Keep the summer going all year long and grow a windowsill herb garden.  Herbs are very easy to grow, great to spice up any breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and looks so pretty in your kitchen.  Find some great containers (flower pots, coffee cups, dip bowls), and make sure they fit in your windowsill securely.  Pick up a good bag of soil and plant some seeds.  Huge wow factor!

Did you know that the scent of the fresh herb Rosemary can increase alertness and clarity?  Keep some fresh Rosemary in a small vase on your desk.  When you feel the midday brain fog, simply smell the Rosemary to increase your mental acuity and get those endorphins popping!  It’s a perfect natural pick-me-up.

Delicious herbs from our Supernatural Garden.   Fresh chives, Rosemary, Dill and peppers.  They are so easy to grow, and there is always an abundance of fresh herbs from the garden.  Not only are they fab for adding kick to your meals, but there are multiple at home spa recipes you can try to even use more of your herbs.  Brilliant!

With all the flower bulb and tree planting lately, my poor herb containers sat empty, waiting for me to plant new herbs.  I tackled them over the weekend.  I had such an abundance of Basil last year that I actually couldn’t use it all.  After all, how many times can you make pesto?  I decided this year to only grow things I truly loved, and things that I’m sure I’d use every last drop of. 

I ended up planting Cilantro (for homemade salsas and Pico de Gallo), Dill (for dips, fish and seafood, and appetizers) and Rosemary (the summer wouldn’t be the same without roasted Rosemary potatoes.)  I also planted garden salsa peppers, jalapenos, and pepperoncinis (for the salsa and my pepper-addicted Irishman.) 

Within a month, I anticpate the herbs to be plentiful and vibrant, bright green.  Updates to follow…as per usual. 

Freshly planted Cilantro

Dill, a very unattractive herb, but delicious

Planting extra-fragrant Rosemary

Delicious Dill...I wish it looked as good as it tastes

Cilantro. I'll need this to multiple to the extreme for all my summer cooking

Freshly planted peppers. I had the best luck with Garden Salsa peppers last year

My Ginger got acquainted with the fresh mulch. A bath followed!

Hoping for a lovely herb garden this year

Early spring is the optimal time to plant numerous different flowers and herbs.  Starting in early spring, after the threat of frost, plant flower bulbs and sew herb seeds to yield your yard and home with an endless bounty of flowers and herbs throughout the summer into early fall. 

Not only are herbs a delicious enhancement to your meals, they are also beneficial as natural skincare treatments and sources of aromatherapy.  Basil is known to vigorously grow abundantly all summer long.  Basil (BasilOcimum basilicum) is very good for any type of muscle or nerve pain. Basil is an excellent muscle relaxant and also contains powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic properties as well.

Rosemary can be seeped in boiling water for half hour to extract it’s nutritional value into the water.  When the water has cooled,  it can be poured over the hair as an incredible hair tonic that removes all shampoo and product build up, and leaves your hair smelling wonderful fresh. 

Lavender can be picked straight from the garden and used an aromatherapeutic agent simply by inhaling it’s calming, smoothing scent.  Lavender is thought to relax the mind and quiet the body, and is widely used in spa therapies.

Reminder:  Fall is the time to plant Limelight Hydrangea bushes in your yard for next year’s growing season.

It’s late September and summer is feeling like it’s over.  I had such a great spring/summer growing season (see picture) with flowers, herbs, vegetables, peppers, etc.  May is such a perfect time to find the greenest of greens in nature.  But fall definitely has its perks, too…especially for colors.  Fall definitely has its advantages in the style department…think hats, boots, beautiful soft sweaters and scarves.  Yum!

Goodbye to summer.

Rosemary is traditionally known as the herb associated with hair.  It has been said that it strengthens the hair and stimulates the scalp, and Rosemary essential oil is also thought to stimulate the mind and lift fatigue. And it makes your hair smell good, too!

Put a few sprigs of fresh rosemary in a heatproof bowl and pour on boiling water.  Allow them to steep and, when cool, take out the Rosemary.  Use as a final rinse to keep hair glossy and sleek .  Rosemary also helps discourage dandruff.  You can put the rest of the infusion into a pretty glass bottle and keep in the fridge, or somewhere out of direct light, for later use. 

Rosemary is easy to grow, and spreads fairly quickly in either container gardening, or in-ground gardening. 

Scenes from my day today at two farmers markets in Cincinnati; Hyde Park Farmer’s market and Findlay Market.

Bell jars make backyard gardening so easy.  Positioned on top of sunken pots of lettuces, they create a greenhouse-like effect for accelerated growth of plants, and also do double-duty by protecting young growing plants from frost.  They also look beautiful in your garden, making your backyard garden aesthetically more appealing to the eye.

I buy vintage garden bell jars any time I find them.  Although they are glass, they are made of very thick, very hard to break glass.  They are also very heavy, so you won’t have a problem with rabbits or squirrels knocking them over.  They give your garden instant “wow” factor.  It turns a backyard garden into an English garden look-a-like in seconds.  Perfect for lettuces.  Talk about a garden salad!  Super-fresh and delicious.