For example, cilantro and fennel seeds have a completely different flavor when they are immature and green than they do once they’ve reached maturity and dried out. It would be a shame to miss that stage and the unique opportunity you have as a gardener to access them. Sounds confusing, I know. It takes some practice to learn how to harvest each plant appropriately, and you may miss a thing or two in the first year. But by the second or third time around, you won’t miss a beat.
One of the benefits of growing your own is the access you’ll gain to super-fresh, premium quality herbs that are picked when they are at their aromatic, flavorful best. Every herb as well as their individual parts have a peak that is both seasonal and also down to the time of day. The following guidelines will become intuitive through experience and practice.
• The prime time to harvest herbs, especially fresh foliage and flowers, is early in the day when the aromatic, volatile oils are strongest. Begin after the dew has evaporated, but before the plant has begun to bake in the midday sun.
• If, like me, you are not an early riser, hold off until a day when it is overcast but not wet, or wait until the evening after the sun has gone down and the volatile oils have had a chance to make a comeback. Bring a flashlight!
• Excess moisture reduces flavor and encourages mold to form. Snip small quantities on a rainy afternoon for immediate use, but wait until a dry day to harvest large quantities for drying and preserving.
• If the noon hour on a hot and sunny day is really the only time you can harvest, go for it. Slightly “overcooked” herbs are better than none at all.
You can usually get two decently sized harvests from annuals such as cilantro and dill, although if you cut back too hard on the first go, you may lose your chance at flowers and seeds. Pull the entire plant out if you plan to plant something else in its place. Otherwise, cut it off above the soil line and leave the roots intact so that they can break down and nourish the soil through the off-season.
• To encourage and increase healthy leaf growth, remove flower buds as they appear. Producing flowers, fruit, and eventually seeds takes energy away from leaf production and reduces the quality of the herb.
• Track your plants’ season in order to harvest and preserve leaves when they’re at their peak. Pick cool-season herbs such as chives and cilantro in the springtime. Hardy perennials including mint, oregano, and marjoram are generally at their best by midsummer.
• Most perennials produce two big crops, although plants like sage need a year to get established and then really “give ’er” (as we Canadians like to say), growing big and abundant in the second year and beyond.
• Biennials like parsley only produce leaves in their first year. When you start to see flowers, collect as much as you can because the plant’s time is almost up.
• Flower crops such as zucchini blooms and violets are a special treat with a limited blooming season—stay on top of their due date to avoid missing out entirely.
• Watch for a smaller, second flush in the early fall from repeat bloomers such as pansy and viola, dianthus, roses, and lavender.
• A few plants, including ‘Sacred’ basil, calendula, marigold, and mint never seem to stop blooming once they start.
Consult this chart to determine approximately when each herb comes into its best season.
Arugula
Borage (sprouts and leaves)
Calendula (leaves)
Chamomile (leaves)
Chives (leaves and flowers)
Cilantro (leaves and flowers)
Cress
Dianthus (flowers)
Green garlic
Hops (young shoots)
Lemon balm
Mustard (leaves)
Onion (leaves)
Pansy and viola (flowers)
Sorrel
Sweet cicely
Violet (flowers and leaves)
Amaranth (leaves)
Anise hyssop (leaves)
Arugula (flowers)
Basil
Bee balm
Borage
Chamomile
Chervil
Cilantro (seeds)
Dill
Elderflower
Fennel (leaves)
Garlic scapes
Ginger (leaves)
Hyssop (flowers)
Lavender
Lemongrass (stem)
Lemon verbena
Lovage
Marigold
Mint
Mustard (flowers)
Nasturtium
Onion
Purslane
Rosemary
Rose petals
Sage (flowers)
Savory
Scented geranium (flowers)
Stevia
Sweet woodruff
Tarragon
Thyme (flowers)
Tuberous begonia
Zucchini blossoms
Amaranth (seeds)
Anise hyssop (flowers)
Chili peppers
Dill (flowers and seeds)
Fennel (flowers, seeds, and bulbs)
Garlic (bulbs)
Garlic chives (flowers)
Ginger (roots)
Hops (flowers)
Horseradish
Juniper berries
Lovage (seeds)
Nasturtium (seeds)
Parsley (flowers, seeds, and root)
Rose hips
Shiso
Bay
Citrus (leaves)
Lemongrass (leaves and stems)
Marjoram
Oregano
Parsley
Sage
Salad burnet
Scented geranium (leaves)
Thyme
When you’re ready to harvest, choose the healthiest-looking parts of the plant to keep and use. Discard anything that is diseased or pest-infected. Use sharp, clean tools that can make a tidy cut without ripping or tearing the stems. I prefer to use small hand clippers and scissors on small, leafy plants and flowers. Your fingers are the best tools for pinching back tender, new growth. Shears are only really necessary when the stems are thick and mature. A small hand trowel is handy for digging up roots.
• Always cut sprigs, never individual leaves, or you’ll end up with a stripped plant and no new growth. Grassy plants like chives and lemongrass and plants that form a rosette such as sorrel are the exception.
• When cutting from bushy plants such as sage, lemon verbena, or rosemary, avoid cutting into the old, woodier growth. If you cut too far, it can take ages to come back and in some cases won’t come back at all.
• Snip from all over the plant to even out the shape and encourage new growth.
• Harvest flowers when they are new and their quality is high. Try to catch them just after the buds form, but before they fully open.
• Remove the entire flower, including a piece of the stem. In some cases this will give the plant a chance to produce more. Don’t just pluck a few petals.
• When harvesting squash blossoms and other flowers for stuffing, look for blooms that are wide open or just beginning to open. To remove, cut about an inch into the stem with a pair of scissors. Unopened blossoms will open in a vase of cool water and keep that way for a day.
• Collect immature seeds from coriander, dill, parsley, and fennel seeds when they are still tender, green, and newly formed. Use them up right away, as they will dry and turn brown quickly.
• Harvest mature seeds from dill, fennel, coriander, lovage, and anise when they start to change color and easily fall off the plant. Cut the stems right back; don’t bother trying to harvest individual seeds off the plant.
• Hold a box underneath large seed heads as you cut them to avoid losing falling seeds.
• Roots generally reach their prime at the end of a long growing season, once they’ve had a chance to mature and develop their flavor in the soil. The top growth of the plant is typically on the way out by this point.
• Wait until the soil has been dry for a few days, especially when digging bulbs like garlic.
• Dig well around the base of the plant to avoid bruising or piercing roots and bulbs. Use a small hand trowel, your hands, or a fork to lift them out of the soil. Tip containers onto a plastic sheet for easy access.
• Shake and wash off the soil from horseradish and other firm roots, but do not wash garlic, onions, and other bulbs you intend to store.
• Cut off the part of the plant that grew above the soil line and trim off root hairs and small side roots.
How to Harvest Based on Growth Habit
UMBELLIFERS (dill, fennel, parsley, lovage, chervil): Cut at the base of the stem, or if there are branches (fennel and dill), cut just above a junction where the branch meets the main stem. Cut from the outside of the plant. New growth occurs in the center.
GRASSES (lemongrass, chives) and rosettes (sorrel, dandelion, salad burnet): Remove the entire leaf, cutting about an inch or so above the base of the plant so that it can regrow.
• Wrap lots of butcher twine, colorful string, raffia, or embroidery thread around the stem ends to tie them together.
• Bundle the herbs together and package them up in a pretty piece of paper, just like you’d find in a floral shop. Use a piece of parchment or newsprint with a short length of jute tied around the bottom, or make it colorful using patterned wrapping paper.
• Wrap a piece of cheesecloth or scrap fabric around the bottom first, and secure it in place with another strip of fabric or twine tied into a knot or bow.
Rosemary, thyme, marjoram, lavender, chervil
USES: SOUPS, POULTRY, CASSEROLES
Oregano, bay, marjoram, thyme
USES: MEXICAN SOUPS AND STEWS
Rosemary, bay, sage, thyme, parsley
USES: STUFFING, STEWS, HEARTY SOUPS
Calendula, dill, cilantro, basil, purslane, sorrel, parsley, violets, chive blossoms, salad burnet
USES: SEE HERE
A mixture of one type of herb, in different varieties. For example, three different varieties of basil or mint.
‘Mojito’ Mint, ‘Purple’ shiso, rosemary, basil, tarragon, lemon balm
USES: MOJITOS, MARTINIS, HERB-INFUSED VODKA (SEE HERE AND HERE)
Chamomile, peppermint, ‘Ginger’ mint, bee balm, lemon verbena, lavender, lemon balm
USES: SEE HERE
Chili peppers, lemongrass, mint, ‘Sacred’ basil, ‘Thai’ basil
USES: PAD THAI, THAI SHRIMP BASIL, LEMONGRASS CHICKEN, TOM YUM SOUP