The Herb Garden
Cutting herbs for the kitchen is a real pleasure, it conjures up days of sunshine, butterflies dancing over the flowers and aromatic air wafting past your nose. Sadly it doesn't always work out like that. I watched a TV show recently where a 'celebrity' helped by an 'expert' planted a selection of herbs in a tin bath. They crammed in about six or seven different herbs, some of which where destined to grow to a metre or more in height. Oh dear, I thought, that'll be good for about 6 months and then doomed to failure. There is a presumption that herbs are small things and, of course, some are, but you have to know what's what to make a success of it.
Some of the larger useful plants can be integrated into the ornamental border very successfully. If you have a sunny site on well drained soil then Rosemary is a good one to grow and so is Sage. Both of these can be trimmed back quite hard each year and Rosemary can be used as a topiary feature plant to good effect, I have one in the fruit garden at the end of the Blackcurrant bed trimmed to a globe. When you go to buy a Rosemary make sure you run your hand up the stem and give it a good sniff, some have a better scent than others. My sage plants grow on my allotment as the soil is free draining and I cut them back hard after flowering. They always make lots more fresh growth which I dry for winter use. Bay is another good trimmed shrub and can also be part of a mixed hedge.
Having a dedicated herb bed for the smaller perennial herbs is a good idea and gardening books have lots of ideas for pretty designs. I like to keep my herb beds quite practical as I dry a lot of them and I want quantity. The very top bed on my sloping allotment has poor, dry soil which has never been a lot of use despite all my efforts so I decided to plant Oregano, gold and green, and Thyme in a row. They have thrived there. The Thyme is nothing like the soft, dark green stuff that you see in the Supermarkets, it's grey-green with hard, small leaves but the flavour is out of this world. The Oregano is spreading well and I find that the gold has the best flavour.
Some herbs prefer a bit of partial shade, chives seem to do better in a moist, dappled spot and some of the annuals can be grown as part of the normal vegetable plot. The best Parsley I grew was sown in the spring and, due to lack of room, ended up planted at the roots of the climbing French beans. They seemed to like the company and when I cut the beans off at ground level in the autumn they grew very bushy, about half a metre high, and kept us in Parsley for the whole winter. Basil is an annual which needs different conditions. I grow it in large pots stood in the greenhouse in front of the tomatoes, brushing past it when I walk down the path releases an aroma which fills the greenhouse.
And then we come to the mint... the thug of the herbs. I love mint but that too can be variable so make sure you get one that smells right for you. Keep it out of the herb bed or that's all you'll have there after a year or two. It's a candidate for the tin bath, on its own and re-planted every 2 or 3 years to keep it fresh and growing well. I have mine in an established shrub bed where the competition keeps it under control. And lastly, only grow what you like to eat. I know that sounds obvious but if you don't like Sage or whatever don't tie up your ground with it just because the books say so! Personally I can't stand leaf Coriander so all those chefs on the telly are wasting their time when they say it should go in my cooking.
By 'Er Outdoors.
Photo by Alex Wendes
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