Everybody needs a spaghetti garden

Everybody needs a spaghetti garden

One of the most delicious pleasures in life is herbs. In addition to adding beauty to your garden, they make food taste better and provide a pleasant aroma to the air we breathe. In George Washington's day, everyone had an herb garden that they used for culinary, tea, and medicinal purposes. That practice is slowly making a comeback.

A spaghetti garden is one of the most popular gardens. Anyone with sunny terrain or a planter can grow these herbs from parsley, garlic, basil, bay leaf, and oregano. A small space in the garden can easily produce all the herbs you will need for delicious Italian meals. They are even easy to grow in a sunny window for year-round use.

Let's take a closer look at the herbs from the spaghetti garden:

+ Oregano is a ground cover perennial. Oregano is a prolific grower that can send out shoots that grow up to six feet in a single season. If pruned and grouped together, oregano can become a small border plant. You would rather have light, thin soil and lots of sun, so keep it on the south side of your garden. When the plants reach 4-5 inches, the harvest can begin. Pinch off the top 1/3 of the plant, just above an intersection of leaves. Young leaves are actually drier than fresh and are the most flavorful part of the plant. To dry, lay the leaves on a newspaper or sun drying screen until the leaves crumble easily. It will retain its flavor for months.

+ Bay leaves add a spicy touch to stews, soups and spaghetti sauce. Laurel is a small tree that grows about a foot per year, making it suitable for growing in a container. If you live in a temperate climate zone, leave the container outside, but if temperatures drop below 25 degrees, keep the tree in a pot and bring it indoors for the winter.

+ Basil is so easily planted that you may never have to buy another plant after the first year. There are many different types of basil, but they all grow quickly and require frequent pinching to keep them from growing tall and long. When the plants have reached about 6-8 inches tall, you can start harvesting. Pinch off the top 1/3 of the plant, just above an intersection of leaves. Pinch off flower buds before they turn to seeds.

+ Garlic. Break off a garlic clove and plant the cloves about four inches apart, two to four inches deep in light soil. Water lightly and watch them grow. You can harvest when the tips of the leaves turn brown, but do not let them bloom. Just dig up the bulbs and use them. To maintain a fresh supply, take one or two cloves from each bulb and replant them.

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Parsley is probably the most widely used herb in the world. You will find flat (Italian) and curly types. They complement the flavor of everything from sauces to hearty casseroles. It is used as a garnish in dishes, or cut up and added to soups, dressings, and salads. Parsley adds vitamins and color, and quietly brings

the taste of other ingredients in the dish. Parsley is a biennial, flowering in its second season. It prefers some shade on a hot, sunny day, and should be kept watered to prevent it from wilting and drying out. Pinch the older stems down to the base, allowing new leaves and branches to grow.

Grow your own tomatoes and you will be on your way to becoming an Italian chef.