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Sow nigella after your last frost, harvest the seed in about 100 days, and never transplant it. Nigella sativa, the kalonji of Indian kitchens, is a cool-season annual with a taproot that sulks at every move, so the whole game…
Ajwain is the thyme-smelling seed spice of Indian kitchens, and you can grow a full harvest in one summer: seed to ripe spice takes about 4 months. The catch is identity: three different plants share the name “ajwain,” and buying…
Chinese mugwort is a plant that will reward you for years, but it will also punish you for years if you plant it wrong. Artemisia argyi grows from seed to a harvestable 100 cm perennial in a single 4 to…
Buy 3 kilograms of tangerines this winter and you can make chen pi at home. That is how to make chen pi at home: dry the peel of mandarin oranges, then age it for at least three years until it…
How to grow candlenut: plant fresh scarified stones 3 to 10 cm deep at the start of the wet season and expect the first flowers around year 4. The tree that follows is a tropical giant, typically 10 to 15…
Learning how to grow andaliman at home starts with three things: cool mountain air, patience for slow seed, and a male plant next to your females. Andaliman (Zanthoxylum acanthopodium) is the lemon-scented, tongue-tingling spice of Batak cuisine in the North…
Plant a temulawak rhizome piece 5.1 to 10.2 cm deep, buds up, at the start of the wet season, and dig the harvest when the leaves yellow and collapse at the end of the growing season. That is how to…
If you are reading up on how to grow asafoetida from India at home, start with the truth: the harvest comes in year 4 at the earliest. You will not see spice in your first season, your second, or your…
Indian mustard is the rare plant that pays you twice from one sowing. Sow rai or sarson seed (Brassica juncea) in cool weather and you can cut tender sarson ka saag greens in 25 to 30 days, then let the…
Dang gui feeds a global herbal trade measured in tens of thousands of tons a year, and the same plant grows in a home garden if you give it what it wants. Learning how to grow dang gui from seed…
Schisandra is the five-flavor berry of traditional Chinese medicine, and you can grow it from seed in a home garden if you give it two things: 60 to 90 days of cold stratification to wake the seed, and three to…
Plant 5 cm kencur rhizome pieces 15 cm apart on a 25 cm raised bed in spring, keep the bed half-shaded and evenly moist through summer, then stop watering when the leaves die back in autumn. That is how to…
Buy one rooted sucker and plant it, because Pandanus amaryllifolius never makes seeds to sow. A sucker with white aerial roots settles in within weeks, and the first fragrant leaves land within the first year. The rest of this page…
Learning how to grow kaffir lime starts with a reset: the glossy double-lobed leaves are the harvest, and the tree only lives outdoors year-round in zones 9 to 10. That is a makrut lime tree grown as a leaf crop.…
A curry leaf tree lives outdoors in zones 9 to 12 and freezes in much of the rest of the country. If your winters drop below 50°F (10°C), the only honest way to keep one alive is to grow it…
The fennel seed jar in your kitchen did not come from the bulb fennel in the vegetable aisle. That is the first thing to get straight. Indian saunf is the seed of common fennel, Foeniculum vulgare, a tall feathery plant…
Fill a 40 cm pot with forest-floor mix this autumn. That is how to grow ginseng in pots: a shade-loving woodland perennial whose taproot you will not see for five to ten years. The rest of this page is 15…
Sow a pinch of black seed this spring and eat garlic-flavored leaves for the next decade. That is how to grow garlic chives from seed: a perennial herb that shrugs off neglect, divides into free plants, and self-seeds with enough…
Buy a firm galangal rhizome with plump pinkish eyes from an Asian grocery, cut it into 5.1 to 7.6 cm pieces, and plant each piece 5.1 cm deep after the soil warms past 21 degrees Celsius. That is how to…
Stand 6 market stalks in a jar of water and wait 28 days. That is how to grow lemongrass at home without touching a seed packet. The rest of this page is 16 moves, from sorting the cooking species from…
