Today’s Garden offers a selection of tips, techniques, and information for home gardeners growing annual flowers and vegetables from seed and bedding plants.

Herbs

Why Garden? The National Garden Bureau's Top Ten
Cell phones, PDA’s, and MP3 players have become the tools of our modern lives. But it wasn’t that long ago that a shovel, a patch of soil and a bag of seeds were the only tools needed to provide sustenance and satisfaction. Gardening was a part of daily life. Ask any gardener today why they garden and you’ll get a variety of reasons why it’s important to them.

Herbs - The Name Game
Etymology (the history of a word; tracing its development and transmission from one language to another) is fascinating. And nowhere more so than in the names of herbs—culinary, medicinal, dye, and other useful plants.

Discover Dill
Dill (Anethum graveolens), a member of the carrot family, has been a favorite culinary herb for centuries. It is valued both for its flavorful foliage and for its pungent seeds.

Parsley
Parsley, (Petroselinum crispum) a member of the carrot family, is a lot more than a decorative green bit on the side of a restaurant plate. The Greeks and Romans knew parsley well as a medicinal plant and a seasoning.

Basil
Whether you say bay-zil, and I say baa-zil, there's one thing everyone will agree on. Juicy, sun-warmed tomato chunks mixed with olive oil, freshly torn basil and garlic spooned over hot pasta is truly a feast sublime.