Sheryl L. Felty - Grow 15 herbs for the kitchen

Sheryl L. Felty

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Felty, Sheryl L.

Grow 15 herbs for the kitchen / by Sheryl L. Felty

A Storey Publishing Bulletin, A-61

ISBN 978-0-88266-275-6

Herbs are the wonders of the culinary world. Most people can chop, dice, and saut, but the real craft of cooking comes from enhancing the flavors of your ingredients. Often that means cooking with herbs. But herbs do more than flavor food; they have medicinal uses, are companion plants, bee attractors, good scents, and dye plants. The best way to learn about using herbs is to grow your own.

Freshly picked herbs have a flavor far more precious and delicate than dried herbs. Dried, homegrown herbs are pure, unprocessed, and pungently flavored. Herbs and herb products make fantastic gifts; jars of delicious dill pickles, fancy mint jellies, sage cheese, or potted chives spice up any holiday. Sachets and herbal teas are also welcome gifts.

The best part of all this is that it is easy to do. Growing herbs takes only a small space around the home or apartment. If you do not have space outdoors, herbs are good candidates for container growing. A few pots on the kitchen windowsill green up many winter meals. And a little bit of time each week is all it takes to tend herbs.

This bulletin will tell you how to grow, preserve, and use the fifteen most popular kitchen herbs. Enjoy!

Sheryl L. Felty is a writer and researcher. A trained horticulturalist, she has been growing her own herbs for many years.

The best way to get your herb garden off to a good start is to plan it out on paper. Decide which type of herb, what variety, and how many of each you want to grow. If this is your first experience with herbs, start small and increase the size of your garden later. Here are some ideas to consider:

Locate the short, compact herbs in the front of your herb bed; the taller varieties behind them.

Give some thought to color combinations. You may choose to have a green and gray garden or to brighten it up with purple basil and flowering annuals.

Decide if you want to grow only perennials in one bed, or if you want to mix in annuals and biennials.

Repeat herb varieties for symmetrical patterns, or plant to create a wild look.

If you are fortunate enough to have an old stone walkway or a slightly sloping terrace, you can easily create a splendid herb rock garden. Space large and small rocks in a pleasing pattern. Plant herbs so they cascade over and between the rocks.

You can plant a traditional, sixteenth century knot garden, a beautifully sculptured arrangement. Plant three or four types of compact perennial herbs close together to make a low hedge knot. (See illustration.) Regular pruning is essential and much maintenance is required for this formal garden. Some herbs that lend themselves well to a knot garden are dwarf sage, lemon thyme, dwarf lavender, and winter savory.

Permanent, raised bed gardens are practical and attractive for herb growing. Raised beds stand eight to twelve inches above ground level. They guarantee better water drainage and warmer soil for the plants growing there. There are a wide number of materials you can use to contain the bed: bricks, cement blocks, stone, railroad ties, logs, or anything else that suits your fancy.

Knot garden.

It is best to make the bed four feet wide if you can reach across it from both sides. Make it three feet wide, if you have access from one side only. Make it as long or short as your space allows.

If you have a plentiful supply of fertile, loamy garden soil, use this to fill up the beds. If your soil is not the best, mix:

1 part garden soil

1 part sand

1 part peat moss

1 part compost

lime

and use this as your planting medium.

Plant on a raised bed garden the same as you would on ground level.

Herbs will prosper in most types of good garden soil, especially a fertile, well-drained, sandy loam. Since most herbs are native to the poorer, rocky soils of the Mediterranean, they are able to make a fine showing under less than optimum conditions. However, if you are considering a long-term perennial bed, it is advisable to make your soil the best possible.

Most soils benefit from the addition of organic matter such as compost, chopped leaves, or peat moss. Organic matter improves the texture of soil, making light or sandy soil more fertile and able to hold a greater amount of water and loosening heavy or clay soil.

Most herbs require well-drained soil (the exception being some types of mint). Well-drained means that water seeps down into the soil at a fairly constant rate, so there is never a pool of standing water on the soil surface resulting in soggy roots for the herbs. Do not plant in poorly drained areas unless you plan to build raised beds.

All soils should be tested before you start growing. The information you get from your soil test will give you a clear understanding of your soil and its needs. You can buy a soil test kit and do your own; or for a minimal cost, you can send your soil off to a soil testing lab for analysis. Your local county extension service agent will help you with this.