MINI-GUIDE TO TAKE CARE OF THE CULINARY PLANTS

Posted By: Manuel Gaviño In: Plant care Comment: 0 Hit: 798

Culinary plants enhance the flavor of our dishes. In a bright place of the kitchen or a corner on the terrace or garden, we can always have them at hand and at the same time enjoy a small garden with minimal care.

Surely it has happened to you: you tried to cook that food your mother used to prepare for you, the one you loved when you were young. You have followed the recipe point by point, it looks delicious ... But the taste is not like you remembered it. Then, you ask yourself, what is wrong with it? Well, in many cases, the problem are the spices.

We are used to buy them already chopped and in pots, but what our mothers and grandmothers used to do was to grow them at home. Flowerpots of basil, parsley, thyme ... do they sound familiar to you? That's why today’s food tastes so different: Because these herbs only offer their best flavour when taken directly from the pot.

The good news is that anyone can grow its own culinary plants. We just need to follow some simple instructions in order to grow them we can keep them at home and prepare cook some food with those flavours that we remember from our childhood.

In this post we are going to explain you how to take care of your culinary plants

Where do I put my culinary plants?

Most culinary herbs can be kept both in the garden and in a pot. The most important thing is that we keep a good balance between sun and shade, or the excess of light could burn the leaves and wither the plant.

Something that our mothers used to do was to keep the pots directly in the kitchen, so they could tear off a couple of stems when they needed to. Is that a good idea? Normally, nothing happens, as long as they receive enough light. A good idea may be to place them near a window.

How often do I have to irrigate the culinary herbs?

These plants do not need too much water. We just need to keep the soil moist but without flooding, what could cause fungi and viruses. Normally, it will be enough to water them twice or three times a week.

It is important to have a well-drained soil. If we grow them in a pot, we can put small pebbles in the bottom.

What maintenance do culinary needs?

Keeping these herbs in perfect condition is essential to maintain their properties. If we let the leaves dry or don’t care them right, we will lose that special touch that they bring to our meals.

The culinary wilts easily, so we should prune them if we see yellow stems. To help them growing, we will use a special fertilizer for aromatic plants.

What plagues affect them?

Various plagues can attack our culinary herbs, especially if we have them in the garden. They are usually the target of caterpillars, flies, red spiders, mites or snails.

Since aromatic plants are intended for consumption, we must avoid pesticides at all costs. Instead, we will use biological insecticides that are not a risk for our health.

How long do the culinaries plants live?

It will depend a lot on how we care them, but also on the species:

Herbs such as basil, parsley or cilantro are seasonal culinary plants, which means that we will have to replant them each year. Most of the can be planted between fall and the beginning of spring and will grow fairly quickly. If we like cooking too much, it is recommended to grow several pots of each variety.

Other plants of this family will live longer if we take good care of them. It is the case of lemon balm, marjoram or mint. These herbs take root easily and spread quickly, even becoming invading plants, so in the garden we will plant them separately from the rest.

Finally, the longest living culinary herbs are those that grow as shrubs, able to withstand harder climatic conditions and live several years. In this group we have laurel, rosemary, sage, thyme or lemon verbena.

You can find more details about these plants in our culinary plants section.

The following, is a link to the ideas we liked most on pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.es/viverosgonzalez/plantas-culinarias-con-encanto/

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