustrophobic, Dustin began to cry. Crying was something that even though he was only seven years old, he had not done much of lately. Considering the events occurring he believed that this was a perfectly good reason to cry and he felt a little better as he let his feelings stream out him.
Dustin suddenly pulled his hands off his already red and puffy eye as he strained to listen for a small and feeble voice he thought he had heard. He listened and then called out only to find that his voice was gone because of the dust in his throat. he thought back to the happy memories that had belonged to him when he was in his kitchen and then thought it was kind of ironic that the very place those treasured memories took place, was making him feel as though he had someone strangling his throat. He must have made some sound while crying though because then, he heard small feet stumbling towards him. He began to cry again, now because, for one, he thought the person on the ground above him might want to hurt him or take him away from his home, but on the other hand he cried because he knew he was going to get out and he really wasn't focusing on on who it was that saved him… only that he was indeed saved. Actually when he came to think of it he was quite hungry and thirsty and really was yearning for a meal. He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of the footsteps walking even closer now so that he could here some faint breathing along with it.
The footsteps paused and the voice, now he realized as a young girl's, called out "is anyone here?" the voice sounded near on the verge of tears and he realized then that he was only thinking of him and his family and that there must have been many other families that died in the bomb. Dustin spoke to the footsteps in a hoarse whisper
"I'm here"
He heard a dull thud which he assumed was the girl dropping to her knees which was followed with the sound of debris being pushed out of the way and then after that, a blinding light hit him full force in the face and he had the distinct feeling he wanted to sneeze. Once his eyes were adjusted to the light he saw a small hand in front of him and he grasped it just as it moved upward to pull him out of the hole.
Dustin was then pulled into a hug in familiar arms. This must be his sister he thought! His eyes were closed so he had to rely on his other senses to tell for sure if this was indeed his sister. His mind was swimming with a million different thoughts but through all that he realized that this must be! what else could explain the feeling of comfort and extreme love and gratitude he felt towards this person. Sarah began to try to talk while crying at the same time. Dustin! Oh Dustin i thought you were dead! i thought you were gone forever, i did not know what to do if you were, mother and father are gone, oh i cannot beleive----
Shhhhh Dustin replied. he pushed his sister away and held her at arm's length in front of him to get a better look at her face. Dustin's vision was blurry, but he could still see that his sister's face looked almost as sad as his felt. Dustin's tear stained face and cracked dry lips broke into a weak smile.They hugged once more. "I just thought you were gone, I thought I was never to see you again!" Sarah repeated.
Dustin felt anxious. he had never seen his sister this upset before and it was strange that he comforted her, after all she was older than he.
"Oh please, you must not cry!" Dustin replied, although his eyes eyes were brimming with tears as well. "I thought I had lost you too." He added in a voice barely above a whisper.
