Herb Gardening For Dummies

Starting an herb garden isn't free, but it certainly outweighs the growing costs of buying retail herbs. Plus, adding homegrown ingredients to your meals is a healthy and tasty way to improve upon any dish you whip up at home.

This friendly, hands-on guide is an excellent introduction to the world of herb gardening. It gives you tips and advice to grow a thriving herb garden that will add depth and flavor to home-cooked meals-as well as boost your health.

• How to choose, plant, and care for herbs
• Covers ready-made versus homemade soil mixes, starting plants from seeds, and other fundamentals
• How to prevent insects, pests, and diseases from invading your containers
• Over 30 herb recipes for everyday uses, including rubs, marinades, beauty products, and more

Whether you're interested in getting step-by-step instructions for starting on your first herb garden or already have one and want to learn new tips and techniques, Herb Gardening For Dummies, 2nd Edition has you covered!

Introduction 1

Part I: Herb Basics 5

Chapter 1: Why Grow Herbs? 7

Chapter 2: Herbs 101 19

Part II: Deciding How and What to Grow 35

Chapter 3: Getting to Know Your Home Ground 37

Chapter 4: Designing Your Herb Garden 53

Chapter 5: Herb Garden Plans 63

Chapter 6: Herbs in Containers, Indoors and Out 79

Part III: Getting Down to Earth 103

Chapter 7: There’s No Place Like Loam: Preparing Your Soil for Planting 105

Chapter 8: It’s Time to Plant 123

Chapter 9: Everyday Care and Feeding 139

Chapter 10: Managing Pests in Your Herb Garden 157

Part IV: Cut and Dried: Handling the Herbal Bounty 175

Chapter 11: Harvesting and Preserving 177

Chapter 12: Culinary Concoctions 191

Chapter 13: Herbs for Healing and Soothing 209

Chapter 14: Herbs for Beauty 219

Chapter 15: Herbs for Hearth and Home 225

Part V: The Part of Tens 235

Chapter 16: Ten Gifts to Make from Herbs You Grow 237

Chapter 17: Ten Lists of Herbs for Different Uses and Garden Situations 245

Appendix: An Encyclopedia of Herbs 251

Index 351

Suzanne DeJohn is an editor with the National Gardening Association.
The National Gardening Association is the leading garden-based educational nonprofit organization in the United States, providing resources at www.garden.org and www.kidsgardening.org.

Learn to:

• Choose, plant, and care for herbs
• Prevent pests and disease from invading your containers
• Use homegrown herbs to boost your health, add flavor to meals, and save money

Grow, care for, preserve, and use healthful herbs

Starting an herb garden outweighs the costs of buying retail herbs. Plus, adding homegrown ingredients to your meals is a healthy and tasty way to improve any dish you make at home. This friendly, hands-on guide gives you tips and advice on how to grow a thriving herb garden that will add depth and flavor to home-cooked meals — as well as boost your health.

• Herbs 101 — get the 4-1-1 on the basics of growing herbs and the botany principles that'll help them thrive
• Know before you grow — make a garden plan based on your unique growing conditions and herb preferences
• Get down to the nitty-gritty — discover how to plant your seeds indoors, when to move them outdoors, and how to care for and maintain them as they grow
• Reap what you sow — find out how to harvest and preserve your herbs and get yummy recipes to use them in your culinary concoctions

Open the book and find:

• How to grow herbs in gardens, containers, and on windowsills
• Culinary herbs, medicinal herbs, and herbs for health and beauty
• Experts tips on what to grow
• Design basics for herb gardens
• The lowdown on soil
• Guidance on how to choose seeds
• How to cut and dry herbs
• Delicious recipes
• An encyclopedia of herbs