Herb Gardening

Herb gardening is becoming more and more popular, and for a good reason. Herbs have practical value, serve a purpose, and with herb gardening you can actually use your plants. When most people think of herb gardening they automatically think of cooking, but herbs are also grown for their pleasant aroma and their beauty.
One important part of herb gardening is drying the herbs for use during the winter months, especially if you plan on cooking with them. First the tops of leafy herbs have to be cut, washed, and hung up for the water to evaporate. Then, tie stems together and hang up in a paper bag to dry. After two to three weeks they must be removed; crumble the leaves, dry them out in the oven, and store in a glass jar.
One of the most common herbs gown in herb gardening is basil. “Dark Opal” and regular green basil are beautiful additions to any garden and often used as decoration. Dark Opal has light pink flowers and dark red leaves. Basil isn’t just used for its looks; it is used for extra flavor in tomato juices and pastes.
Chives are very petite looking and resemble a blade of grass. They are much stronger than they look, however, and will grow well through a drought. Their toughness and sturdiness makes Chives a perfect plant for herb gardening, especially if the gardener doesn’t want plants that require a lot of hassle. Chives are good used in salads, egg dishes, and many different sauces.
Mint is also very simple to grow and is good to use in mint jelly, mint juleps, lemonade, and any other kind of fruity drink. Mint is also good in herb gardening for its unique minty smell. Two herbs that appear in nearly everyone’s herb garden are thyme and sage. Both of these herb gardening favorites are used for flavoring soups, chicken, turkey, pork, and other sausages. Sage is also grown sometimes for its beautiful blue spiked flowers.
Lavender is probably the best smelling herb in all of herb gardening and is often used in candles, as a perfume scent, and to improve the smell in linen chests. The light purple flowers smell absolutely lovely.
Other types of herbs often grown in herb gardening include borage (used in salads), chervil (used in egg dishes), sweet marjoram (flavors lamb, fish, salad, and soup), sesame (flavors crackers, cookies, and bread), and dill (flavors meats and used in pickles). Herb gardening allows gardeners to use herbs from their own garden for cooking, looks, and smell. Herb gardening will produce much fresher herbs with more flavor than store-bought herbs, and are a lot cheaper.

Going Green for a Healthier You in 2009

Going Green with your health should start with exercise. The type of exercise depends on your likes and dislikes and the level of fitness you want to achieve. An older person will exercise less strenuously than someone in their twenties. Do you want to invest in equipment or where you will work-out, are membership dues to a gym something you want to add to your budget these are all things you need to take into consideration. If you choose something that you don't like to do, you aren't going to keep doing it for a long period of time and once again your goals will be put aside, so give some thought to what type of exercise fits in with your personality and your budget for example if you don't like jogging, you aren't going to get up at 6 AM and go running. If you are having trouble deciding what to do you can start by simply walking. No special equipment is needed and you can start immediately and move on from there.

Walking is great exercise, as it suits all levels of fitness. Anyone can start a walking program at any time; it's normally the intensity and the duration that differs. Walking is also a social exercise and can be done with a partner. A great idea for a couple to spend quality time together walking at night after dinner instead of sitting down in front of the tv. Walking with a partner also makes time go by faster. No matter what exercise you choose, you should start at a low level of intensity and build it up over a period of weeks, which is essential to the longevity of your exercise program. If you start off too hard, you could end up with an injury as well as getting bored if you are not pushing yourself to some higher degree.

Start off by walking for 10 to 15 minutes each day, more depending on how much exercise you are used to, increase your time or distance as you feel comfortable. Is there a family member or neighbor who would be interested in walking with you? Buddy systems keep you twice as motivated. Change the direction you walk for added interest. Walking is the ideal way to exercise if you are one of the millions who are cutting back expenses this year.