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Welcome to the WCS fundraising site. If you are NOT looking to purchase as part of a fundraiser, please click here to visit westcoastseeds.com
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Garden Wisdom Blog — category: Herb Talk

About Marjoram and Oregano

category: Herb Talk garden-wisdom

About Marjoram and Oregano

These two culinary herbs are very closely related, with flavours that are almost indistinguishable. They represent two of about 20 species of Oregano, all members of the mint family, Lamiaceae. They offer a good opportunity to learn more about marjoram and oregano.

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When to Harvest Garlic

category: Articles and Instructions category: Garden Resources category: Herb Talk garlic harvest how-to storage

When to Harvest Garlic

How do you know when to harvest garlic bulbs and if they have matured to the right point for harvest? Each leaf on the above-ground garlic plant represents one potential papery wrapper around the mature bulb. Having well developed, fully intact wrapper layers means that your garlic will store longer and keep its wonderful aroma and flavour. The trick is to let the plants begin to die back, but harvest before all the leaves have turned brown. The top-most, green leaves extend down, into the soil, into the heart of each garlic bulb. When the lower two thirds of leaves have...

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About Rosemary

category: Articles and Instructions category: Garden Resources category: Herb Talk herbs how-to-grow rosemary

About Rosemary

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) This evergreen perennial herb is native to the Mediterranean region, where it still grows wild as well as domesticated. Its Latin generic name refers to the dew (ros) of the sea (marinus). For thousands of years, this attractive, intensely aromatic plant has captivated our senses as well as our folklore. The references about rosemary in both history and legend are abundant. In ancient Greece, the herb was burnt to cleanse the air and to ward off evil spirits. This tradition lasted well into the middle ages, when it was burnt in areas affected by plague. It was...

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About Parsley

category: Articles and Instructions category: Garden Resources category: Herb Talk companion-planting garden-wisdom herbs how-to-grow parsley

About Parsley

Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) Both the curly leaf form (P. crispum) and the Italian flat-leaf form (P. crispum var. neapolitanum) of this useful herb are members of the carrot family Apiaceae, and share a close botanical relationship to their cousin the parsnip (although the similarity in names is coincidental). As with most other members of this family, parsley grows feathery, deep-green foliage above a long taproot, and eventually flowers in its second year, sending up a tall umbel of white blooms that set masses of small, oily seeds. A third, less familiar variety of parsley is known as Hamburg parsley (P....

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About Cilantro

category: Articles and Instructions category: Garden Resources category: Herb Talk cilantro coriander garden-wisdom how-to-grow recipe seeds

About Cilantro

Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) This annual herb is known officially as coriander just about everywhere outside of the Americas. We often think of the fresh leaves as cilantro, and the seeds (which are very easy to harvest) as coriander. Cilantro is the Spanish name for coriander. The plant is native to North Africa and Mediterranean Europe, and is a member of the carrot family, Apiaceae. Its close relatives include parsley, fennel, and dill, which is easy to see when the plant flowers, producing tall umbels of white flowers. Each cilantro “seed” is actually a schizocarp that can be divided into two...

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