Grow your own garden herbs in a few easy steps

You don't have to have a big garden to grow your own fresh herbs. For those who live in apartments, don't have a backyard, or only like to garden small-scale, most herbs can be grown in ceramic planters.

If that's good news, you'll like what Master Gardener and ACHS Senior Vice President Erika Yigzaw had to say Saturday, May 9, at the ACHS From Your Garden to Your Kitchen Open House.

Although each herb is different, most are fairly easy to grow and use at home. There are just a few key things to remember. 1. Unless otherwise specified, herbs like full sun. 2. Herbs potted into planters should be watered about once a day. 3. Don't over water. As a general rule, water herbs so that the soil remains moist approx. one inch from the top.

Once your herbs are potted, what can you use them for? Most easily, herbs can be used on a meal-by-meal basis and either cooked into hot foods or eaten raw in salads. You can also use fresh herbs to make your own herbal teas and infused oils for cooking and/or body care, as well as herbal medicine infusions and tinctures.

Click here to download free information about making your own herbal remedies, herbal teas, and organic gardening.

Additional tips for growing your own herbs include:

• When planting in peet pots, break up the peet and roots before planting.
  
• Do not plant above the base of the plant. Adding a top layer of soil can cause fungus.
  
• To keep bugs from your plants, include a decoy plant in your garden like artichoke.
  
• Before harvesting, find out the best method for that herb (for example, rosemary likes to be plucked, but peppermint can be snipped).
  

Click here for more information about dried herbs and herbal medicine classes.

Hydroxycut recall begs stricter controls for dietary supplements?

The voluntary recall of 14 Hydroxycut products by Iovate Sciences has people talking. Should there by stricter controls on dietary supplements?

The Hydroxycut recall was triggered by a consumer warning by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued May 1. In response, Loren Israelsen, executive director of the United Natural Products Alliance and a member of Nutrition Business Journal’s editorial advisory board said in a Nutrition Business Journal, “This is a big deal for the dietary supplement industry because it will inevitably invite comparison to the ephedra AER [adverse event reporting] episode, and critics of the industry will no doubt call for some review of DSHEA [the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act] as a result."

Ongoing problems with Hydroxycut and similar products have people wondering if supplement regulations should be firmer, which does not seem like a priority for Congress right now. And, until it is, how can consumers protect themselves?

According to Nutrition Business Journal, "consumers bought $1.67 billion worth of weight-loss pill-form supplements in 2007, and Hydroxycut was the top-selling weight-loss supplement brand sold at supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandise outlets (excluding Wal-Mart). Weight-loss supplement sales have been hurting since the 2004 ephedra ban, and this event is likely to take a hefty toll on 2009 sales."

In other words, we know there is no "quick fix" or instant solution for health challenges, yet, people continue to buy the products. Perhaps consumers can best protect themselves by asking the question, "Why?" Why, when we know so much about the many successful applications of alternative medicines and holistic health do we buy pills? Why do we continue to support "short-term fixes" instead of long-term health when studies show that these choices may, in fact, be hurting us more?

Will this recall of Hydroxycut products influence consumer purchases? Should there be more supplement regulation to protect the consumer? Tell us what you think....

Click here to read the full article in the Nutrition Business Journal.