Little Herb Gardens: Simple Secrets for Glorious Gardens–Indoors and Out - Book Description
It’s no wonder the best-selling Little Herb Gardens, now with a fresh new cover, has been so popular. Herbs are the instant gratification project of the gardening world, and people love to grow them. This friendly guide to homegrown herbs is perfect for beginners, featuring plans for simple garden projects ranging from outdoor garden beds to window boxes and container gardens. Growing instructions for over 30 herbs are rounded out with ideas for garden planning and maintenance. Tips on harvesting and cooking with nature’s bounty make this charming volume as useful in the kitchen as it is in the garden. With colorful photographs and warm and informative text, Little Herb Gardens is inviting to gardeners, cooks, and herb novices alike.

About the Author
Georgeanne Brennan is a James Beard Award-winning author of numerous cooking and garden books. She lives in Northern California and France. Mimi Leubbermann is the author of a wide range of garden books, including Easy Orchids (0-8118-3553-7). She lives in Northern California. Faith Echtermeyer has created visuals for numerous cookbooks, travel books, and food and wine publications. She lives in California’s Napa Valley.

When you can pick the tomatoes out of your garden.

Bring them into your kitchen.

Core them.

Put them in boiling water for 2-3 minutes.

Transfer them into a bowl of ice water.

The skin just slides right off.

Holding the tomato in your hand,

Insert it into a large freezer ziplock bag

and squeeze!

Do this over and over with 10-12 tomatoes.

Then put in about a TBS canning salt.

Close the bag. Squeeze it around to mix it up.

Put it in the freezer.

Wala - tomatoes for the rest of the year for your soups, chili, and sauces!

Thought we would join in the Thursday Thirteen fun this week. Instead of 13 things about Me - I have created The Garden 13 with 13 interesting gardening tips and tricks I’ve come across over the past week.

To start off our second Garden 13 - we’re talkin’ tomatoes! I’m a BIG fan of all types of tomatoes and have planted 6 different varieties in my own garden. I’m listing them here - along with 7 other fabulous varieties that I wish I would have planted, but did not have the room

Here are 13 fabulous tomato varieties (the first 6 are in my garden):

1. Beefsteak Tomatoes - This surprisingly compact plant (20-24″) is just loaded with large flavorful tomatoes. Combines big meaty fruit (8-12 oz.) and early maturity on a dwarf plant, perfect for a small garden and patio containers. Yeilds perfect slices for sandwiches!





2. Roma Tomatoes - Bright red, plum shaped, paste-type fruits with meaty interiors. Determinate plants. Ready to pick about 76 days after plants are set out. GARDEN HINTS: Fertilize when first fruits form to increase yield. Water deeply once a week during very dry weather.





3. Cherry Tomatoes - Scarlet, cherry-sized fruits are produced in long clusters right up to frost. 70 days. Bursting with sugary flavor. Scarlet, cherry-sized fruits are produced in long clusters right up to frost. Grow on stakes or fence.





4. Grape tomatoes - these are my favorite! I can pick these and just eat them right off the vine! nce upon a time, grape tomatoes were considered a specialty item. Now, as the word about grape tomatoes is catching on and are more mainstream.





5. Fourth of July Tomato - The first tomato to ripen by Independence Day! Be the first on your block to have vine ripened red, luscious tomatoes by the Fourth of July. Enjoy the plentiful harvest about 49 days after setting plants in the garden. Indeterminate plants produce fruits that average 4 ounces all season long. YUM!





6. Tomato Viva Italia Hybrid - The best tomato for soups and ketchup. Vigorous plants yield an abundance of 3 oz. fruits. Disease resistant.





7. Tomato Heatwave - Grow great tasting tomatoes in the most intense summer heat even at 100°F. Round, 6-7 oz. fruits on com pact plants are extremely disease resistant.





8. Tomato Sweet Tangerine Hybrid - Gorgeously golden and astonishingly sweet. These delectable tomatoes also ripen early for so large a fruit. The determinate plants set very heavy crops, even in hot weather. Strong disease resistance. Ready to harvest in 68 days.





9. Yellow Pear Tomato - This extremely old variety makes a vigorous plant, which bears enormous numbers of bright yellow, bite-sized fruit. The flavor is deliciously tangy. Perfect for summer party hors d’oeuvres.





10. Pink Belgium Tomato - A succulent and enormous dark 1-1/2 to 2 lb. pink tomato that many gardeners prefer to the more acidic varieties. The flavor is sweet and very mild, and the large fruits are very attractive. Indeterminate. Pink-skinned tomatoes occur as a result of a clear skin over red flesh. (Ordinary red tomatoes have yellow skin over red flesh.) When ripe fruits retain green pigment, tomatoes take on purple and brownish hues.





11. Brandywine Tomato - Exceptionally delicious pink fruits, up to 1 lb. each, grow on indeterminate plants.





12. Brandy Boy Tomato - Many gardeners consider Brandywine heirloom tomato (above) to be the best tasting of all tomatoes. But as all tomato connoisseurs know, Brandywine has its drawbacks. The tomatoes are often misshapen with uneven shoulder ripening. The plants grow wildly, set fruit late in the summer and yield a sparse crop at best. But not Brandy Boy! Our new hybrid Brandywine produces loads of large pink fruits, up to 5½ inches across, that ripen evenly, with soft heirloom texture, thin skin and that same incredible Brandywine flavor. Better yet the plants sport an upright more manageable growth habit. Brandy Boy is an indeterminate variety, ready to pick 75-78 days after setting out plants. If you love tomatoes like we do, and especially the rich, tangy-sweet taste of Brandywine, don’t miss Brandy Boy!





13. Tomato Tomande - Tomato connoisseurs rave about the flavor of these broad-shouldered beauties. Fleshy, juicy and flavorful,’Tomande’ will treat gourmet gardeners with both heirloom taste and abundant hybrid yields.

Happy Gardening!

Having an herb garden gives you the extra added benefit of producing tasty home-dried herbs, just like the ones you buy at the store - only at a fraction of the cost! Proper handling is very important in the success of harvesting herbs for use in meals, soups, salads and pasta dishes.

Preparation

Most herbs are at their peak flavor just before flowering, so this is a good time to collect them for drying and storage. To be certain, check drying directions on specific herbs in a reliable reference book. Cut off the herbs early in the morning just after the dew has dried. Cut annuals off at ground level, and perennials about one-third down the main stem, including the side branches.

Wash herbs, with the leaves on the stems, lightly in cold running water to remove any soil, dust, bugs, or other foreign material. Drain thoroughly on absorbent towels or hang plants upside down in the sun until the water evaporates.

Strip leaves off the stalks once plants have drained and dried, leaving only the top 6 inches. Remove all blossoms.

Natural or Air Drying

Herbs must be dried thoroughly before storing. Herbs with high moisturecontent, such as mint and basil, need rapid drying or they will mold. To retain some green leaf coloring, dry in the dark by hanging plants upside down in bunches in paper bags. Hanging leaves down allows essential oils to flow from stems to leaves. Tie whole stems very tightly in small bunches. Individual stems will shrink and fall. Hang in a dark, warm (70o-80oF [21.1o-26.7oC]), well-ventilated, dust-free area. Leaves are ready when they feel dry and crumbly in about 1 to 2 weeks.

Drying Seeds

Seeds take longer to dry than leaves, sometimes as much as 2 weeks for larger seeds. Place seed heads on cloth or paper. When partially dry, rub seeds gently between palms to remove dirt and hulls. Spread clean seed in thin layers on cloth or paper until thoroughly dry.

You also can dry herb seeds by hanging the whole plant upside down inside a paper bag. The bag will catch the seeds as they dry and fall from the pod.

Over Drying

For quick oven drying, take care to prevent loss of flavor, oils, and color. Place leaves or seeds on a cookie sheet or shallow pan not more than 1 inch deep in an open oven at low heat less than 180oF (82.2oC) for about 2 to 4 hours.

Microwave ovens can be used to dry leaves quickly. Place the clean leaves on a paper plate or paper towel. Place the herbs in the oven for 1 to 3 minutes, mixing every 30 seconds.

Silica Gel or Salt Drying

Silica gel or noniodized table salt can be used to dry or “cure” non-hairy leaves. Clean and blot dry leaves before placing them in a tray or shallow pan of the silica gel or salt. After the leaves have dried, approximately 2 to 4 weeks, remove the leaves from the drying material, shake off the excess material, and store them in glass containers. Before using, rinse leaves thoroughly in clear, cold water.

Another method of drying herbs is to remove the leaves from the plants, wash them, and spread them thinly on screens to dry, avoiding exposure to bright light. Cheesecloth makes a good screen material and stretches well.

Freezing Herbs

Herbs also can be frozen. Harvest herbs according to recommendations. Wash them thoroughly and blanch them in boiling, unsalted water for 50 seconds Cool them quickly in ice water and then package and freeze them. Washed fresh dill, chives, and basil can be frozen without blanching.

Storage

When completely dry, the leaves may be screened to a powder or stored whole in airtight containers, such as canning jars with tightly sealed lids.

Seeds should be stored whole and ground as needed. Leaves retain their oil and flavor if stored whole and crushed just before use.

For a few days, it is very important to examine daily the jars in which you have stored dried herbs. If you see any moisture in the jars, remove the herbs and repeat the drying process. Herbs will mold quickly in closed jars if not completely dry.

Once you are sure the herbs are completely dry, place them in the airtight containers, and store them in a cool, dry place away from light. Never use paper or cardboard containers for storage as they will absorb the herbs’ aromatic oils.