DIY Life

Mmm-mmm. Fresh basil. It's so very fragrant -- the indispensable ingredient in a host of mid-summer recipes.

My basil is lush, green and ready for picking. Okay, I don't have a whole lot of it out in my garden; however, I'm planning on growing a lot more next summer. In preparation for that lofty enterprise, I thought it'd be cool to find out how the expert basil-growers harvest their beloved herb. Here are some tips I picked up:

1. Know your basil. There are lots of varieties out there, and it's always good to know which one you have, as the flavors vary quite a bit between them. Chances are good that, like me, you've got the most common variety: Genovese sweet basil.

Dreaming of a Mediterranean-style oasis in your own yard? Me too! Okay, let's get inspired!

So, what makes certain gardens "Mediterranean," anyway? Well, for starters, they're designed to withstand both lots of heat and irregular rainfall. The garden designs are visually appealing, true. But they're also low-care and eco-friendly. Because plants are selected for toughness, and lawns are absent or insignificant, there's less need for chemicals and watering.

1. It's all about contrast.
Mediterranean styling is pretty easy to imitate. The essential element? Contrast. That is, contrasting hard, structured surfaces with soft, unstructured foliage and blooms. Think tumbling vines atop high stone walls. Think paved walkways next to climbing roses. Think clipped hedges fronting tall, slender cypress trees. You get the picture.

Have you begun your spring planting yet? Here in the northeast, spring planting is just beginning to enter my mind. The good news is that my snow cover is finally gone, the bad news is that it won't be warm enough to plant for at least another month.

What I have been thinking about is how I can bring the scents that I love in my soaps out to my yard. We began this process last spring and fall when we planted lavender along our walkway and mint along the stone wall, so that the fragrance wafts to our visitors as they proceed to our front door.

Read on to learn how to create a fragrant herb garden.

It happens every year in our area of the country, the summer days lose their warmth, the leaves fall from the trees, and we settle into a world of brown before the beauty of winter blankets our lives for about five months. At the end of each summer we make a decision of which plants will whither in the cold and which ones we will bring in to the warmth of the house for the winter. Hands down all the herbs make the cut. Not only will we be able to replant them in the great outdoors next summer, but we can use them over the winter months to add a bit of freshness to our diet.

My favorite herb is basil. I love the leaves on pizza and in spaghetti sauce. Another item I have recently learned to make is basil butter. This is great on just about anything. It adds a bit of flair to a sandwich and makes an omelet shine with flavor. The process is relatively simple. You will need:

Herbs and spices were originally used to hide the taste of rotten or potentially rotten foods. Now they are used to enhance flavours and complement dishes. Growing an indoor herb garden is easy and you'll love having access to fresh herbs right at your windowsill. While there are herb garden kits or you can start with mature plants, I thought we'd talk about starting your garden from scratch, in true DIY'er style.

What you need

1. Terracotta pots - with enough space for your mature herbs. A 13-15" container will hold 4 grown plants. If you choose smaller pots you will need to transplant at maturity.
2. Water
3. Sunlight
4. Seeds
5. Potting soil

How to start your herb garden

1. Choose your seeds - Basil, summer savory, dill and parsley all grow well indoors with sunlight. Just about any herb will work. Consider what you plan to use these for and how much of each you'd like on hand.
2. Prepare your soil in the pots - Soil should be equal part mixtures of sand, loam and peat moss. Soak the soil.
3. Place the seeds in the pots about a 1/4-1/2" deep, covering them loosely with soil.
4. Place a piece of light clear plastic on top of the pots. Make sure that there are a couple of holes in it.
5. Place the pots at a window that gets a good amount of direct sun.
6. Water the plants regularly. The soil should always be damp. Check it daily.

The University of Saskatchewan put out this list of 10 easy to grow herbs. This list is particularly useful in describing conditions if you decide to transplant your herbs to an outdoor garden. Some herbs will take 8-10 weeks to come up, so don't get discouraged if you don't see signs of growth right away.

[via Herbs of the Earth]