How to grow a bay leaf tree

The very first tree I decided to grow inside my house was a bay laurel tree (Laurus nobilis). Unlike most other herbs, the bay leaf is actually an evergreen shrub. I looked for this little plant for several years before finally finding one at a local plant nursery. Since then I have been obsessed with it!

It is now just under 2 feet tall, it lives in a medium sized pot, it spends its summers outside and its winters indoors.

The bay laurel tree is an aromatic evergreen tree with smooth leaves in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. It is a flowering tree, with pairs of yellow-green flowers blooming bedside each leaf. It blooms in spring.

Unfortunately the bay laurel is dioecious, meaning male and female flowers form on separate plants. So sadly, my single plant will never produce viable seed.

Since the bay Laurel is native to the Mediterranean region it cannot tolerate our winters outside and therefore must be protected from the cold in winter. 

I call it a 'small' tree but it can actually reach a height of up to 59 feet tall! Obviously it can't be allowed to get that big inside my house!

With proper pruning I shouldn't have to worry about it bursting through my ceilings anytime soon though. When grown in a pot, it is a fairly slow growing tree.

How to propagate herbs from cuttings

I'm a little sad as the garden winds down for the year. I'll miss having fresh fruits, veggies, herbs and flowers all winter long. I do like to grow houseplants though and luckily many herbs and flowers can grow indoors with very little effort....which is great because I honestly put basil in everything!

The best part about growing herbs from cuttings though, is that they are ready to use so much more quickly than if you grow from seed! Plus then I don't feel so bad when the frost takes my herb plants away, since they can live on inside the house!

We've talked about growing herbs and greens using a Hydroponics garden. I use mine every winter and just love having fresh lettuce for winter salads. It can be expensive when getting started though, so it's not for everyone.

I also grow Coleus indoors as a houseplant to bring some color into my plant collection in winter! It seriously a sea of green inside my house, so I need that color to liven things up! 

How to separate aloe pups

Now is the time of year when Aloe plants start to send out little shoots next to the base of the plant. While it looks like the plant is just growing larger, these are actually baby plants called pups. Today I want to talk about splitting the aloe pups from the parent plant so that you have multiple aloe plants.

Everybody loves aloe. It's a great houseplant and it's gel is wonderful for burns, so it's one of those must grow medicinal houseplants! Once the pups are split from the parent plant and start establishing their own roots, they make great gifts...or just have a table full of aloe plants like I do! lol 

It takes about 3 years till a plant is big enough to harvest the aloe vera gel from it. Until then though, it does make a great houseplant and helps to purify the air we breathe.

These pictures are of my aloe plant that I bought at Aldi. It's name is Charles. I don't know why but every plant I buy from Aldi gets a male name. The aloe plant is capable of reproducing all on their own and they do this by sending out shoots right next to the stem.

Hydroponic gardening for beginners

I've known what hydroponics are for a long time but I only started experimenting with it a few years ago. It started with a gift. I was given a small self contained hydroponic garden for Xmas. I quickly found out that small scale hydroponics systems for inside your house can produce fresh vegetables and herbs quite well. They are especially useful during the winter. 

I also found out that a few things I expected didn't quite work out as planned. Of course my experience is limited to a few years with a tabletop hydroponic system, which is by no means the only way to use hydroponics in your home, but it is the easiest. 

The system I used is called the Aerogarden. I'll link to it a little lower on the page so you can take a peek, but first lets gets started talking about hydroponics.

Want epic Basil? Grow it in pots!

Basil is definitely my favorite herb! I eat it fresh, dried and pretty much in anything I can. Since I use so much basil it only makes sense that I grow my own basil year round. What also makes sense is that I grow basil in pots so I can move it indoors in winter, then back outside in warmer weather. I keep my basil thriving year round so there's always plenty to eat.

Basil comes in many different varieties, each one having a unique flavor and medicinal properties. My favorite type so far has been Basil Genovese, though I have tried many types over the years!

One of the most popular varieties is Ocimum basilicum commonly called sweet basil. Sweet basil has inch-long, oval-pointed, dark green leaves and a clove-pepperish odour and taste.

Another popular variety  of basil is a purple-leafed variety. ‘Dark Opal’ is decorative, makes a lovely houseplant, and is equally useful in cookery. 

Often called the ‘king of herbs,’ basil can be grown indoors or out. I do both. 

How to grow rosemary indoors and out

I can grow a lot of herbs both indoors and out but the one that gives me the most trouble is rosemary! Oh, I can keep the plant alive and thriving just fine when it's summer (and I'll teach you how too!) but once I bring the rosemary plant inside for winter all bets are off! We can get to that later though.

To start, let's talk about how to grow rosemary in your garden.

Rosemary has a long list of historical uses, dating all the way back to the Egyptians when they used it in burials. It's well known for its use in lamb dishes, as an essential oil and for it's healing properties.

Also known for the pop culture reference in Practical Magic "Keep Rosemary by your garden gate". 

Rosmarinus officinalis or Salvia rosmarinus, commonly called rosemary is an aromatic herb indigenous to the Mediterranean area. It is a member of the mint family.

Rosemary is a woody, shrubby, aromatic perennial. As a perennial it prefers a warmer, moist climate but can be grown as an annual above zone 6 or moved indoors as a potted plant during winter. 

Rosemary has needlelike leaves and delicate purple, pink, white or blue flowers. Let me clarify, needle shaped leaves but much thicker and a bit softer.

Rosemary’s leaves are dark green on top with silvery undersides. They are so fragrant that you can smell the herb just by brushing your fingertips over the leaves.

Mature rosemary plants can live for over 30 years!

Adorable mini Christmas garden gifts

This was not supposed to be a blog post. This was only supposed to be a quick way to throw together a little hostess gift with some plant clippings and bows. It really got out of hand! What started as 1 mini-rosemary topiary turned into 3 mini Christmas themed planters. *sigh* Let me start at the beginning.

Everybody knows how much I love my plants ... especially my herbs! What better way to spread the love of herbs this holiday season than with a rosemary topiary? 

I set out to make this with my out of control rosemary 'bush' and a few pots I had picked up from the dollar spot at Target. I clipped my rosemary, prepared it and rooted it then decided it looked suspiciously like a Christmas tree. 

So I decorated it. 

Then I had to make another one in a shape, since the first one sorta failed. After that I only had 1 pot left so I tossed in some succulents that I had been propagating and voila! 3 mini Christmas gardens. That's my story...and I'm sticking to it!

9 Herbs that want to take over your garden

I really love growing herbs. Nothing beats freshly harvested herbs to really perk up a homemade meal. I grow about 20 different herbs every year for both food and medicine. While some herbs have given me a really hard time getting them to grow (I'm looking at you white sage!) other herbs, have gotten completely out of hand in the garden.

My first out of control herb was dill. It was my first year with an unlimited sized garden and I was going to grow my own dill and learn to make pickles. It was also my first year with chickens and I had sadly underestimated their drive to get into my garden and take 2 bites out of everything they could find. 

Since the pickling cucumbers were a bust, I let the dill go to seed. Big mistake. Dill has popped up in my garden every year since.

A Calendula infestation followed closely behind the dill problem...though you can really never have enough calendula so that's not so bad. 

Shortly after Valerian started popping up in and out of my garden, as far away as my driveways edge! Since then there's been several invasive herbs including catnip, chamomile, chives and....well, here's the whole list!

How (and when) to plant garlic

As October marches on one of my favorite fall activities is quickly approaching. Garlic planting! This is our seventh year with Garlic (Allium sativum) and we're very excited to try some new varieties! I think planting garlic is one of my favorite gardening activities because it's like one last hurrah of planting for an ending season. 

I like to plant both hardneck and softneck varieties. Even though I try to keep them separated, I always seem to get them mixed together. 

When they are growing side by side it's easy to tell which is which as they grow. The hardneck varieties will get scapes. I cut the scapes off after they start to curl and saute them in butter, they're so yummy! 

If you don't cut the scapes off, the bulbs don't grow as big...and I love some big garlic bulbs!

11 Medicinal plants that grow well indoors

Fall is officially here and that means that gardening is coming to a halt for the year. I've been spending a lot of time preserving my fresh veggies and herbs for the winter. I use herbs in so many different things that I just can't be without them! I've dehydrated and stored almost all of my herbs from the garden, except for a few.

While I'm really glad I can dehydrate herbs to store them, I would much prefer to use fresh herbs. I use herbs in medicinal teas for basically anything that ails me. From headaches to sleeplessness, I turn to herbs before store bought medicines so it's important I have them on hand.

Luckily there are some herbs that do really well indoors in pots. As an added bonus they Help To Clean The Air Inside Your House! I don't have very sunny windows and even I can get most of these to flourish indoors in winter! These medicinal herbs are easy to grow, even for beginners. 

How to grow and use Toothache plant

As you know, I like to grow different plants in my garden every year and one of this years varieties is Spilanthes Toothache plant (Acmella oleracea or Spilanthes acmella ) This plant has earned its name from the mouth numbing sensation caused by chewing on the plants flowers. It can literally stop a toothache.

The toothache plant is native to South America and is part of the Asteraceae family...commonly referred to as the aster family. Toothache plant is also referred to as buzz buttons and electric daisy. It is said to attract fireflies, though I haven't seen evidence of this.

I'm also not sitting out with it all night, so who knows! 

Toothache plant is a tender perennial that only gets to be about a foot tall, but sprawls about twice that in length. The leaves can be eaten in small amounts in salads and they lose their strong taste once cooked. The petal-less flowers are the interesting part though.

Valerian, how to grow, harvest and dry for use

If you've ventured into the world of herbal medicine you've probably heard of Valerian. Known for it's sleep inducing and anxiety reducing qualities, Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) is an easy to grow perennial that absolutely stinks to harvest and use! 

That's actually a very funny fact because the valerian flowers smell quite nice, in fact they attract all sorts of pollinators to the garden. The white or pale pink valerian flowers have a sweet, almost vanilla like scent. Plus they grow to be about 6 feet tall so that scent wafts all throughout the garden. 

The valerian roots however don't have anywhere near as pleasant of a fragrance! They've been compared to the stench of dirty socks.

Marigolds: grow your own pest spray (Try this!)

I'm sure by now you've heard that you should plant Marigolds in your garden to keep insects away. While there are conflicting studies and first hand accounts, by and large it seems like many people give it a try anyway....and why not? Marigolds are pretty, hardy and easy to grow. Plus, they might help. 

Marigolds are a very easy to grow flower, plus they bloom continuously through the summer. Marigolds range in color from pale ivory colored to bright orange with rust colored variations. 

There are more than 50 different species of marigolds, but the ones we're discussing are the carnation like flowers known as the common marigold (Tagetes) not Calendula (Calendula officinalis) aka pot Marigold. 

The only reason I mention this is because whenever anyone talks about using marigold, they usually are referring to Calendula. Calendula has a ton of fabulous properties and it's often used in soaps or lotions and even teas. I use it in my Skin Healing Salve recipe and my Sunburn Tea Bath. 

As amazing as it is, Calendula will not have the desired effect in this application though. You need the normal marigold that you can buy in any plant nursery. (see photos)

Growing and using catnip for tea (for you, not the cats!)

We're all familiar with catnip and how it affects cats. What is less well-known is how it affects humans. No, catnip is not just for cats and interestingly enough, while it tends to wind cats up it has the exact opposite effect on people. Catnip can be used topically or as a tea, tincture or infusion for many different reasons. Catnip is also one of the herbs that has a long history of use for children.

Catnip (Nepeta cataria) is a member of the mint family. It's sometimes referred to as Catmint. Even though it seems to produce a euphoria response in cats, catnip will not get you high! Maybe because we're much bigger than cats? Kidding! 

Here's an excellent explanation of why it works for cats, though it tends to have a calming effect on us instead. 

Health benefits of catnip (for people)

Catnip has a much milder effect on people but it still produces many desired effects. There are many reasons why you should grow catnip for yourself. My favorite way to use catnip is as a tea, though it can be applied topically too.

Grow amazing Lavender plants!

We all have that one herb we can't grow enough of and for me that herb is lavender. No matter how many lavender plants I have, I just can't get enough of these fragrant purple flowers!

I have been growing lavender for several years and by far my favorite variety is English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) I love it so much that I even grow lavender right beside the kitchen door!

I use lavender in many different ways including lotions, salves, teas and even baked goods. I mostly use lavender for it's aromatherapy properties.

It's known to help induce sleep, calm anxiety, reduce stress and soothe headaches.

English lavender (also known as true lavender) is a small evergreen shrub and is the most aromatic variety of the lavenders. It is pest resistant and a low maintenance herb.

It's fairly easy to grow, but can be difficult to get started from seed. Many people choose to propagate lavender from cuttings instead as it is much easier.

How to grow lavender

How to grow and harvest chamomile

To look at my garden you wouldn't know that I once had a hard time growing chamomile! I spent two years fighting to grow a few spindly little plants that only produced a few flowers each. It was so sad. Now my garden overflows with it every year. I was simply growing it wrong! I had no idea how to grow chamomile. Actually, I had no idea how to germinate chamomile. 

The few plants that started I kept in pots on my patio because I was sure they'd die in the garden. *sigh* They really struggled in those pots.

Luckily I figured out the one trick to growing chamomile and now that I figured it out, I don't need it anymore! 

Because once you get a few chamomile plants growing well in your garden...they drop enough seeds every year to come back again, and again and again. You'll never have to plant chamomile again!

The two most popular types of chamomile are Roman Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis) and German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita). They have somewhat similar properties but I decided to grow German chamomile.

German chamomile is a taller annual plant versus the shorter perennial Roman chamomile. 

Normally I would say to plant the Roman variety and you'll never have to plant it again. The way the German chamomile self seeds though, makes that kind of a moot point!

I like to grow chamomile in the vegetable garden since it attracts ladybugs, any aphids that find my garden don't stand a chance!

Red Veined Sorrel: A salad and a cure

I really like odd varieties of plants. I don't know what it  is about the more uncommon plants that attract me, but I looked around at my garden and house plants today and realized that I have quite a few. So I would like to talk about some of them starting with a stunning plant called Bloody Dock.

This is one of the easiest plants to grow and like many of my favorite plants, I have been growing it for years. It grows well both indoors and out, so you should be able to grow it no matter what zone you're in. 

How to store dried herbs

If you're anything like me you've spent the better part of the summer growing, harvesting and drying your own herbs. Growing your own herbs is a very cost effective way to stock your spice cabinet or herbal apothecary and drying them is simple enough that anyone can do it! 

Now that you took the time to dehydrate all those fresh herbs, how do you store herbs so that they last the longest and are the most potent? 

How to store dried herbs properly

There are 5 things that cause herbs to deteriorate:

• Air
• Heat
• Sunlight
• Moisture
• Time

To minimize the deterioration cause by the first 4 on the list, store your dried herbs in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. I like to store my dried herbs in glass and I use canning jars. I love that they come in all different sizes since some herbs I use a lot of and others I only use sparingly. 

I store them in a cabinet down in my family room where it stays pretty cool year round. 

Unfortunately because kitchens tend to get hot when cooking/baking they are probably the worst place to store dried herbs, especially if you keep dried herbs on the counter or in an herb display rack. If you can't store your herbs in a cabinet, try the tinted Ball jars to help keep light out.

Why you need to grow mint in a planter

I love mint! Mint tea, mint flavorings, mint in lotions potions and brews oh my! Spearmint, peppermint, lemon mint, chocolate mint...I could go on and on. The best way to use mint is fresh, so of course I need to grow some every year. Luckily mint is a super easy to grow perennial and one plant can produce fresh mint for years!

However, mint is a very invasive plant. It reproduces by sending out roots called runners just below the soil. First you'll notice small mint plants popping up close to the parent plant. Then you'll notice them farther and farther away until suddenly they're everywhere!

Since the mint plant is sending out runners in different directions, it seems to take over all at once. So one mint plant can quickly turn into a garden full! This is why you need to grow mint in a container. 

By keeping the roots neatly contained in a planter, you will prevent them from sending out those runners under the soil line. 

Growing herbs indoors

I love fresh herbs. I use them for food and medicine. I just can't bear to be without fresh herbs in winter so I always have a bunch of different herbs growing in my house. It just makes sense to have herbs growing right inside my kitchen where I'll be using them, right? The kitchen is the perfect place to grow herbs since it's often warm, generally has high humidity and is right where you'll be using the herbs! The only other thing you need is a sunny window.

There are at least 11 medicinal herbs that grow well indoors, and plenty more culinary ones, so it's not hard to find herbs that do well indoors even in winter. I am such an outdoors 'always in the garden' person that winter is the hardest for me and I just have to grow some plants indoors. 

Plus you can't beat the taste of fresh grown herbs when cooking!

One of the great thing about growing herbs indoors is that they can be grown hydroponically or traditionally and they taste exactly the same!