Showing posts with label herbal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label herbal. Show all posts

Monday, November 11, 2013

Off the topic

Sorry I'm so wishy-washy on this blog. Right now other things take precedence--like a job hunt and...

My hoop-houses, since nothing herbal is growing.



I have two hoop-houses this year. Last year was our first test. With two water bottles inside the temperature never got low enough to freeze the plants. The water bottles release their heat, so they're the first things to freeze. The bottles did freeze a couple of times (when the temperature got down into the teens), but nothing else inside even got nipped. I'm guessing that another water bottle in each would bring the survivable temperature even lower. Anything that touches the plastic will freeze, and the condensation on the plastic also froze quite regularly. It's amazing to lift the cover in the morning and have ice snap off, but the green inside hasn't been affected.

The hoop-house on the east has beets, lettuce and spinach. On the west, I'm experimenting so that one has potatoes, carrots and a pepper that I'm hoping will survive the winter. We'll see. Right now it's looking pretty sad and not growing.

We harvested our first out of season potatoes today, and I dug up the dill because it was infested with aphids. So I now know that I need to pay attention to insect control...

We've been eating salad (fresh from our garden) for the last month. :)

Sunday, August 5, 2012

A few facts about herbs

1 Valerian is NOT related to Valium

2 There are interactions between pharmaceutical drugs and herbs

3 Herbs are no more safe in large doses than pharmaceuticals

4 "Herbal" refers to the above-ground portion of any plant

5 Many substances referred to as herbs are in reality roots

6 Plants are annuals (live one year), bi-annuals (live two years), or perrenials (live more than two years)

7 Many bi-annuals are in reality perrenials but they reach their highest potency in the second year

8 Dividing the root of many perennials will create new plants which are clones of the parent plant

9 Plants breathe in and out, just like we do

10 In the winter, all the nutrients from a perrenial are stored in the root. Therefore, the winter or early spring is the best time to harvest roots

11 By harvesting the root you actually kill the plant--no more next year