With all the harvesting going on at this time of year, it’s easy to forget about one very important section of our gardens: herbs. Whether you tend a few pots on your patio or have a dedicated garden patch, herbs offer a multitude of benefits.
All fresh produce tastes wonderful but herbs elevate even the most simple dishes. Add tarragon to your bean salad to make it the best you ever tasted. Top plain dishes with a few delicate chive spears for an elegant presentation. Add exotic interest and flavours to your desserts with lavender, thyme, or borage flowers. Whir just about any greens with basil, garlic, and parsley to make versatile pestos.
Herbs can be eaten fresh or dried, brewed into teas, added to soaps and salves, and used in sachets or potpourri. Many offer therapeutic effects. Parsley aids digestion. Yarrow leaves stop a cut from bleeding. Chamomile makes a soporific tea. Never mind smelling roses – just bury your nose in your rosemary or thyme bush or crush a few mint leaves for instant aromatherapy. Herbs add their distinctive scents and textures to fresh and dried flower arrangements. Many produce prolific amounts of tiny flowers that attract multitudes of pollinators and butterflies. Another charming quality of herbs is that they aren’t particularly needy. They keep growing and producing in less than ideal conditions and can survive with only moderate watering. Many endure the worst west coast winters and bounce right back.
If you are new to growing herbs, start with something hardy. Mint, oregano, lavender, and sage are all easy-to-grow perennials. Those, in addition to thyme, savory, and tarragon, have all survived several winters in my Black Creek garden with very little attention. After losing two well-established rosemary plants, I now grow them in pots that I can shelter in the winter. Mint and lemon balm are also better confined to pots because they spread rampantly and can become a nuisance. Borage, cilantro, and dill are annuals that reseed themselves from year to year. Basil plants are frost-tender annuals but once the seedlings are established, they will produce aromatic leaves all summer long. The more herbs you harvest, the healthier your plants will be. Take advantage of harvesting time to do some pruning and shaping. Bush-like herbs can even be trained into whimsical shapes if you have time and patience to spare!
Herbs are also very cost-effective. One plant will generally produce far more fresh leaves than one kitchen can possibly use. Besides sharing with your neighbours, another solution to this abundance is to over-harvest whenever you are out there snipping a few leaves and then dry the excess. Herbs can be dried and stored for up to a year (or longer but they tend to lose flavour over time). Drying can be a very simple process. Spread extra chopped chives on a plate and leave them in a dark cupboard to dry. Whole stems of bay leaves, oregano, tarragon, thyme, savory, and sage can be packed loosely into paper bags and stored in a pantry. Once dry, the leaves strip off fairly easily. A dehydrator can be used for a quicker drying process, or even your oven at a very low temperature. Store herbs in air-tight containers. I prefer to use canning jars because they are reusable and display what is inside.
Home-dried herbs are usually far superior in flavour and aroma than herbs bought at the store. They make wonderful gifts displayed in small canning jars. Don’t make the mistake of giving them to people who don’t cook much. I once gave away some of my precious dried purple sage to someone who said, ‘What do I use it for?’ So I gave what I thought was a pretty safe answer, ‘Throw it in spaghetti sauce,’ and was met with a blank stare.
Herbs add a variety of textures and shapes to any garden, wafting their enticing spicy fragrance for the benefit of insects and humans alike.
Marion Waters
Vancouver Island Master Gardeners (VIMGA)
Originally published in the Campbell River Mirror