NCMGV 2019 Plant Sale highlight! Herb six pack!

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Join us early (before 8 am) on Saturday, May 18 for our annual North Country Master Gardener Volunteer Plant Sale! We will be offering a large variety of tomatoes and peppers as well as a pollinator six pack and an herb six pack.

The Herb Six Pack will include our cooking favorites: Thyme, Rosemary, Italian parsley, garlic chives, Genovese Basil and dill.

There is nothing like going out to the herb garden to snip what you need fresh for dinner. Just breathing in the aroma will make you want to create fabulous dishes you've never tried  before.  

You can spice up a plain rice dish with chopped fresh herbs or add them to dumplings, soups or stews. Use fresh dill and garlic chives with sliced cucumbers, vinegar and salt, add to potato salad or to  a tomato salad with red onions and feta cheese. Rub them into your hands and breathe in the fragrance for a quick pick-me-up. Use both basil and rosemary as natural bug repellents in pots on your patio.

This collection of herbs can go into the garden bed after a short hardening off period as they have been grown in a green house. They will need about four days or so to get adjusted to the variable temperatures, sunlight and wind outdoors. How to harden them off:

• When days are mild, set the plants outside out of direct sun and strong wind.
• Leave them out for a few hours to half a day depending on how warm it is.
• Increase exposure until you are leaving them out overnight and increasing the exposure to sun and wind.
• Plant in the garden early in the day and water well.

See you at the sale!