When I was a little kid, I often spent long summer days at my grandmother's house in rural Pennsylvania. She had a path leading through her side yard which was always lined with tall, fragrant mint.  Several times each week throughout the summer, she would make fresh mint tea, which she would serve cold.  So, when I drink my own mint tea today, it brings me back to the most golden moments of my childhood.

Now that I'm grown and have kids of my own, I want to pass on to them the best experiences that I had as a child.  However, I am not just seeking to re-create a golden past: I also want to improve upon the legacy I was given by discovering new varieties and exploring new culinary possibilities.  I have also found that the climate and soil in the Carolinas is much different than my homeland in rural New York and Pennsylvania.  Here, we have to take special consideration for the long hot summers and dense red clay.  

The mint that my grandmother grew is usually called "Heirloom Mint" or "Apple Mint" today.  It has a hairy appearance and it is a variety of Spearmint. It has a strong flavor, with a slightly woody aftertaste. The problem is that it tends to develop "rust" in hot, humid climates and dense soils.  One way to deal with this is to improve your soil quality and mulch your spearmint in the fall to help prevent fungal infections during stormy seasons.  Despite these special considerations, I still have one mint bed that is dedicated to preserving my grandmother's strain of "Heirloom Mint."  

My other mint beds are dedicated to growing Chocolate Mint, which is technically a variety of Peppermint.  Unlike spearmint, it does not develop "rust" or other fungal infections because its leaves are completely smooth.  It is well adapted to Southern climates and it thrives in either partial sun or full sun.  It also has a much more potent fragrance than Heirloom mint.  If I brew a pot of Chocolate Mint tea in the kitchen, it can often be smelled everywhere in the house.  This is a variety worth picking up because it has all kinds of uses.

Culinary Uses:

• Melon salad with chocolate mint: Cube watermelons and mix with fresh or frozen berries.  Wash and chop 1/2 cup of chocolate mint and mix into the salad.  Mix in yogurt and honey if desired.
• Jelly: Chocolate Mint may be used to make fantastic mint jelly.
• Freeze: It may be frozen for the winter (Most of the essential oils and flavor will leave the plant when dried).
• Israeli Salad: Finely dice tomatoes and cucumbers.  Sprinkle finely chopped chocolate mint, lemon juice, and pepper.  Toss and serve.

Medicinal Uses:

• Chocolate mint makes a great herbal tea for cold and flu season.  It helps to clear the sinuses and is much more effective than store-bought remedies like Vaporub or cough drops, which try to mimic this minty remedy with synthetic chemical fragrances.
• Anxiety: The fragrance of Chocolate Mint has a remarkable calming and regenerating effect.  Bob Jones associated the fragrance of peppermint with purification.
• Saving Mint for the Next Season: All mints can be effectively frozen by simply placing them in Ziplock bags and marking the date.  If you prefer to wash it first, then you will need to let it thoroughly dry before freezing it.  If you're a perfectionist, you can remove the leaves and freeze them on cookie trays first.  However, I usually freeze the sprigs and brew the tea with leaves and stems together.

Growing Tips:

• Starting mint from seed is a disaster.  Ask a friend for some extra roots or buy a nursery plant.  If you go to Morningstar Fellowship Church in Fort Mill, I will gladly share some of my roots with you.  I literally have it growing onto my garden paths all the time and end up throwing away bushels of it. 
• Mint spreads like wildfire.  In year one, it doesn't spread much.  In year two, it becomes bushy.  In year three, it will be coming out of your ears.  Plant it in a place away from your other garden plants or dedicate a large pot to mint alone.
• Cut the mint down the ground after the first frost.  (Harvest your mint for the winter in mid-summer, when the flavor is best).
• Mint will grow in just about any soil.  However, it will do best if you till in some rich compost and peat moss before planting.  Softer soil will also allow it to spread much faster.

Spring is a time when everything that looks dead is suddenly coming alive.  Dead branches put forth new leaves and blossoms.  Perennial herbs begin to send up their first new leaves.  Early spring seeds germinate and begin to show their promise.  When I see all of these things in the world around me, I feel like I am drinking in gallons of the pure white light from the Creator, who made the whole world for our pleasure and delight.  I'm hoping that this slideshow will allow you to catch a glimpse of the new, radiant life that is arising right now in both our gardens and our hearts.  The beauty of creation coming alive right now is only a small foreshadowing of the beauty and glory that we will see when we allow the Son to warm our hearts.

"Hardening" is the process of gradually introducing your seedlings to direct sunlight, wind, and fluctuating temperatures.  If your plants have grown up in a sunny window, they can't handle a full day of direct sunlight.  They need to be introduced to the outdoors a few hours at a time.

Many new gardeners grow beautiful seedlings indoors, only to watch them die in one or two days when they move them outside.  Usually, they have no idea why the plants they carefully nurtured over the past two months have suddenly lost the will to live.  The problem is that no one ever told them new seedlings need to be "hardened."

How to "harden" your seedlings without a pop-up greenhouse
1. Begin the hardening process when there are a few cloudy but warm days in the forecast.  This way, you can leave them out all day because there won't be any direct sun.
2.  If there is direct sun, only leave your seedlings outside for one hour on day one, two hours on day two, then three hours, then four, then all day.
3. Do not leave your plants out overnight for the first week.
4. Do not leave plants out overnight if it's going to drop below 45 degrees.
5. Do not leave them out on a very windy day unless they are protected from the wind.

How to "harden" your seedlings with a pop-up greenhouse
1. Put them in the greenhouse.
2. Leave them there.
3. Open the vents on sunny days so that they won't overheat: If you don't vent your greenhouse, you'll fry them.

I have to admit that I love my pop-up greenhouses.  My mother bought them for me on sale for $25 about three years ago and they've stood the test of time.  I have raised and hardened thousands of seedlings in them.

The ones that I use are from flowerhouse.  They are made of strong, translucent plastic that creates diffuse light (ideal for raising seedlings).  They also have vents on both sides, they break down and set up easily, and they can be stored in my garage in a little bag on a shelf.

Here's a link to the greenhouse that I use:

Herbs are one of my passions in life.  This is why I have over three dozen different herbs growing in my herb gardens.  Most of my favorites are perennials that require almost no care other than harvesting and being "put to bed" in the autumn.  

Lemon balm is called a balm for a reason.  It has amazing healing properties, beginning with its intoxicating fragrance.  If you rub it between your fingers, it spreads an aroma exactly like freshly sliced lemons.

Lemon balm is not one of those herbs that you have to be careful with or avoid eating too much.  You can use as much as you want as often as you please.  

The old-timers used to call Lemon Balm the "child tamer" because a little lemon balm tea before bedtime tends to knock kids out.  It's also a great tea for folks who are suffering from sleeping disorders.  To make lemon balm tea, simply let it steep in boiling water.  If you cut it up and put it in a tea strainer, it will be ten times more intense and flavorful.  To make ice tea, simply put it in the fridge.  

Some of the other many uses of Lemon Balm include:

• Stuff chicken breasts with it and top with parmesan, italian bread crumbs, and fresh lemon balm sprigs.  When cooked, lemon balm has the consistency of spinach and is full of fiber and vitamins.
• Chop and sprinkle over fruit salads to add a unique bouquet of fragrance and flavor.
• Use as a garnish in summer drinks or put a sprig in ice water to dress it up when company comes over.
• Add lemon balm to floral bouquets for a brighter fragrance and fuller presentation.
• Use as a garnish or added greens in cold summer salads.
• Lemon balm loses its flavor when you dry it, so you can not preserve it this way.  However, it is easy to freeze.  Simply pack your cuttings in tupperware or ziplock bags so you'll have fresh lemon balm tea all winter!

Growing Tips:

• Unless you live on the North Pole, lemon balm will thrive and spread in your USDA zone.  It's usually the first herb to greet me in the Spring time and the last to check out in Autumn.
• Start lemon balm from a cutting, not seeds.  Ask a friend for a cutting (make sure it has some good roots on it) or buy a plant from a nursery.  
• Lemon balm is a perennial and it spreads quickly. Its roots can quickly take over a small garden, so give it room to spread or keep it in a large pot.
• Lemon balm is in the mint family, so always cut from the top, not the sides.  The last two leaves below where you cut will start to produce two new shoots in about a week.  This means that every time you harvest it, it will literally double its efforts. By the second or third year, it will be so bushy you won't know what to do with it, as in the top picture of this post.
• In the late Autumn, cut your lemon balm down to the ground after the frost.  If you live in a colder climate, throw a few leaves on top to insulate it.

It is incredibly easy to build a compost bin out used pallets.  This is one pallet project that won't require you to disassemble them, which is a frustratingly impossible task.  My compost bin is made of three pallets and an old piece of sheet metal.  Simply wire your pallets together, drive poles into the corners to hold it in place, and top it off with a board or piece of sheet metal to create a handy garden storage area.  You can also add slats to the front to make it look custom-made if you want to go the extra mile.  However, the slats should be removable so that you can shovel it out when it's done "cooking."

Once you've built it, here's some handy tips for composting: http://www.howtocompost.org/info/info_Top-10-Composting-Tips.asp

Banana peels, egg shells, and coffee grounds are high in vital nutrients and will help you create amazing compost for your garden.   

Nasturtiums are one of my favorite garden flowers.  If you plant them near tomatoes and peppers, they'll help keep pests away because the critters don't like their hot flavor.  They will also add color and contrasting height to your vegetable garden.  Nasturtiums are delicious in salads and you can eat both the flowers and the leaves.  If you're like me, then you'll eat them like candy when you walk through your garden in the morning.

Nasturtiums can be direct sown in full sun or started in pots a month before you plan to set them out.  Once the weather warms up, they'll take off.  They're also available in long trailing vines or as compact bushy plants so choose your varieties carefully.  When you plant Nasturtium seeds, you have to "scar" them.  This means that the exterior of the seed is so tough that the seedling can't break through it without help.  A bit of rubbing on sandpaper usually does the trick.

Technically, Nasturtiums are classified as an herb because they were used medicinally in medieval times.  The early settlers brought them to America with them.   

My spring fever begins as soon as we pack up the Christmas and Hanukkah decorations.  I start scouring seed catalogs to find new varieties and I map out my spring, summer, and fall gardens.  Our home has two bright south-facing windows in the master bedroom which work great as a "greenhouse" until the weather warms up enough to move the seedlings outside.  

I always start about twice as many seedlings as I need so that I can share them with friends, neighbors, and Levites. 

Here's a few tips for starting your own seeds on a tight budget:

• Save every pot, planter, and tray that you get from nurseries every year so that you won't have to buy expensive trays from the hardware store.
• Buy a pack of 6 ounce plastic cups.  Cut a "v" shape with a paring knife in the bottom of each cup for drainage and you have a perfect (and affordable) place to start your plants!
• Rinse out white milk jugs and cut them into strips for plant markers.  (Burpee charges $3.99 for 25 plastic plant markers.)
• Save your own seeds for plants that are easy to work with, such as beans, tomatoes, peppers, squash, and marigolds.

If you have never started your own seedlings before, here is all you need to know.

• Starting your own seedlings will breathe life into you in the dark days of late winter.
• Starting your own seedlings is incredibly easy.
• Read the directions on the back of each pack.  They will tell you how deep to plant each seed.
• Buy a sprayer for watering your plants.  It's much gentler on young seedlings.  
• When you water, soak them thoroughly.  Then, don't water again until the soil is completely dry.
• Use a card table on a south facing window or buy a grow light (The window is a better option).
• Cover your trays and pots with saran wrap so that it works like a "mini greenhouse" to quickly germinate the seeds.  Take off the saran wrap as soon as they break through the soil.
• Plant two seeds in every pot.  Then, take out the extra one as soon as they spring up.  This is an insurance policy against poor germination rates.
• Pre-mixed seed starting mix is really cheap.  It's usually even cheaper than mixing your own.  It's already formulated for great root development and fertilization.  Name brand seed-starting mix is about $4.00 for 8 quarts of soil, which is plenty for most people.

Common Pitfalls of Seed Starting:

• Don't overwater!  Overwatering will rot your root systems and bring a fungal disease called "damping off" where the stem itself falls apart.
• "Harden off" your seedlings.  When your seedlings are ready for planting, introduce them to the outdoors gradually over a week.  First bring them out for an hour, then two or three hours, then all day.  Last, let them stay outside over night after all danger of frost has passed.  It takes a week or so for them to adjust to temperature changes, full sunlight, and wind.  

Why I can never go back...
I have yet to find a nursery that offers more than ten varieties of tomatoes or more than 20 varieties of herbs.  If you start your own seeds, you can choose from thousands of varieties of every kind of plant imaginable.  In future blog posts, I will show you what I'm growing this year.  Meanwhile, here's some great websites for heirloom seeds.  

Winter gardening is actually much easier than summer gardening because you only have a handful of plants to look after instead of endless rows and beds.  Instead of being labor-intensive, winter gardening is joy-intensive.  After all, what's more fun than a fresh salad from the garden in January?

There are three simple strategies that I use for successful winter gardening:

1. Choose plants that can tolerate frost such as kale, root crops, grains, spinach, brassicas, mache, cilantro and parsley.
2. Plant winter crops in early Autumn to give them a strong start before the really cold weather sets in.  The exact time will depend on where you live.  In Charlotte, North Carolina, I begin to plant winter crops in late September.
3. Provide protection such as glass cloches or cold frames made from old windows.  If you give them a little protection, plants such as cilantro, parsley, and greens will thrive.  Root crops are already protected by the soil, so they don't need any additional help from us.
   

I live in USDA zone 8b, so winter gardening is much easier here than further north.  However, you can successful grow winter crops even in colder regions.  You'll just have to choose your plants and plan your protection more carefully.

If your climate is too harsh to do anything outside in the winter, then you can still grow some herbs and greens in pots in a South-facing window.  Basil can't handle cold weather or frost, but it will thrive in a sunny window at any time of year. 

You can also pick up a cloche here: