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Published on 05/04/05

'Gardening in Georgia': growing herbs down South

University of Georgia

Whether you're an avid gardener or don't garden at all, it's easy to grow herbs. Most require little care and are almost pest- free. And on "Gardening in Georgia" May 14, host Walter Reeves will show you all you need to know to get started.

"Gardening in Georgia" is produced by Georgia Public Broadcasting and the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. It airs each Saturday at 12:30 and 7 p.m.

On his May 14 show, Reeves visits with Wayne McLaurin, a UGA horticulture professor emeritus who wrote the book on growing herbs in the South.

Really

McLaurin and his wife Sylvia wrote "Herbs in Southern Gardens." You can get the book for $5 at your county UGA Extension office.

Reeves and McLaurin plant an herb bed and describe the flavors and scents available. Herbs taste better, McLaurin says, when they get little fertilizer but lots of sunshine. The heat heightens the taste in the herbs' leaves.

Later in the show, Reeves will show how he builds a raised bed with 2-by-10 lumber. Vegetables, flowers and herbs all grow best in raised beds. Reeves tells about other ways to build raised beds. And he shows how to prepare the soil, a key to successful raised-bed gardening.

Dan Rahn is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.