Many things come to mind when we think of growing and using herbs. For example, the delightful fragrance of an aromatic bath with lavender, a scrumptious dish with basil, and the piney scent of rosemary when you're barbecuing. These easy-to-grow plants provide fragrance, flavors to our favorite dishes, look great in our yards, attract pollinators -- the list goes on and on. Turns out these beloved plants can also keep the bugs at bay. Yep, there's a handful of herbs with strong scents that we find pleasant but not the mosquitos and other insects.
by Kathy Van Mullekom, a lifelong gardener and gardening writer living in York County, Virginia
Mom was not a gardener but she loved beautiful flowers in her yard. Roses were always her favorite, and the roses bushes in her 43-year-old yard still bloom, even though she’s been gone four years this month. As a child, my father was the yard man – mowing the grass, trimming the bushes and planting and caring for a very large vegetable garden. When I was old enough, I began to help and a life-long love for gardening formed.
by Kathy Van Mullekom, a lifelong gardener and gardening writer living in York County, Virginia
Dad was never a fan of ornamental shrubs and flowers. His philosophy was: Grow what you can eat! And, by golly, we ate good from his huge summer gardens filled with potatoes, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, string beans, spring onions and anything else tasty he could squeeze into the 40-by-100-foot plot behind my childhood home in Newport News.
Fresh herbs are easy to grow and can make all the difference between a good dish and an extraordinary dish! Once you begin to use fresh herbs in your favorite recipes, you'll never want go back to using just dried herbs again. Chefs know that fresh food is always best and fresh herbs are no exception.
