Preserve
the Beauty, Fragrance, and Flavor of Your Garden
By Melinda Myers
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[June 23, 2023]
Enjoy your garden throughout the growing season
and beyond. Preserve its beauty, fragrance, and flavor in artwork,
crafts, and food.
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Cell
phones with cameras make it easy to capture the seasonal changes in
our gardens and environment. Use a favorite photo as the wallpaper
on your computer or phone. Turn them into greeting cards to send or
pictures to hang on walls, lifting your spirits on gray winter or
rainy days.
Break out the colored pencils, markers, or paints and capture the
beauty of individual flowers or gardens. Creating art, like
gardening, can help elevate your mood, reduce stress, and improve
self-esteem.
Start a garden journal, if you haven’t done so already. It’s a great
way to capture successes and even failures to help plan next year’s
garden or changes to the landscape. Create your own journal on the
computer or in a spiral notebook. A waterproof and smudge-proof
option like the Rite in the Rain Waterproof Garden Journal can go
with you into the garden.
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Preserve some of your favorite flowers and memories
with a flower press you make or buy, like an heirloom flower press (gardeners.com).
Just place freshly picked leaves and flowers between pieces of paper
in the flower press. Use flowers at their peak of beauty for the
best results. Arrange the leaves and petals as desired before
pressing, since they dry the way you place them. Once your flowers
are placed in between the paper, close the press and secure the
layers. Your dried flowers will be ready in a few weeks.
Speed up the process with the help of your microwave. The Terra
Cotta Microwave Flower Press allows you to harvest, press, dry and
create all in the same day. Place the flowers and leaves between the
wool felt dividers and secure them inside the terra cotta top and
bottom. The wool pads and terra cotta absorb the moisture as the
microwave heats for quick drying.
Capture the color, fragrance, and relaxing benefits of lavender by
filling small sachet bags with flower buds to place in a desk,
nightstand, or drawer. Take this one step further and create
lavender wands from 10 to 30 flowering stems and a bit of ribbon.
These attractive wands capture the lavender fragrance and make great
gifts.
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Pickle cucumbers or other vegetables to enjoy
throughout the garden season and beyond. You’ll find an assortment
of pickling crocks on the market but consider elevating your pickles
to gourmet status by fermenting them in The Amazing Pickle Barrel
made of lightly toasted white oak. You and your guests will enjoy
the subtle and unique flavor the oak barrel adds.
Keep the flavor of your garden alive all year long. Pick and dry
herbs for winter meals and holiday gifts. Gather the herbs into
small bundles and secure them with a rubber band. As the stems
shrink so does the rubber band. Use a spring-type clothespin to hang
the bundles from a clothesline in a dry, airy place that is out of
direct sunlight for drying. Save space and dress up the display with
an herb drying rack that holds six bunches of flowers, hot peppers,
or garlic.
Keep carrots, beets, and turnips fresh and crisp for months after
harvest with proper storage. Most gardeners don’t have a root cellar
or sufficient room in the refrigerator. Consider packing them in
layers of damp sand or sawdust placed in a root storage bin. Set the
bin in a cool dark place and retrieve the vegetables as needed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jun/24/images/ads/current/nutrienag_sda_HEROES_2023.png)
Try these and other creative ways to extend your
garden enjoyment beyond the end of the growing season.
Melinda Myers is the author of more than 20 gardening books,
including Small Space Gardening and Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd
Edition. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” instant
video and DVD series and Melinda’s Garden Moment TV & radio program.
Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms
magazine and was commissioned by Gardener’s Supply Company for her
expertise to write this article. Her website is www.MelindaMyers.com.
[Photo courtesy of Gardener’s Supply
Company/gardeners.com] |