Gardening

Consider growing your own Herbal plants instead of always buying them at the supermarket. There's really nothing difficult to it. 
Below I wrote a "Herbs growing" guide explaining all the steps you need to follow for each Plant 

The Mint:


1-Buy yourself a mint plant
The best thing to start from is an already grown mint plant , this will be the mother plant for your home grown mint plants. You can buy one at your local grocery or supermarket. 
It would be a bad idea to try growing mint plants from seeds.

2-Plant your mother plant in a larger pot
Mint however needs enough space to grow, so give your plant a new home. Choose a pot that is large enough. Add some soil if needed.

3- Give it enough light and water
Put the plant next to a window or in the garden. Mint can bare lots of sunlight, however some shadow will be nice too.Mint is a plant that is very mild in the conditions it requires. 
Supply your mint plant with enough water cos it needs a lot of water. Just make sure the soil is always humid.

4-Cut off a sprig and put it in a glass of water
The sprig you choose doesn't need to have a lot of leaves. Almost every sprig will do. When cutting a sprig, cut about a centimeter above a junction. This way new branches will grow just below that place.Put the sprig in a glass full of water with little bit of Cotton in the bottom . Do this for a few sprigs so you'll end up with more than one plant. You can put more than one sprig in the same glass.
Wait for the roots to grow. After about a week, small white roots may appear under water. Wait longer, so the roots have a decent length.
In the meantime continue treating the main plant well by giving it enough water. And add water to your glass when you need to.

5-Plant your new plant in a pot
When the roots are long enough, take the sprig out of the water and plant it in another pot. Take a new pot for each plant, but still you can combine several plants into one large pot. You may have to curl up the roots to fit it in the pot.
Treat this plant well (enough water and light) and finally you'll end up with a large plant. You can then take sprigs from this plant to grow other plants.

6-Making your tea

When taking sprigs to put in your tea, try taking sprigs with big leaves so smaller leaves get more light. Taking away sprigs from time to time will encourage the plant to keep growing.

7-re-pot your plant each year
Because the roots continue to grow every day, they run out of place. You should take the plant out of its pot, divide the soil in four pieces and put each piece in a separate pot.
If you don't, your plant won't get those big leaves anymore and eventually will die.


The RoseMary:


You don't need seeds to Plant  Rosemary herb if you don't have some , you Just need a Healthy strong sprig with some leaves on it (From the Fresh rose Mary sprigs that you can buy from your super Market) , a Pot and Soil pot to start .. 
Because The best method of propagating Rosemary is by taking cuttings, mid-May or June being the best time.

1- Choose a Healthy strong sprig
Strip of the leaves from the lower 4cm (1½in) of the sprig , pulling them off with your fingers.
2-Plant you sprig in a Pot 
Fill a 7.5cm (3in) pot with standard potting compost and insert one or two cuttings in each pot. Water the compost from below and place in a propagator or cover it with a plastic bag.
A windowsill out of direct sunlight is an ideal position.
 it can be transplanted to its permanent position when it have rooted, this will be in roughly 8 weeks time.


3- you will need a larger Pot 
The herb Rosemary grows extremely well in large pots or other containers. The pots need to be reasonably deep because rosemary is a deep rooting herb.
Rosemary requires very little care throughout the year. Water only when the compost is clearly dried out and feed once a month with liquid fertiliser from Aprilto October. Trim the side stems to keep the plant to the size you want, the best time to do this is just after they have flowered.

P.S Container grown plants are more likely to affected by severe frosts, so move the containers close to the house walls in winter. 



The Sage :






I didn't need seeds for the Sage either to have my own sage Plant (Because it takes a long time to grow that way), so i bought my First Sprigs through the Super market in herbs section then like the Rosemary (Follow same steps).
I choose a grown sprig and Plant it in the Pot .. However Sage herb grow Faster ! it enjoys a sunny position in a well-drained, fertile soil.
This Plant will tolerate most conditions as long as it has plenty of sun, it requires a little maintenance over the year. It enjoys dry conditions so avoid watering it in dry spells. It shouldn't be necessary for you to feed your sage plant during the growing season if you incorporated plenty of organic matter when planting. Each autumn, a mulch of fresh organic matter will boost the nutrient content and keep the roots protected from harsh frosts.
Sage looses some of its flavour after about 3 years. After this time it is a good idea to take cuttings from the original plant to grow into new, more flavoursome plants.

1-Growing Sage in a Container
Sage does well in a container. Simply grow in normal potting compost and keep the pot fairly dry, in a warm, sunny position. Prune once a year and feed with a liquid feed every fortnight during the growing season.

2-Harvesting Sage:

Sage Leaves are easy to harvest. Simply cut off the leaves with scissors or pinch them off with your fingers. Sage is best used fresh, although the leaves can be placed in a plastic bag and frozen to use throughout the winter months. The leaves can also be dried, simply harvest them on a dry day and store in a warm, dry room until they are crumbly to touch. Then store the crumbled leaves in an airtight container and store out of direct sunlight.

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