Herbal Solutions to De-bug your Home and Garden

People often ask me what they can do with all the herbs they are growing; when I tell them to use them as a way to control insects they usually admit that wasn’t the answer they expected! Herbs have properties that make them a joy to cook with, heal various maladies, tickle our senses, make a fine ‘cupa’ tea and yes an organic means to combat pesky pests in the garden and around the home. Read more in May State-by-State Garden Magazine. (TN Gardener)

Basil – Keeps flies away. Grow pots of plants around the patio, dry and powder leaves to use as a dust to discourage flies and try it on tomato plants to discourage horn worms. Make a strong tea and spray plants in kitchen garden to help keep Colorado bean beetles away. Bay – Drop a leaf in containers before storing dried veggies and fruit or flour, cornmeal to keep bugs out. Scatter bay leaves on cupboard and pantry shelves.
Dry and powder leaves to use like an insecticide in the kitchen garden. Chases ladybugs away when leaves are placed at their point of entry into the house.

Borage – Brew a strong tea with the leaves, strain and spray leaf eating bugs.

Catnip – Grow near entryways to discourage ants. Dry and powder catnip leaves then dust around door frames and windows for ants and sprinkle on veggies for flea beetles. Brew catnip leaves into a strong mosquito-cide, strain (unbleached coffee filters work great) and spray the tea on the yard and garden.

Cayenne peppers – Carefully grind peppers to a fine powder and sprinkle around windows and doors where you see ant trails and on garden plants early in the morning to keep rabbits away. Drop whole dried pepper in containers of beans and grains to keep weevils and other bugs out.

Garlic – Discourage deer from eating your garden for dinner; sprinkle dried, powdered garlic on plants and around perimeter of garden. Soak cloves in water overnight to make a tea to spray plants and garden to help with deer control and add other herbs to make home-made mixtures to stop bugs in their tracks.

Lemon balm – Rub a handful of lemon balm on your picnic table (and you) to send biting bugs packing. Dry and powder leaves to dust veggie plants to confuse would be pests.

Lavender – Moths, ticks and flies don’t like this herb. A spring in the bird bath may keep mosquito larvae out. Dried flowers in the closet or drawers keeps chases bugs away.

Lemon grass – Contains citronella…crush the corms (bulb like base of plant) and rub on skin or make a tea from the stems to spray mosquitoes.

Mint – Scatter dried peppermint leaves in kitchen cupboards to make mice run back outside. Use the dried powdered leaves to dust veggies for flea beetles.

Pennyroyal - Make a strong tea to spray on yourself and your pets to keep fleas, ticks and other biting critters away. Roll leaves in a bandana and tie around your pet for a chemical free flea and tick collar.

Rosemary – A strong tea spritzed on your pets between bathes will help control fleas. Throw some spring on the grill to flavor food and smoke out mosquitoes.

Wormwood – Spray a strong tea from the leaves to kill cabbage worms and flea beetles (top and bottom of plant leaves). Pour 2 cups boiling water over 2 cups leaves. Cover and let steep for an hour or two, strain and add 4-8 cups of tap water before spraying plants.

Next time some pest is ‘bugging’ you try herbs from the garden for a natural solution.

Here is a simple recipe for herbal concoctions to kill, stunt and discourage leaf sucking, chewing, egg laying, no-good pests!

Herb infusions for pest control:

This is basically a strong tea…pour 2 cups boiling water over ½ cup of minced (garlic or hot peppers) or herb leaves; i.e. basil, chives, wormwood, etc. Let stand overnight, strain through cheesecloth or an unbleached paper coffee filter before transferring to sprayer.

Use gloves and caution when working with hot peppers. I use a food processor to grind up hot peppers to keep from getting any on my hands. Dried peppers and herbs can be ground for use (1/3 less if dried) and a good idea to have on hand when needed early in the season.

A tablespoon or two of Tobasco sauce can be added to water as a spray or in combination with herbs if mincing your own hot peppers makes you cringe or you are in a hurry.

Add a teaspoon of dish-soap (Ivory liquid works well) and/or olive oil to homemade bug control mixes for an added kick and to help it stick to leaves.

Stevia, An Herb That is Good for Your "Sweet Tooth"

When I think of summer I can’t help but think of warm evenings on the porch swing sipping an ice-cold glass of tea. Most of us make our tea nice and sweet by adding sugar or artificial sweetener to the tea brew. Yes, we even admit that sugar or that other stuff probably isn’t that good for us but sweet tea is a tradition and we can’t imagine not having it at lunch or at the next church picnic.

What if I told you there was an alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners? An herb actually that you can grow yourself called Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana). This herb is native to Paraguay with leaves that are 30 times sweeter than sugar with no calories or adverse side effects. If it sounds too good to be true, just wait...stevia also has medicinal properties that are reported to be effective in the treatment of diabetes, skin diseases, hypertension, weight loss and infections!

Plant stevia in the herb garden or in a pot in the spring after the last frost, give it plenty of sunshine and water (no need to fertilize). Plan to buy a new plant each spring or bring it in during the winter months as stevia is a tender perennial that cannot withstand our Tennessee winters. I grow stevia in a pot for the summer then drag it into the garage after I have cut it back to about 3" tall. In the Spring I bring it back out and place it in a sunny spot outside the kitchen door where it is handy to use.

Start using fresh leaves during the growing season by adding a couple of leaves (adjust to your own taste) to any pot of tea (herbal or other) and steep as usual.

In the fall, cut the plant back and hang small bouquets upside down in a well ventilated area out of direct sun or place leaves in a dehydrator. When the leaves are dry and crumble easily store them in a tightly covered jar. You may want to grow several plants if you want enough to use all winter.

To use as a sweetener add part of or a whole leaf directly into hot tea or coffee where it can steep the sweetness into the hot liquid or grind leaves in a coffee grinder to use as a powdered sweetener in place of sugar. This takes some experimenting to get the right amount of sweet since stevia is much sweeter than sugar.

Stevia can take the place in any recipe calling for sugar or artificial sweetener. For more information on this incredible herb and recipes check out http://www.stevia.net/

Beat the heat this summer while staying thin and healthy using your own home grown stevia to sweeten your ice cold tea...enjoy!

Never Enough Thyme

How many times have you heard that play on words? Sorry, just seemed appropriate this morning. I have been enjoying my thyme this year in the gardens. As I took a brief inventory I realized I have lots of the stuff and many varieties.

I wish I would have made more permanent markers (if there really is such a thing) when I planted all the different varieties. I don’t mean to be a collector of thymes but I never miss an opportunity to purchase or grow from seed in the greenhouse a variety I don’t have.

Thyme is a wonderful Mediterranean plant that loves sunshine and good drainage. There are hundreds of varieties with different growing habits, fragrances and flavors. Thymes have a range of bloom times and colors, ranging from white to pink to reddish and purple.

Thyme plants are broken down into two main groups - upright clumpers or ground hugging creepers.

Usually the more upright varieties are used for cooking and medicinal applications. French, English, Lemon, Mother-of-thyme are just a smattering of upright varieties. Just for fun search out some of the more unusual like Orange, Lavender, Oregano or Pink chintz.

Creeping thymes are lovely between pavers, along sidewalks or on rooftops. In England I have seen ground hugging thymes used in lawns as a substitute for grass and on stone benches in the garden. These plants are pretty tough and are fun to use where they get stepped on occasionally to release the scent into the air and make any visit to the garden a sensory pleasure. Wooly, Alba, and Red creeping thymes are some varieties to try.

Thyme is a good companion in the kitchen garden to cucumbers, cabbage and tomatoes. The strong scent helps to discourage would-be pests while calling in honey bees to help pollinate crops. It appears to inhibit powdery mildew as well. I like to use different varieties throughout my landscape to provide a long window of blooms for the bees. Thyme does well in pots, I add it to my kitchen pot gardens.

As with any woody herb, the upright varieties like to be trimmed after it blooms. Thyme often browns out in the center after it is a year or three old. Sprinkle some potting soil in the center and watch it start to leaf out again.

Thymol, which comes from thyme’s essential oil, is a strong antiseptic that is used in mouthwashes and toothpastes. Thyme tea is a wonderful expectorant when you have a cold to help loosen the chest. It has also been used for intestinal worms, urinary tract infections and to disinfect wounds.

Thyme is also a good cleanser for oil skin. It can be used in hair rinses and in the bath with oats to soften skin.

It is easy to preserve thyme for later use by cutting small bouquets just as they start to come into bloom. Hang these little bunches upside down in a well ventilated area out of direct sunlight. When dry run the stems between your fingers and thumb to strip the tiny leaves onto a paper plate. This makes it easy to pour into a jar for storage. Label and place in the cupboard for best flavor retention.

Use excess thyme in wreaths, sleep pillows, potpourri. Cut fresh for small flower arrangements or tussie mussies.

In the kitchen snip fresh thyme into salads, dressings, dips, marinades, soups, steamed vegetables (I especially love it on summer squash). It is tasty on beef and snipped fresh on chicken while grilling.

Sweet Annie Dog to Herb to Wreath

Sweet Annie, Artemisia annua is a favorite herb in my garden. It is a great addition to the back of the border filling in nicely with ferny foliage, needs no fertilizer or irrigation, has no pests, in fact it is a wonderful companion plant that calls and shelters many beneficial insects.

This plant continues to give the garden character in the winter with its reddish brown tree form that stands out and gives movement, color and texture to the landscape. Not to mention a sweet scent should you brush by it while doing winter chores.

It is such a unique herb I named our dog after it…Sweet Annie, a Jack Russell terror who has been with us now for almost 13 years. She too is a great addition to the back of the border where she digs up moles and often digs out under the fence in search of adventure. She too needs no fertilizer (although she does produce it), no irrigation, usually has no pests and is the best garden companion a garden girl could ask for.

Her white body with one brown ear gives a lot of movement and color to the landscape as she darts in and out of the garden beds looking for wild game in every season. I prefer to think of her personality as ‘sweet’ (some of my neighbor’s dogs might disagree) as her scent is dependant on whatever she has last seen fit to roll in or whatever scent I choose to bathe her in after.

Many of you may be familiar with Sweet Annie in herb wreaths. This herb is flexible and full, perfect for wreath making just before and during its bloom time. I made this one in September and it will be a lasting memory of summer in the garden all winter with it's wonderful scent. You can read about this herb and many others in my book "The Cracked Pot Herb Book" available on my website.