Hunt County Master GardenersTexas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

Using Rose Hips

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Using Rose Hips by June Morgan, Hunt County Master Gardener.

After the wonderful aroma of roses is over in the house, the petals have done their job of being tossed in weddings, and the bare stems are bereft of their former glory, one is tempted to trim away the ugliness. But wait, there is more to come; that is making use of the rose hips, the small round seed pods left on the flower stem after the petals have dropped.

While several species of Rosaceae can be used, it is the Rosa Canina (the wild dog rose), and Rosa Rugosa that are the most popular for both foragers and cultivators. They have been used for centuries for their food and medicinal properties. The plants are prickly climbers with white or pink flowers appearing in early summer, but the hips are not to be harvested until they are ripe and have turned red-orange. If left too long after a frost, they may start to rot, so to be ahead of the game, and to mimic a frost, they should be picked when still hard and put in the freezer for 24 hours.

To prepare the fruit for eating while they are fresh, wash them, cut off the stem and blossom ends, cut the hips in half and remove the inner seeds manually (as the small hairs inside are irritating to the bowel).  After cooking in water and straining, the juice can be used for jams, jellies, syrup and in various other recipes such as wine or they can be frozen for up to a year. Drying is the easiest way to preserve them and is less labor intensive. They can be dried in the sun on newspapers, or to protect them from the birds, in the oven or food dehydrator at 110 degrees for about 5-6 hours. Then grind them in a food processor just until they are chopped into medium size bits, not so small that they will fall though a mesh strainer where it can be shaken until the hairs separate and fall away. The hips can be stored in jars or in the freezer until needed.

To use the dried hips, simply cover them in a pot with water and simmer until soft. They can be used with other fruits such as cranberries or as flavoring in cakes, etc. For tea, put 1-2 teaspoons of the dried hips into a tea pot, let it steep for 15-20 minutes and strain into a cup. The taste will resemble that of apples with the tartness of crabapples. This makes a wonderful winter-time drink and a tasty addition to your natural apothecary.

Planting Garlic

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Planting Garlic by Karla Basallaje, Hunt County Master Gardener.

Garlic (Allium Sativum), is in the amaryllis family and is native to central Asia. There are two types of garlic, the hardneck variety (the bolting type) and the softneck variety (the non-bolting type). Bolting refers to the production of a flower stalk and bulbil, in this case. Garlic is considered by many, as an easy crop to grow; however, it is best to remember the basics: know your soil, your climate and location.

Choose a sunny spot to grow your garlic, most growers prefer full sun; however, partial sun is ok too especially if you are trying to grow hardneck varieties that grow better in cooler temperatures choosing partial shade during the hottest time of the day. Garlic needs well-draining, friable soil. It will not grow in soggy or compacted soil, as the bulbs will either rot or not grow very large. Consider growing your garlic in raised beds, amend by adding organic matter such as humus, manure, and compost –mix it in thoroughly until the soil is light and fluffy. In this area of Texas, the softneck or non-bolting varieties are more commonly grown as they do better in warmer climates. Some of the more common softneck varieties are: California Early, California Late Silverwhite, Inchelium red and Italian Loiacono. Softnecks store better, up to 9-12 months if cured and stored properly, and the bulbs are generally larger. It is best to purchase your planting garlic from a garlic farm or quality online source. Grocery store garlic may not be suited to our area and they are sometimes sprayed with chemicals to inhibit growth.

A good time to plant your garlic is in mid October; however, you can plant up until December. When your beds are ready, crack the heads of the garlic open and plant each clove leaving their papery covering intact. The clove is generally planted 2 to 6 inches deep. The deeper the clove is planted, the cooler it will keep. It is probably a good idea if you are experimenting with hardneck varieties to plant it at about 6 inches deep. Plant 6 inches apart with the pointed side up and the root end down. Plant only the largest cloves so that the cloves in your bulb have the best chance to be at least as large as the clove you are planting. Each clove will grow into a garlic bulb. After planting be sure to mulch with straw or shredded leaves about 2 inches.
The goal is to have the garlic plant develop big healthy leaves, the larger the plant, the larger the bulb. You want to grow the bulb for as long as possible before it starts to mature. Water about 1-2 inches a week; stop watering two weeks before harvest.

Harvest takes place in the summer about June or July when the leaves turn yellow and you have about 50% dieback of the leaves. Carefully pull out the garlic heads and although they may be eaten right away, most growers will cure the garlic hanging them upside down in a cool, well-ventilated area for at least two weeks. Trim the stalks and the roots and store in a cool place. Be sure to visit Texas A&M horticultural websites for more information.

Garlic

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Garlic by Diana Sidebottom

Extra, Extra, Read All About It. This just in from the AP network. The clinical trial of a mouthwash containing 2.5% fresh garlic shows good antimicrobial activity for killing germs and bacteria, although the majority of the participants reported an unpleasant aftertaste and halitosis. Seriously? Garlic Mouthwash? I would like to know who funded that clinical trial to see if they have any extra money laying around for (the most ridiculous thing you can think of) trial because I’m going to sign up!

Garlic has been used as both food and medicine in many cultures for over 7 thousand years.  Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, and chive. One of the best known, elephant garlic, is actually a wild leek. Garlic is hardy thru climate zones 4-9 and can be day length sensitive. There are two major subspecies, hard neck which is generally grown in cooler climates with shorter days and soft neck which prefers more equatorial temperatures and longer days.

Garlic has been domesticated for so long that it no longer produces a viable seed, so all garlic grown around the world is essentially a clone of the parent plant, known as vegetative reproduction. However, many hard neck varieties still “bolt”, which creates the emergence and eventual stiffening of garlic’s now impotent reproductive organ, the seed head (perhaps we could create GM garlic and cross it with some Cialis to help the poor little thing). Yes, it is called a scape. The thing that leaves all French chefs frothing at the mouth in spring.  A divine vegetable that we Americans have until recently thrown into the compost pile. Guilty as charged.

In zone 8, about the middle of October, plant individual cloves, 4 to 6 inches deep and approximately 6 inches apart in all directions in loose, well drained soils with a high organic material content in a sunny location. Garlic is not picky about pH levels. Garlic plants are usually very hardy and not bothered by many pests or diseases, the exception being nematodes and white rot disease.

In a few weeks your garlic will appear as if by magic and grow all winter. In the spring, if you are growing hard neck or elephant garlic, when those scapes shoot up, call moi, your new BFF, and I will pick them for you. You actually do need to remove them to focus all the garlic’s energy into bulb growth.

In May, when your garlic looks like it is dying, remember they are daylight sensitive and that is just what they do. It’s time to harvest! Get your pitch fork and dig up those beauties. If you wait until the tops die completely there is good news and bad news. The good news is you won’t have to plant garlic next year. Yes, they will stay there all summer and emerge on their own next fall. The bad news is you will lose, as in misplace, can’t find where you planted the bulbs once attached to those dying tops, thus you don’t reap your harvest. After you dig your beauties, leave the tops on and store in a cook dark dry spot. Soft neck garlic may be braided and hung for ease of storage. Select the largest bulbs to planting next year, unless you choose to purchase new every year. So start them out right and they will take care of themselves. Don’t you wish more things were like that? So as always, happy harvesting!

Growing Herbs

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Growing Herbs by Diane Sidebottom

Do you love herbs? Do you REALLY love herbs? Were you meant to grow Mint? Is there Dill in your will? Do you have a tattoo of your Basil or Rue? Have you penned a rhyme about Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme? Do you really love herbs?

Chances are you love them more than you realize. Human fascination with herbs began thousands of years ago. Neolithic man used herbs for food, healing and shamanic rituals. Some were believed to have magical powers and were burned for their scent to appease the gods. Others are thought to have medicinal uses and help cure illnesses, as in folk remedies used today by many different cultures around the world. Before refrigeration, herbs were relied upon by all cultures to preserve meats and to flavor dishes. They were used to protect linens from insects, make perfumes and deodorants, and to dye homespun fabrics. Today herbal fragrances are used in cosmetics, shampoos, and lotions. And let’s not forget the use of herbs in alcoholic spirits. It is said that Hemingway did some of his best writing after drinking Absinth, which is a Wormwood concoction.

People today are mostly interested in using and growing culinary herbs. Honestly, I have found these to be the easiest garden plants to grow, especially those pricy standards that most recipes call for. Amazingly most are not only perennial (come back annually), but they live all winter as well, even outside. My rosemary, oreganos, mints, cilantro, bay, garlic chives, thyme and parsley do just fine with nothing but a layer of leaves on the ground for protection. The cilantro, basil, chives, dill, and fennel will re-seed themselves if allowed to complete the seed producing cycle. How much easier could it be!

So, herbs can be grown in pots, as ornamentals in flower beds, in vegetable gardens, anywhere you have a sunny, well drained location. They prefer 4 to 6 hours morning sun, with some afternoon protection; after all, this is Texas. Add organic matter which improves drainage and texture in clay soils, since most herbs do not like wet feet. Apply a balanced fertilizer, but avoid high nitrogen. Water weekly with a good soak of at least one inch. Mulch well to conserve moisture and reduce weeds. Think of it this way, before cultivation herbs were probably someone’s weeds. You can’t neglect them, but most are not a prima donna either.

Most culinary herbs reach their peak flavor just as the flower buds begin to open. Gather herbs in the morning after the sun has dried the dew. Gather up to 1/3 of the plant at a time since more will weaken the plant. Small quantities may be wrapped in a moist paper towel and refrigerated. Larger quantities may be dried or frozen. Do some research to determine the best process for preserving your specific herbs. Don’t forget to dig up some of the basil to bring indoors during the winter. Just put it into a pot and care for it as any other house plant.

So get out there and start an herb bed, or pot, or whatever you feel comfortable with. Just try one or two and your successes will bolster your confidence and before long, you will be growing every imaginable herb, and haunting Nurseries for any herb you don’t already grow. You will have areas for Greek herbs, Mexican herbs, French herbs, Italian herbs. You will buy herbs you have never heard of and have no idea how to use but you buy them anyway because you have this weird obsession with herbs. You will run out of space and have to create additional beds for your new acquisitions and finds…or maybe that’s just me.

So as always, happy harvesting!

Growing Herbs

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Growing Herbs by Byron Chitwood

According to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary,  1: a herb is a seed producing  annual, biennial or perennial that does not develop persistent woody tissue but dies down at the end of a growing season.      2: a plant or plant part valued for its medicinal, savory or aromatic qualities.  For this article, we will stick with the savory and aromatic qualities.

There are many different herbs, so many in fact that if they were all listed by name in this article, the list would have to be continued for weeks in order to meet the word count of 500 per article was followed.  The National Herb Garden has about 2,000 different herbs growing at any one time.  This article will contain information on just a few that are easy to grow and are great in most forms of cooking.

Basil has about 200 different varieties ranging from Sweet Basil to Chocolate.  Sweet basil can be started from seed, propagated from a cutting or purchased from a nursery. If you have planted it in an area before and let it go to seed, no doubt some of the seeds will survive the winter and come back as volunteers as soon as the soil temperature and moisture are right.  Either dig a few of the small plants and transplant them or thin out the volunteers to a manageable number and let them grow right where they are.  Basil is good in most culinary dishes but is especially so in tomato based recipes such as Italian ones.  I have said it before and will say it again, when you can tomatoes, if you add a few sprigs of basil per pint of tomatoes, you will never can them any other way.  Usually, just a few basil plants will supply all the basil that you need for cooking purposes.  During the growing cycle, keep the flower heads cut off to maximize production of the desirable shoots and leaves.  Basil can be grown outdoors or in pots in the house.

Dill is another great herb and is best known as an herb that is used in making dill pickles.  Dill is easy to grow and has the same tendency to reproduce just like the above mentioned self seeding of basil.  If you are a real aficionado of dill pickles and can your own, plant a greater number of dill plants than you would for basil.  Unfortunately, dill plants do not always mature when cucumbers do.  You can always harvest dill and store it in vinegar for use later.  Also, dill can be dried by cutting the plants at the base and hanging them in a dry area which is out of the weather.

Rosemary is another herb that is easy to grow.  Just get a few cuttings from one of your friends and propagate as follows:  remove about half of the leaves on the cutting by stripping them off to the bottom of the cutting.  Stick the bottom half in the ground or in a container of potting soil.  Roots will eventually form and they can then transfer to a preferred garden spot.

There are many books on growing herbs.  My favorites are “Southern Herb Growing” by Madalene Hill & Gwen Barclay and “Parks Success With Herbs” by Gertrude Foster and Rosemary Louden.  Herbs are easy to grow and add a lot of zest to home cooking and they are good landscape plants that require minimal care and water.

Garlic

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Garlic by Pat Abramson

Nearly half of the 1,000-plus research papers on garlic published in this century found their way into print in the last 20 years.  Garlic has been scientifically proven to reduce the incidence of heart attacks, atherosclerosis, and high blood pressure.  It is said to enhance one’s immune system and help with colds, as well.  An average clove of garlic (almond size) contains substances equivalent to 100,000 units of penicillin:  about 1/5th the average dose, without penicillin’s side effects.

Garlic belongs to the “allium sativum” species, which includes onions, chives, shallots, leeks and scallions. There are basically 10 distinct varieties of garlic, with about 500 different strains.  Some are “hardneck” (bolting) and some “softneck (non-bolting),” which is the more common type and what we find at the supermarket.   Both types can bolt and produce flower stalks if stressed or not harvested in time, though some of the lovely flower heads work beautifully in wide-neck bottles for garlic-flavored vinegars.   Hard-necks usually have larger and fewer cloves.   The “bulb” is the whole head of garlic, while the clove is one piece off the bulb.

Here in our area we can grow garlic year-round, though October 15 – November 15 is ideal.

Stick a clove in the ground, pointy-side up, 1 – 2” deep, add your marker, and forget about it!  You can also plant garlic around your roses and fruit trees for better pest control.

In spring, hardneck garlic varieties send up a stalk or “scape” that will develop a “bulbil capsule.”  If you cut the scape before it fully forms, your garlic bulb in the ground will grow a little bigger; if not, it will store a little longer.  If you cut the scapes when they are young and tender, you can eat them raw or in soups, salads, salsas, pickled, etc.

Your garlic’s leaves will announce when it’s time to dig it up.  Leaves begin to turn brown from the bottom of the plant upward.  When only the top 5 or 6 leaves are still green, that’s the time to harvest.  Exceptions are usually the Asiatic varieties:  they need to be harvested soon after their lower leaves start to turn brown.  You can dig down and look at the bulb after 3 or 4 months and if it’s not the size you like, just cover back up; you can keep checking every two weeks.

Garlic likes a rich, loose, well-drained soil.  Plant cloves at least 5” or 6” apart, or plant them throughout your ornamentals, vegetables and herb beds, though not in the same area where onions or other alliums grew the previous year.  Each garlic clove will produce a complete head of garlic some 6 months later.  Separate the cloves from the heads a day or two prior to planting, and plant your clove, unshelled, pointy-size up, about 1 – 2” deep, and mark the spot.  Yellow-tipped leaves in spring can indicate nitrogen shortage or simple nutrient imbalance.

It’s best to “cure” the plant whole for two or three weeks in a warm place with good air circulation.  Then cut the stalks 1” above the bulb; you can bag the heads in netted onion bags to store them.

Planted too much garlic?  Try the (believe it or not!) “40 Cloves of Garlic Soup” recipe so popular in Spain!  Happy garlicking!

Herbs

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Herbs by Pat Abramson

An herb is any plant that has more than one use, according to the Herb Society of America.  The list includes, surprisingly, certain trees, shrubs, ferns, mosses and fungi!   Many gardeners are delighted to learn they have more herbs in their landscape than they ever thought.  Salvias, hackberry and pine trees, garlic, altheas, hibiscus and daylilies are all considered herbs.

Herbs add flavor and zest to creative cooking.  Herbs enhance flower beds and are useful in rock gardens as borders or accent plants.  Because some herbs are annuals (like nasturtium, dill, and calendula) and some are perennials (like oregano and rosemary), plant the annuals in flower gardens or your vegetable beds.  Locate the perennials at the side of the garden where they won’t interfere with next year’s soil preparation.  Plant the lovely mints away from the garden so their underground runners won’t travel to all other parts of your garden beds!

A small herb garden, on the other hand, should be planted preferably near the kitchen.

Give herbs a generous half day of light, preferably morning light with some afternoon protection.  Many herbs will tolerate light shade; only a few thrive in deep shade.  More important is a well-drained location.  Avoid high-nitrogen fertilizers that induce quick, lanky growth more susceptible to insects and diseases.  Many of our favorite culinary herbs don’t need as much watering as other plants.  Group herbs together according to their watering needs.   Mulch conserves moisture, reduces weeds, looks better, and adds nutrients as it decomposes.  Be sure to pull the mulch away from the base and stem of your plants so the mulch doesn’t work on decomposing your plant.

Save seeds for next year’s crop by harvesting the entire seed-head after it has dried on the plant.  Dry seeds in a cool, dry, dark place.   Many perennials (like rosemary, sage, winter savory, and thyme) can be propagated by cuttings or by division.  Divide plants (like chives, lovage, and tarragon) every 3 or 4 years in early spring.

The leaves of most herbs are the parts used for cooking (like parsley, chives, oregano), though sometimes the seeds (like flax, dill, anise, caraway, and coriander) and roots (like dandelion) can be used.   Basil, fennel, mint, and sage are harvested just before they start to bloom, but keep all your established herbs pruned regularly (no more than 1/3 of the plant) so they will grow fuller, and to prevent the herb from beginning to flower, which will make the herb taste more bitter.

In our area we can plant garlic year-round, though mid-November is ideal.  Plant garlic in your rose beds and around fruit trees for better pest protection for those plants.  Oregano planted around the base of a tree makes a nice ground-cover and will tolerate some shade.  Add chocolate mint leaves (fresh or dried) to the coffee that you brew.  Add lemon verbena, pineapple sage, and rose geranium leaves to cakes and cookies.   At holiday time, bay leaves and rosemary make lovely large wreaths; you can use thyme and dried basil seed stalks on tiny wreaths, or add fronds and stalks like these on gift-wrapped boxes and bags, too.

Be sure and check out our website at http://huntcountymastergardeners.org for more gardening tips.  Happy planting, crafting and cooking with herbs!

Garlic

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Garlic by Byron Chitwood.

The fall planting season is about over.  However, there is still time left to plant spinach, radishes, onion sets if you can find them and garlic.  Garlic is one of the easiest things to grow and a lot of it can be grown in small spaces.  Garlic can be grown the year around in mild climates like we have here in north central Texas.

Obtain some seed garlic which is garlic that has not been sprayed for prevention of sprouting.  Maybe you know of a friend that has some surplus garlic that he or she harvested from their garden.  If all else fails, select some at the food market.  I have had 80 to 90 percent germination from store bought garlic which makes me wonder if that garlic has been treated to prevent sprouting.  Each bud of garlic has from 8 to 18 cloves.  The individual cloves are what are planted to grow garlic.  It is possible to grow garlic from seed but almost all is grown from cloves.  Carefully break the buds apart into individual cloves.  Be careful to not damage the skin on the cloves.  Some of the literature recommends planting only the large cloves.  However, I use all the different size ones in a bud and have close to 100 % germination and they all seem to produce about the same size buds or bulbs regardless of the size of the original clove.

Plant the cloves with the large end down and the sharp end up.  They should be planted in 2-3 inch deep trenches with spacing between the cloves of about 4 to 6 inches and spacing of about 6 to 18 inches between rows.  If you are container gardening, use the four inch spacing between rows and cloves.  Garlic planted in the fall will grow through the winter and be ready to harvest in late spring of the following year. The tops will begin to turn yellow and droop over.  At that time, pull or carefully dig the garlic.  Some garlic growers braid the tops of eight or ten pants together and hang them to dry in a warm and dry place.    They can also be stored if they are left in the ground until the tops are almost dry.  Harvest them in the same way and lay the individual plants out to dry.  Then cut the tops off and store the bulbs or buds in an uncovered cardboard box or tray with the root end down.  I don’t know if storing with the root end down does anything for the garlic, but it looks pretty that way,

Garlic has been around for a long time.  There is evidence that it was a staple in the diet of the pyramid builders and other cultures thousands of years ago.  The Chinese are the largest producer of garlic in the world.  Their production is on the order of 24 billion pounds which would amount to about 20 pounds per year consumption for every man, woman and child in China. The United States only produces a paltry 442 million pounds per year which would equate to 1.4 pounds per year per person.

If you watch the cooking shows on TV, modern chefs are putting garlic in everything except fruit salad and ice cream.  I don’t have enough space to go into all the old wives tales about all the ailments that garlic cures so I guess I’ll just go and plant some more garlic.