Posted on 31 March 2008 by herb
Interested in growing greener? That would include growing plants native to your local climate, plants that are naturally adapted to the local conditions.
Reducing water consumption is important to many of us, especially for those in dryer climates. A fantastic resource for you guys in the deserts is High Country Gardens. From Santa Fe they offer a nice selection of native plants that require less care and attention than the tropical imports and the highly hybridized annuals that are pushed at garden centers every year.
If you have an interest in any of the following you should sign up to receive the Xeriscape Gardening Newsletter.
The past few weeks I’ve seen beautifully illustrated emails on the topics of using ornamental grasses, gardening with color, perennials, dahlias, thymes and salvias, and even one about Blue Orchard Mason Bee Nest Tubes for Spring.
The online catalog is handsome. Clean lines, not too cluttered, yet full of information. Tool tips pop up with item specifics when you hover your mouse pointer over the large-enough thumbnail pictures. Each item details page gives plenty of details on the particular plant and its growing requirements.
Herbs are not too plentiful in the High Country Gardens Catalog. Only 6 herbal items, and they’re potted plants:
Like I said though, if you’re interested in gardening with a green intent, then subscribe to the newsletter. It will give you ideas on how to use native plants in your gardens, especially perennials, ground covers and grasses.
Filed under: Catalogs, Going Green, Shopping
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Posted on 29 March 2008 by herb
A few weeks ago I signed up to receive online newsletters or registered at a few dozen gardening and seed catalog purveyors.
As was expected… both my physical and virtual mail boxes are now full. That was predictable. What I wasn’t ready for were the beautiful pictures and wealth of information in these catalogs. It’s all out there. I’ll be pointing you the way to the best resources, but for now a quick tip.
For a fast discount I recommend registering with the gardening websites that are of interest to you. Why?
- By law, their newsletters or weekly emails have to stop coming when you unsubscribe, so there’s no trouble with giving them your email address. If you no longer want to receive it, just unsubscribe.
- Any of the digital versions that you choose is a wiser, more environmentally-friendly or eco-friendly choice than the paper versions of catalogs.
- Many of the seed companies have internet only or online discounts, so take advantage of them.
Sign up for newsletters if you can and you’ll be pleasantly surprised with discount offers. Good luck! I hope you find some real gems.
Filed under: Catalogs, Deals and Codes, Going Green, Shopping
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Posted on 21 March 2008 by herb
Getting ready for planting season is a time of preparation and reading up on techniques and new plants that you might try this year. Have you decided to go green with your gardening efforts this year?
Composting is a major part of reusing materials. Yes, our mantra reduce, reuse, recycle can be put to work in our gardens. Avoiding the purchase of fertilizers and insecticides is a side benefit of making the best compost. Read on to learn more in this great resource, World’s Best Compost.
Here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll discover in Worlds Best Compost:
- The method of feeding plants in a totally natural way that results in the most tastiest, divine food you and your family will ever have.
- Why do you use much less water in your garden now using colloidal humus compost? (and how you will be saving money and effort and the environment)
- What’s the sheep mentality that almost all agriculture and garden advisors suffer from that costs you time and money on dangerous, toxic gardening and horticulture practices. (and is killing our planet in the process)?
- How to achieve a soil that “feeds itself” so you always get consistent results!
Read more about composting!
Filed under: Going Green, Growing, Planting, Shopping
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Posted on 20 March 2008 by herb
Any readers out there in Pennsylvania — take a look at your local county conservation district. Find yours by going to the Pennsylvania Conservation District Directory and jumping over to your county district’s website, or one of a neighboring county. Look for a link to the seedling or tree seedling sales they hold now for Spring plantings.
Some of the varieties that may be available include: American Arborvitae, Eastern White Pine, Black Walnut, Red Maple, White Oak, American Cranberry and Serviceberry. Birdhouse kits and Wildflower mixes are also available by some districts.
You might want to act fast though, a few conservation districts in our region are no longer accepting orders. Clinton County will take orders until April 1, Union County until April 7, and Synder County until March 31, 2008, to name a few that are still accepting orders.
The seedlings are inexpensive and the monies go toward supporting the Conservation Districts. Do something a little green today. Purchase a few seedlings and support an organization that helps to educate our children about conservation of our natural heritage.
Filed under: Deals and Codes, Going Green, Planting, Shopping
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Posted on 18 March 2008 by herb
Spring is just starting to arrive in Central Pennsylvania and one treat that local folk look forward to around the time of Easter dinners is dandelion salad. Early dandelion leaves are picked by the pound and softened with a hot bacon salad dressing and usually served with baked ham. Members of local fire departments and churches cook great batches of food for anyone happening to see their signs on the road and for the locals who look forward to these annual dinner events.
If you’re feeling adventurous, try a dandelion salad this spring. The familiar dandelion is found just about everywhere and is easily recognized by its basal rosette of toothed, deeply cleft leaves and bright yellow flower head.
It’s a little early to harvest much dandelion now, but while you’re sprucing up your gardens take a look around and scout out some dandelions that look promising. Make sure to pick dandelions from areas that are not sprayed with pesticides or weed killers.
Pick the young leaves and the flower buds for the least bitter taste. After dandelions flower most think the taste is strongly bitter, so young early spring leaves are preferred. Toss the stems and unused greens into your compost heap.
Cut the washed leaves into half-inch wide strips and leave out the stems of the larger leaves. Instead of using bacon or ham drippings to prepare the dressing, try canola oil or olive oil as a healthy alternative. Unsaturated fats in canola and olive oils are much preferred over the saturated animal fats in the bacon and ham. An added bonus is that the lighter plant oils will let other flavors come through, so you get to taste more ingredients than the heavy bacon-ham dressing.
Filed under: Harvesting, Using Herbs
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Posted on 2 March 2008 by herb
The first rendition of our Seed Catalog Database is now available as a PDF document. It’s high time to start on your gardening projects for the 2008 growing season, and we wanted to share the information we gathered so far – so here it is – 2008 Seed and Garden Catalog Guide. (Right-click the link to save the file if you like – it’s a PDF.)
In the catalog guide you’ll find contact information for 92 companies that offer seeds and plants for your gardens, including their addresses, phone numbers and clickable links to their online offerings.
The original database was trimmed down to include only companies located in the U.S.A. Unfortunately, federal regulations have stopped shipments of live plants coming in from Canada and other parts of the world. Some foreign companies have voluntarily quit shipping anything to the U.S. due to the newer, more stringent rules. That’s ok, we’d like to show our support for businesses that can claim Made in the U.S.A., so from now on we’ll only be mentioning American businesses.
Make sure to check out the websites as many of these companies have Web Only Specials that you might like to take advantage of!
Beyond the contact info, the catalog guide describes products from each company so you can find out who is offering bulbs and who is selling lettuce seeds.
Our goal is to ultimately provide an online service that is searchable so you can find where to purchase tarragon seeds or mesclun mixes for your early Spring garden.
If you sign up for usethatherb’s RSS feed, you’ll be notified when we have new content on usethatherb.com. Sign up today – you don’t even need to give us your email address.
Filed under: Catalogs, Deals and Codes, Planting
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