HERB TIT BITS
 HERB PILLOWS FOR YOUR PET
To help combat pet odours and fight fleas, make herb pillows for your pet.
After harvesting your herbs, trim and save the remains of all the fragrant herbs.
i.e. Lavender, Scented Geraniums, Rosemary, Lemon Verbena and Pennyroyal.
Dry the cuttings whole and then make a pillow to fit your pets bed. Fill with the dried "herb straw". As your pet uses its bed the straw is crushed and the herbs slowly release their aroma.
 Time your herb harvest for the best flavour
If you often walk among your herbs, you know there's a time in their growth cycle when they are heaviest with fragrance. This is the time when their oils and resins are at peak concentration, and it's precisely the time you should be picking them. For Basil, it's before it sets its flowers. For Thyme, its after. Oregano blossoms are as deliciously aromatic and flavourful as the leaves, so pick them when the mood strikes you. For parsley, the time to pick is before the cool autumn weather toughens the leaves.
 OREGANO PROPAGATION
Propagate oregano using the side shoots that develop in early spring when the plant starts the new season. Established plants generally send out new growth all around their edges. If you lift these side shoots, you will find some have developed roots. Cut off the baby plants and put them in the garden or in pots.
If rooted shoots are absent, you will need to, propagate the plants by taking stem cuttings of new growth. Cut just a little below where the stem feels slightly stiff and place the cuttings in moist sand or vermiculite or a combination of both. Keep the cuttings misted for a week or two until they can take up enough moisture through the stem, then keep the bed moist. Roots should appear in 4-6 weeks.
Oregano can be grown from seed but the seedlings will vary in quality because they will be the result of random pollination. This means you will have to weed out inferior plants.
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