Q. Can tomatoes grow in shade?

A. Not very well; they like a bright spot in your garden.  Also, they don’t mind fairly heavy soil.

Q. I want to grow an herb garden. What’s the best location?

A. Generally where nothing else likes to grow. Herbs as a rule like sandy or gravelly soil, since most of them are in the same family as many a weed.

Q. Does an herb garden have to be formal?

A. Of course not; where did you ever get that idea? Plant herbs for convenience: put some of the more fragrant ones close to the patio and the ones you use for cooking near the house while dill, the gangly one, is usually hidden. You’ve probably seen the pictures of a wagon wheel buried in the ground and different herbs planted between the spokes. Let your imagination be your guide.

Q. Which are the best herbs to plant for the average home?

A. There is no such place as an average home; each home is special. Here’s a list of herbs you might get the most out of:  chives, parsley, dill, thyme, sage, mint, fennel, chervil, borage, basil, anise, rosemary, tarragon, sweet marjoram, savory, and coriander. That ought to keep your home, kitchen, and life spiced up.

Q. Which herbs do you use for preparing wildfowl?

A. Hunters use dirty hands, but you can try marjoram and sage.

 

Q. What is meant by balloon-sealing wine?

A. Instead of using the old-fashioned method of water sealing, which consisted of a complicated apparatus of corks and glass tubing to enable the gasses to escape, we now just place a child’s balloon over the neck of the bottle. When the gasses fill the balloon, causing it to enlarge, we let them out and put the balloon over the bottle neck again. This process is repeated until no more gasses form, at which time the wine can be corked and stored.

Q. Can I use any kind of barrel to make wine?

A. The best kind of cask, as it is called by my good Italian wine making teacher, is a new white oak barrel. Don’t buy one that is charred or waxed inside. If you use either of these types you will smother the wine, and it will sour.

Q. Can you grow herbs in a barrel?

A. Sure you can—or in an old crock, a wagon wheel, a rubber tire, an iron kettle, or any other imaginative container.

Q. What medicinal purpose does ginger serve?

A. My grandma used to give us a cup of ginger tea after she’d rubbed our chests with camphorated oil to sweat out a cold, and then she put us to bed.

Q. l’d like to grow herbs on my apartment’s patio in New York City.

A. It wouldn’t matter if you lived in Timbuktu. You can grow herbs anyplace. Why don’t you get a clay strawberry pot and plant parsley, chives, mint, sage, rosemary for fragrance, and thyme in the pockets.

Q. We have a wildflower growing in our rock garden. It’s got a tag on it, with the name Galeopsis terrahit. Can it be grown inside as a kitchen herb?

A. The real name is common hemp nettle, and if you have any plans for spicing up your life with this, forget it. You’ll get stung harvesting it and sick from the results.

Q. What are the three best salad herbs?

A. My wife makes super salads, and she adds thyme, basil, and tarragon. Yummmmm. Tarragon will probably be your first choice because it doesn’t dry well.

Q. What’s the herb that tastes so strong in most Italian food?

A. Probably oregano. I like it in scrambled eggs and on fish when they’re freshly caught and pan fried.

Q. Can I make up my own curry powder from an herb garden?

A. Well, you could, but you might run into trouble with an herb called turmeric. But here are some other ingredients you can use: coriander, black pepper, mustard seeds, ginger, cumin, allspice, cardamom, cloves, and anise.

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