Herb Gardening For Dummies

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

Part I: Herb Basics.

Chapter 1: Why Grow Herbs?

Chapter 2: Herbs.

Part II: Deciding How and What to Grow.

Chapter 3: Getting to Know Your Home Ground.

Chapter 4: Designing Your Herb Garden.

Chapter 5: Herb Garden Plans.

Chapter 6: Herbs in Containers, Indoors and Out.

Part III: Getting Down to Earth.

Chapter 7: There′s No Place Like Loam: Preparing Your Soil for Planting.

Chapter 8: It′s Time to Plant.

Chapter 9: Everyday Care and Feeding.

Chapter 10: Managing Pests in Your Herb Garden.

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

Chapter 11: Harvesting and Preserving.

Chapter 12: Culinary Concoctions.

Chapter 13: Herbs for Healing and Soothing.

Chapter 14: Herbs for Beauty.

Chapter 15: Herbs for Hearth and Home.

Part V: The Part of Tens.

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

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

Appendix: An Encyclopedia of Herbs.

Index.

The National Gardening Association is the leading garden–basededucational nonprofit organization in the United States, providingresources at www. garden.org and www.kidsgardening.org.