Here are some of our favorite natural herbs and what they can be used for:

Basil: Basil tastes great in Thai foods, Italian foods as well as casseroles and even bread. This plant can grow to be 2 feet tall and produces white flowers with dark green and sometimes purple leaves. Basil doesn't like cold weather. So you'll need to make sure you wait until well past the last frost to plant them.

Chives: These clumps of green spikes with their violet flowers make a very aromatic addition to any garden. Tasting much like onions, you can snip a bit from chives stalks and add to any dish you want. Put them in omelet’s, soups, salads and casseroles - anything that needs an onion flavor will benefit from chives. This perennial will come back each year, but you want to divide them every couple of years so that they don't get too crowded.

Dill: We all know that dill tastes great in many recipes and it can be a fun herb to grow, too. This plant produces small yellow flowers with feathery bluish green leaves and can grow to 4 feet tall. It's an easy herb to grow from seed. You can simply toss some into your garden and see how many "take". These natural herbs like full sun. You want to be sure that each plant has about 8 inches of space between them so each can get the nutrients and sunlight it needs. The flower heads can be used in cooking.

Lavender: Lavender is often used in aromatherapy as a calming herb. It also makes a beautiful plant in your garden and is quite fragrant with pink or purple flowers on tall stems which bloom in the middle of summer. They're not that easy to grow from seed, so you might want to get plants that are already started from your garden supply store and then plant them in full sun and in soil that has very good drainage and is slightly alkaline. These perennials will come back each year.

Parsley: Parsley has many culinary uses and is also an easy herb to grow. This is a biennial, meaning that it blooms every two years. You can grow them right your garden or even in containers. They can get to be a foot tall.

Peppermint: This is another fragrant natural herb that can grow to be 2 feet tall and has a wonderful scent with small purple flowers. Peppermint has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries and is also great to have as a tea, or added to any dish when cooking. These herbs like a moist soil and partial shade.

Rosemary: Rosemary also has its place in many dishes including salads and meat loaf's. The dark green leaves make an aromatic addition to your garden. Giving up clusters of pink or pale blue flowers in the spring they can be planted indoors or out.

Sage: Sage is another culinary herb that has a wonderful smell and can grow to 2 feet when planted in full sun. You can grow them from seed or from stem cuttings and, as long as they have a well-drained soil, they are pretty easy to grow. They can be a little bit invasive; so you'll have to cut back their great green feathery leaves often. Sage is a very hearty herb so you'll be able to enjoy their lilac flowers year after year.

Thyme: Growing right outside your kitchen door, thyme can be a great herb to add to many dishes, and it also adds beauty to your garden with its wonderful aroma and pink and purple flowers. The plants only grow a couple of inches tall and make a great ground cover.

Cilantro: Having it grow just out in the garden is so useful, wonderful and aromatic.  It can be used in Indian, Mexican and Thai dishes. The plant grows up to half a feet and has small white flowers but harvesting it when its smaller makes it tastes better and the branches are tender when its smaller.

Natural herbs are a great addition to any garden, you can plant them alongside your other flowering plants. They will be aesthetically pleasing as well as useful in the kitchen.

Note to viewers:  Many of the tips we provide here is collected from various sources like websites, magazines, TV shows, newsletters, blogs etc.  We are just trying to provide you information gathered from everywhere.  Please use your discretion to decide and do your own research before you do anything.

Lucky Bamboo-(Dracaena sanderiana)

The Chinese say lucky bamboo improves Feng Shui and creates a space where you feel safe and more energized. It brings luck, fortune, and prosperity to your loved ones-not to mention the beauty and color it brings into your home!

Care:

Lucky bamboo charmed its way into the hearts of plant lovers because it requires only basic care to thrive. Just stick the stems in some water, surround them with pebbles for support, and watch them grow. The one complaint about lucky bamboo is that its leaves tend to develop dead, dry, and unattractive tips, or tip burn.

To Prevent tip burn by:

1. Limiting the amount of fluoride and chlorine  the plant is exposed to. Many municipalities in the United States add fluoride to tap water to prevent tooth decay. So watering your plants with fluoride-free bottled water may reduce or even eliminate fluoride, chlorine, and salts.

2. Water with bottled water and give your plant the best possible growing conditions.

3. Place your plant in bright, indirect light and change the water once a week.

4. Fertilize only if the plant begins to yellow, and be sure to use an organic fertilizer, because the salts and high phosphorus concentrations often present in synthetic fertilizers can also cause tip burn.

Orchids

Many orchids are tough, durable plants that will bloom year after year on a windowsill. These sturdy beauties only look fragile!

Getting started
Before you buy an orchid, think about where you plan to put it. Different species do best at specific light levels and temperature ranges. You'll get the best bloom if you match plant to place. Here are 4 of the best windowsill orchids and their preferred conditions.

Phalaenopsis:

Need low to medium light and temperatures between 70° and 80°F. The "moth orchid."

Paphiopedilums:

Need low to medium light (an east or west-facing window) and temperatures between 55° and 75°F. Exotic relatives of our familiar lady-slippers.

Cattleyas:

Need medium to high light (a south-facing window) and temperatures between 70° and 80°F. The classic corsage orchid.

Equitant oncidiums (Tolumnea):

Need same conditions as cattleyas. Very compact growers. The "butterfly" orchid.

Points to note:

There are two other points to consider when buying orchids. First, although orchids bloom for a long time (sometimes months), when they're not in bloom, they're foliage plants. Some paphiopedilums and phalaenopsis have beautifully patterned foliage that makes them beautiful even when not in bloom. Second, orchids can take years to reach blooming size. When you buy a plant, specify "blooming size" to make sure it will flower first year.

Orchid Care:

Potting
Orchids will not grow in garden soil. Instead, use Douglas fir bark, mixing 2 parts bark to 1 part perlite. Use fine-grade bark for paphiopedilums, and medium grade for the others. Buy bark where you buy your orchids — at greenhouses and well-stocked garden centers or through mail order orchid catalogs. For best growth and bloom, repot once a year since fir bark breaks down and orchids need a loose, fast-draining medium.

Watering
Thorough watering once a week is enough except for large or very small plants. Household humidity that's comfortable to you (40-60 percent) is fine for orchids. (A humidifier will be good for you and your plants!) Or set the pots on pebble-filled trays and add water to the trays to increase humidity around your plants. Make sure the water doesn't reach the top of the pebbles.

Feeding
Feed orchids twice a month with a balanced organic fertilizer, and give a nitrogen supplement such as fish emulsion at each feeding.

Pests and Diseases
Orchids are remarkably problem-free. Use insecticidal soap to control the most common pests: mealybugs, scale, and spider mites. If a plant shows signs of disease, isolate it, remove affected parts with a sharp, flame-sterilized knife, and watch for recurrences. 

Lettuce

Lettuce is an easy vegetable to grow, even for inexperienced gardeners, because it has very few problems. And you can avoid those problems simply by planting lettuce in well-drained soil with balanced fertility, spacing the plants correctly, and keeping the soil consistently moist. But when problems do arise, you can rely on these simple organic solutions.

Problem: The edges of lettuce leaves turn brown and die back.
Diagnosis: Tip burn. Inconsistent watering contributes to the problem, and some lettuce varieties are more susceptible to tip burn than others.
Solution: Use drip tape or soaker hoses to keep the soil consistently moist. Plant resistant varieties, including 'Magenta' and 'Ermosa', a butterhead bred for heat tolerance.

Problem: Tiny green, white, or black insects are clustered on the underside of lettuce leaves.
Diagnosis: Aphids. These pests are a problem, especially when the weather is cool, because they emerge earlier and tolerate colder temperatures than many of their predators.
Solution: Use insecticidal soap to control especially bad infestations, but before you spray, monitor the problem for a few days. During most times of the year, beneficial insects quickly control aphids. Encourage a robust population of aphid enemies by growing plants with nectar-rich flowers, including cilantro, dill, and sweet alyssum.

Problem: Your lettuce is shot through with tiny holes.
Diagnosis: Flea beetles
Solution: Install a row cover over your lettuce immediately after sowing or transplanting to exclude flea beetles from your crop. Row covers also help control thrips, leaf hoppers and aphids.

Problem: Your lettuce seedlings suddenly died.
Diagnosis: Damping-off, a soilborne fungal disease that thrives in cool, damp, cloudy conditions and kills seedlings
Solution: Space plants apart to provide good airflow and reduce watering.

Problem: Mature plants rot or collapse.
Diagnosis: Fungal disease, including bottom rot or sclerotinia drop.
Solution: If you live where cold, damp weather is normal during the lettuce-growing season, space plants farther apart to encourage good air circulation and reduce watering. Plant varieties that resist fungal disease, such as 'Optima'.

Problem: Your lettuce tastes terrible.
Diagnosis: Your plants are old, bolting, or drought-stressed. Solution: Bitterness naturally occurs in older lettuce plants, but it can occur in drought-stressed young plants. Taste-test your lettuce often. To prevent bitterness, keep the soil evenly moist and harvest plants before they begin to form a conical head.

Problem: Overnight, your lettuce developed big holes and ragged edges.
Diagnosis: Slugs or snails
Solution: Remove mulch from around lettuce, because it provides the perfect hiding place for slugs and snails. Sprinkle an organic slug bait, such as Sluggo, around your plants, being sure to follow the package's directions. Set out beer traps. Simply fill a shallow plastic container, such as a yogurt cup, with beer and then sink it into the soil, leaving a 1/2-inch lip above the soil line.