{"id":1199,"date":"2011-04-21T17:17:20","date_gmt":"2011-04-21T17:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/basics-of-fresh-herb-plants\/"},"modified":"2011-04-21T17:17:20","modified_gmt":"2011-04-21T17:17:20","slug":"basics-of-fresh-herb-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/basics-of-fresh-herb-plants\/","title":{"rendered":"Basics Of Fresh Herb Plants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It has been said that all good things must come to an end, and this is especially true of our summer gardens. Most plants will not survive the cold, frosty days of winter, which is why harvesting and preserving our crops becomes imperative as the cold weather begins to loom. This is true also of our fresh herb plants, but do not wait till there is a nip in the air to start cropping this crop. When herbs are dried properly, they can bring you months of delicious flavors throughout the fall and winter.<\/p>\n<p>The best time to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.medicalherbsupplements.com\/saw-palmetto-herb.html\">harvest your fresh herb plants<\/a> is prior to flowering, which will frequently occur when the weather begins to cool in the fall. Therefore, harvesting in late summer will ensure the best flavor and freshness to your herbs, but you can also harvest throughout the growing season to stimulate additional growth and get a jump start on your stock. Cut your stems in the mid-morning hours when practicable since the morning dew has dried out by that point but the fresh herb plants have not yet started to shrivel in the afternoon sun.<\/p>\n<p>The air drying process works best with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.medicalherbsupplements.com\/north-american-herb.html\">fresh herb plants<\/a> possessing a lower moisture content like oregano, summer tasty, thyme, rosemary and dill. Herbs with a higher moisture content will dry better using a dehydrator or microwave. To air dry fresh herb plants, cut the stems and remove any unhealthy leaves. If it&#8217;s necessary, wash your stems with some cool water, and pat dry absolutely. Drying wet herb stems will only result in moldy leaves that are unusable. Bundle together in batches of four to six stems, and hold them together with a rubber band or piece of string. Bear in mind that the stems will shrink as they dry so you&#8217;ll need to check them occasionally and retighten as needed.<\/p>\n<p>Once your herbs are bundled, place your bunches the other way up into brown paper bags that have a bunch of holes punched in them and are labeled with the sort of fresh herb plant on the front. Tie the bags closed and hang them up in a warm, airy room and check them every week or two. Once your fresh herb plants are sufficiently dried, store your herbs in airtight containers like canning jars or Ziploc bags. Keep the containers away from direct sunlight and use within one year.<\/p>\n<p>Using this process for drying and preserving your fresh herb plants, you will be able to enjoy the savory aroma and flavor of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.medicalherbsupplements.com\/pure-herbs.html\">home grown herbs<\/a> year round. Happy harvest!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It has been said that all good things must come to an end, and this is especially true of our summer gardens. Most plants will not survive the cold, frosty days of winter, which is why harvesting and preserving our crops becomes imperative as the cold weather begins to loom. This is true also of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,14,1,10,13,5,8,4,12,15,3,9,6,11],"tags":[1556,1555,68],"class_list":["post-1199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-container-garden-design","category-container-gardening-annuals","category-container-gardening-ideas","category-container-gardening-shade","category-container-gardening-soil","category-container-gardening-tomatoes","category-container-herb-garden","category-container-vegetable-gardening","category-fall-container-gardening","category-flower-container-gardening","category-fruit-container-gardening","category-organic-container-gardening","category-patio-container-gardening","category-winter-container-gardening","tag-fresh-herb-plants","tag-herb-plants","tag-herbs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}