Chapter 1
The Why, What, Where and How of Growing Herbs
The use of herbs has a long pedigree: herbs were certainly used in worship and ritual ceremonies in ancient Egypt; in China their medicinal qualities were recognised as far back as 3000 BC. Exactly when herbs began to be used in cooking, however, is not known; I can’t help but think, though, that as soon as Mr Sapiens discovered that, as well as roasting it over a fire, his wild boar could be cooked by boiling it in water in a pot, that Mrs Sapiens chucked a bit of greenstuff in to add some flavour.
I suppose the real milestone came when herbs were grown on purpose, rather than just gathered from the hedgerow. In Britain we have evidence that the Romans cultivated gardens around their villas in which herbs as well as other plants were grown. There is no doubt that some of the herbs, such as bay, lovage and coriander found their way into recipes. The most notable example of a Roman garden is at Fishbourne Roman Palace near Chichester in West Sussex – well worth a visit if you are ever down that way. And I wouldn’t mind betting that some herbs were grown in a cultivated patch long before the Romans came along.
Although culinary fashions, like many others, come and go, it is incon- ceivable that there was never a time since before the Roman occupation when someone has not cultivated herbs to use in cooking. From tucking a few chives in a pot to grow by the back door, to formal, well-stocked gardens of stately homes, herbs are very much a part of our gardening and cooking heritage. So let’s continue it now by growing some of our own!
Why should I grow and use culinary herbs?
Perhaps I should answer the second part of that question first. My answer would be flavour. There is no doubt that herbs bring another layer of seasoning to almost any dish: they can transform other ingredients by emphasising or complementing their flavour. As for the first part of the question, you could quite justifiably say that there is little point in growing your own herbs when they are now available all year round in the supermarket. This is true. But I think it is worth growing your own herbs for a number of reasons (in no particular order).
First, I grow herbs because I like the seasonality that they bring. I try to use ingredients that are naturally in season in my part of the world, so I wouldn’t expect to eat asparagus in December, for example, and the same is true of something like basil.
Second, I like to know how and where what I eat has been grown: growing my own herbs means that I am in control of what, if any, chemicals are applied to them, and I don’t have to resort to buying herbs that have been air-freighted from abroad, and the ecological and ethical dilemmas that come with them.
Third, gram for gram, it is undoubtedly cheaper to grow your own. Fourth, there is something very, very special – almost spiritual – about planting a seed in the ground, trusting in its germination, and then watching the seedling grow to maturity and harvesting what the plant offers.
Fifth, where I grow my herbs is a beautiful part of the garden with a patchwork of texture and colour.
Sixth, the scent of herbs. There is nothing quite as sensual as brushing past lavender or rosemary on a midsummer’s day so that they release their heady, aromatic perfume, or crushing a leaf of lemon verbena between your fingers and being hit with a shot of lemon sherbert.
I hope I have convinced you!
What culinary herbs should I grow?
Ultimately the choice is yours, but there are some herbs that are extremely popular and perhaps these should form the basis of your collection: for example, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. There are other common herbs, too, that ought to be on the ‘must have’ list, like chives, basil, oregano, tarragon and mint. In addition there are some herbs that are not as widely used as the ones I have already mentioned, but are, nonetheless, still worth growing: I am thinking of summer and winter savory, chervil, hyssop and celery leaf, to name but a few. I have selected 30 of my favourite herbs, some of which you might like to include in your collection.
Robust herbs
Dividing herbs into groups
It can be a bit confusing when faced with a list of herbs, especially if it is just a straightforward alphabetical one and contains things with which you are not familiar. To make life a little easier I have devised a way of grouping the herbs that not only helps with their cultivation, but also with the way they are used in the kitchen. I call them my ‘robust’ herbs and my ‘delicate’ herbs. Let me explain further by looking at my two groups.
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Generally speaking the herbs that I call robust are the tough guys of the herb world – they are those evergreen, hardy herbs that make it through the cold, dormant season with little, if any, protection. These herbs, again generally speaking, contain high concentrations of essential oils in the leaves. And, because the leaves are tough enough to withstand extreme temperatures, the essential oils that are tucked away in them are released slowly during the cooking process. So if the recipe calls for long, slow cooking, like a casserole or stew, or if you are roasting anything, you will need a herb that is robust enough to handle this type of cooking – hence the name I have given this group.
You can, of course, use any of the robust herbs in recipes with shorter cooking times, but be aware that the flavour of these herbs can be quite pungent, so the old adage of ‘less is more’ applies here!
My selected robust herbs are:
Bay • Celery leaf • Chervil • Garlic • Horseradish • Hyssop • Lavender Myrtle • Oregano • Parsley • Rosemary • Sage • Thyme • Winter savory
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Included in my second group are:
| • | Annual herbs that germinate, grow and set seed all in one year (like dill). |
| • | Biennial herbs (like parsley): although, in theory, biennial herbs will last for two years – germinating and growing in the first year and flowering and setting seed in the second – we generally grow them for their leaves rather than flowers or seeds, so I grow a new batch each year, sometimes twice a year. |
| • | Non-evergreen, hardy perennials (like mint). |
| • | The more tender or tropical perennials (like tarragon and lemon grass respectively). |
All of these herbs require little or no cooking, and indeed will not thank you if they are in contact with heat for any length of time. Always add them to the dish towards the end of the cooking time, preferably the last few minutes. The reason for doing this is because the leaves are quite delicate (that’s why I call them my delicate group) and, as a rule, they contain much less essential oil: exposure to heat will reduce the leaves to almost nothing and the delicate flavour will be all but lost.
Delicate herbs
Given the type of plant groups that my delicate herbs fall into, the list is somewhat longer than for robust herbs.
My selected delicate herbs are:
Basil • Bergamot • Borage • Celery leaf • Chervil • Chives Coriander • Dill • Fennel • Lemon balm • Lemon grass Lemon verbena • Lovage • Mint • Parsley • Summer savory Sweet cicely • Sweet marjoram • Tarragon
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There are always exceptions to the rule and the sharp-eyed among you will have noticed that celery leaf, chervil and parsley are included in both groups. This isn’t a mistake – these are hardy biennial herbs, so if you sow seeds late in the growing season and protect the plants with a cloche or horticultural fleece you will have a modest supply of fresh leaves throughout the dormant season.
Where should I grow my herbs?
If you want to grow herbs for cutting they are best grown directly in the ground where they can get their roots down and make strong, abundant growth. You will need to make sure that the soil conditions and situation are suitable for the herbs you are growing.
This is where our grouping comes in handy again. Generally speaking, the herbs in our robust group are those that like free-draining, verging on poor, soil and a very sunny position. A number of these hail from Mediterranean regions, which gives us a clue to the sort of conditions they like. Many of our delicate herbs, however, like a richer soil that can retain a little more moisture, and many can also cope with a little light shade.
If your allocated space is big enough I would advise you to divide it into two sections to accommodate the different groups and requirements – have a look at some of the designs later in the chapter for some ideas.
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One thing that all my chosen herbs have in common is that they like neutral soil. This means that the soil’s pH (‘potential of Hydrogen’) level should be in the range of 6.5 to 7. If you are not sure what pH your soil is, it is worth investing in an inexpensive testing kit from your local garden centre, which will give you a reasonably accurate reading. If your soil is slightly alkaline (this will be indicated by a slightly higher pH number), all is not lost. Most herbs will cope with these conditions. If the reading is lower, it means that your soil is slightly acid, which is a little more problematic. If this is the case, you may need to add some lime to the soil to bring the pH level up.
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Whatever herbs you are planning to grow, it is worth spending time preparing the ground before you start planting. I think the best time of year to begin preparation is the early dormant season – the reason for this will become clear.
The most important preparation task is to make sure that the area is free of weeds. Annual weeds pose few difficulties – these can be hoed off before they have a chance to set seed, and simply left on the surface of the soil to wither, or be gathered up and put on the compost heap.
Perennial weeds may be more challenging. There are three main ways of dealing with these sorts of weeds: first, if you don’t mind using chemicals, you could use a systemic herbicide. This is a weed-killer that you apply to the leaves of the weed. The chemicals are absorbed by the plant through the leaves and taken down to the roots so that the entire plant is killed off. It certainly does the job but you have to be careful not to accidentally get the weed-killer on plants nearby that you don’t want to get rid of.
Second, you can dig the weeds up. You have to be careful to get every piece of root out of the ground, though: any left in will sprout and grow. Please don’t do what I once saw in a magazine article about ground preparation. There was a picture of a fairly large plot being rotovated: nothing wrong with that, except that what was being chopped up by the rotovator blades was a magnificent crop of young thistles. I had to do a double take. I can’t begin to imagine what the plot looked like later in the season when all those tiny pieces of thistle root had had a chance to sprout and grow!
Third, you can cover the area with something that will keep out the light
– and then wait. By denying the weeds one of the essential things they need to grow – in this case sunlight – they will perish naturally. Any weeds that do survive will be much weaker and easier to dig out. This method takes a little forward planning, which is why I advocate starting preparing the ground in the early dormant season.
When I am preparing a new bed, I tend to combine methods two and three. I dig out as many weeds as I can but also cover the area with black plastic over the dormant season.
If the herbs you wish to grow are ones that need a reasonably rich soil, it is as well to apply some organic matter such as manure or compost at the preparation stage. Spread it on the soil to a depth of about 5cm, after you have cleared the weeds but before you cover it with black plastic. By the end of the dormant period the worms will have taken the manure or compost down into the heart of the soil and you will be left with a lovely, forkable tilth when you take off the plastic.
To my mind, the soil is more important than the position, so concentrate on getting the soil right and err on the side of a sunny position rather than shade. Most herbs will survive, but not thrive, in shady conditions, so try and avoid a north-facing spot.
I know of no herb that can cope with severe windy conditions, especially if they are exposed to blasts of icy wind during the dormant season. Try and choose a spot that is sheltered, or if this cannot be avoided, erect a wind- break to protect your precious plants from the worst of the weather.
Growing herbs in a herb garden
The pièce de résistance for any herb enthusiast is to have a garden solely for the purpose of growing herbs. The size of your garden will depend on how much space you have to spare and how many herbs you are likely to use. Bear in mind that the average spread of most of the common herbs (parsley, sage, oregano, for example) is in the region of 25–45cm: this will give you a rough idea of how many you will be able to fit in your allocated space.
If you are lucky enough to be able to have a separate herb garden, you can make it as formal or as relaxed as you like. Traditionally, herb gardens tend to be quite formal and geometric in design, bounded by a low hedge of clipped box (Buxus sempervirens), wall germander (Teucrium x lucidrys) or similar plants; this contains the sometimes lax growth of some herbs.
Although we habitually call such gardens ‘knot’ gardens, they are more accurately called parterres. True knot gardens were planted for the intricate hedge patterns alone – different varieties of hedging plants were ‘interwoven’ in the same design and the spaces between were often filled with coloured gravel. A parterre, on the other hand – from the French parterres de broderie (embroidery patterns) – used only one type of hedging and the spaces between were planted with ornamental flowers. What we recognise as a knot garden in the herb sense is really a combination of the true knot garden and the parterre. Either way, if you have the space, there is nothing that quite matches this type of design for a herb garden.
But you don’t have to stick with tradition. You can arrange your herbs in whichever way suits you best, and if you find that the design isn’t quite as you imagined it, you can always tweak it or move the plants!
