Eat and Drink This for Stress

Does your stomach tighten up when you feel nervous?

Does digestion get difficult when you are stressed?

Or do you get tired easily when you feel overwhelmed?

Then it is time to break out the pesto sauce for dinner and drink some basil tea — holy basil, that is.

Regular basil and holy basil, also called tulsi, look very different. They both grow super easy. Whether in your kitchen window herb garden or in your edible landscaping, these are two herbs you want for health.

Listen in to find out how to use each differently.

(Here’s the link to learn how to make basil herbal infusion)
http://www.thevireolife.com/blog/2018/7/11/six-easy-steps-for-herbal-infusions

What’s your favorite basil recipe?

Prevent your Garden Nightmare. Bugs.

Reaching your goal of eating healthy and getting outside more, may have you dreaming of planting a small organic garden.  It’s an adventure you’ve wanted.  And then you don’t go past dreaming because you fear a nightmare.

Perhaps a friend says “Oh, I tried planting a big garden one year and the bugs just destroyed it.  It was a lot of work for nothing.”

Well, have no more fear.  

You can start the garden habit and not suffer the frustration of losing your work to the bugs.

Here’s how.

Step One: Start small.

Pick your favorite vegetable you want to grow.  Then find out which plant is a good companion for it.  For example, if you grow tomatoes, plant basil alongside.  Or if you grow squash, surround them with white icicle radishes.

You can grow tomatoes in a handy “bucket garden” like this one, making it easy to take care of any pests.

Another way to start small is pick a theme.  In February - Heart Health Month - I showed you what to plant in a garden for heart health.

Step Two:

Learn all you can about those plants your first year.  What kind of soil they like; how to prevent the pests and diseases for them.  Then the next year, add another vegetable.

Growing up, my family had a vegetable garden.  I remember harvesting and helping my mom blanch and freeze and can.  But it was definitely not organic gardening.  So, we’ve learned organic methods.  My favorite - just because it is quirky - is preventing squash bugs.

I don’t remember where I learned this trick - it is not even in my favorite bug book.

It’s duct tape. 

When we find the eggs, we put duct tape over them and rip them off.  

Garden therapy at its best!

There’s just one issue when you prevent all of the bugs from chewing up your garden.

You have more vegetables than you can eat.  But, that’s why you have freezers and friends, right?

What are you going to plant? 

Whether it is one bucket with one tomato plant with basil or a window sill of herbs, pick one and start your adventure.

Basil in a Bag ... now you can try it at home

A few weeks ago I planted some basil seeds in pre-bagged product.  (See video here.)

Four of the six seeds germinated.  Now, what to do with them?  Eat with tomatoes, of course. Make a basil tea as medicine (yep - details are in the video). Store for the winter.  (Watch to learn how.)

Happy growing.

Remember, you can find your path and fulfill your potential.

Beginner Herb Gardening

Three different types of cilantro

Do you love the idea of cooking with herbs...but find it frustrating to buy just the right amount from the store?  Or you have limited varieties available?  Colleen McElroy of Colonial Creek Farm in Georgia has an answer for you.  Start a container herb garden near your window.  Then cut the amount you need...you can't get any fresher than that.

Here are some tips from Colleen:

• If you have never grown herbs before, start with oregano, thyme, chives, and parsley in a container together.  You may also grow sage in the same container...but sage likes to be a little drier, so don't over-water.
• To arrange the above herbs in a round container, plant the chives, parsley, and perhaps sage, in the middle.  Plant the oregano and thyme around the outside and let them trail over.  
• To grow these herbs in a window box, grow the chives, parsley, and sage in the back (closest to the window) and the oregano and thyme in the front.
• Mint is also a great herb to try, but it can be invasive, so consider a separate container for it. Colonial Creek Farm has over 20 varieties of mint...so pick your favorite flavor!
• If you are bit more adventurous, you can also grow rosemary and lavender in a separate container.  These two herbs prefer very well-drained soil, so they would not grow well with your other herbs which prefer more traditional potting soil.
• Do you love salsa in the summer, but can't get your cilantro to grow in the heat?  Cilantro is a cool weather herb.  However, you can grow Vietnamese cilantro, which prefers the heat.  I look forward to trying mine for the first time this year!
• Remember that herbs love the sun.  They get "leggy" (lots of stem and few leaves) in the shade.
• Last, herbs are generally "water it and forget it" plants.  They taste better if you don't fertilize them much.  

So plant the herbs you love in the soil they love.  Keep them in sun and water them.  Cut, eat, and enjoy!

Thank you, Colleen, for chatting with me at the 2016 Nashville Lawn and Garden Show.  Colonial Creek Farm is a mail order nursery with unique herbs I've not seen in other nurseries.  Their web address is www.colonialcreekfarm.com

Keep growing your food fresh for a ViREO Life!