The value of growing herbs

I love growing herbs in my garden.  They provide extra nutrition, add so much flavour to my food, make lovely teas, are medicine, and add beauty (think gorgeous pink chive flowers or mini blue rosemary flowers).  A lot of them I just leave, cut back and they come back for free the next year. They are very low maintenance as some herbs need very little watering. Herbs can be grown in various sized pots, inside or outside, and so a garden isn’t even a necessity.  When I rented a flat and didn’t have a garden, my window sills were full of herbs, adding a lovely aroma to the room.

Another reason to grow herbs is that a lot of jars and packets of herbs that you can purchase in the supermarket are adulterated with hidden nasties.  If, like me, you are growing any crops in your garden, herbs attract pollinators into your garden, and can also repel pests, or attract insects that will eat the pests. Let me try to entice you to grow some herbs this year, (that will return every year) by writing  about some of my easy favourites, and how I use them.

Mint

This is lovely made into a tea or a cooling drink.  I also use it to garnish desserts eg Lemon Posset, it is lovely cooked with potatoes or peas, and will make mint sauce.  The shredded leaves are nice in a fruit salad, used to decorate ice cubes for drinks, and are lovely with courgette in a soup.  I infuse them in milk for chocolate, mint rice pudding, make refreshing iced lollies from mint. I have used it with peas in a pesto to have with spaghetti or spiralised courgette.

The roots are very invasive and so I always grow it in pots to stop it taking over.  Every couple of years I divide the roots in the pots so that I get a free pot to give a way, or to grow more.  My mint dies back over the winter months, but then grows back the following year.  Cuttings can be taken in spring time so that they can be make lots of new plants for free.

Rosemary.

I have lots of rosemary bushes in my front and my back garden.  All of them were taken from cuttings from one plant that I bought.  I have often given rosemary plants away as presents, as well.

Rosemary is a kind of shrub and can grow quite big if planted in the ground, but can be kept small in pots.  It is an ever green and so looks nice all year.  I harvest it all year as well.  I use it to flavour meat (especially lamb, beef or chicken), in bread, and use it in a homemade pot potpourri.  It is nice with roast potatoes, in stews, and in butter.  I sometimes put it in my natural cleaning solution, make a rinse to strengthen my hair, and use it in my Christmas wreaths.  It makes a healthy, nice tea, and is lovely with salmon.

Sage

Sage is another herb that can be used right throughout winter.  In fact we make our Christmas stuffing with it.  Mr S likes the young leaves fried in butter.  The Romans and the Greeks used it a lot in their medicines, in fact I made a sage and honey cough syrup a number of years ago.  Sage goes well with chicken and pork and we often put it with apple in our home made sausages.  I also like to put it in my dumplings if making a pork and cider casserole.  Sweet potato and sage gnocchi is nice as well.  I take cuttings if I want more plants.

Marjoram

Some people think that this is the same as Oregano, but it isn’t.  It is now, however, classed as an oregano.  Marjoram can be found all year but is most prevalent in the summer.  It has a mild spicy flavour and I use it a lot in Italian type dishes.  I find oregano has a more bitter and oily flavour.  Marjoram likes to grow in sunny areas of the garden and I only water it lightly.  We often use it instead of basil, especially in and on pasta dishes.  I also use it in my dried mixed herbs, and on a pizza.  We often like to add it to eggs, add it to salad, it is nice with chicken, pork and beef, and I find that it complements winter squashes.  I divide the plant if I want to fill more pots.

Thyme

This is another herb that I use throughout the whole year.  It loves a sunny spot in the summer.  I sprinkle it on roasted vegetables or squash in the winter, put it into my dried mixed herb mix, and use it to favour soup, stews, fish  and meat.  It is lovely in a pizza sauce or pasta dish and I have even made a lemon and thyme sorbet.   If we make an omelette  or scramble eggs I will often go out to the garden, pick some leaves, wash, and sprinkle them in whilst cooking.  It just lifts our breakfast to the next level.  I take cuttings to multiply my plants.

Chives

Lemon Balm

I mainly use lemon balm for making tea.   I have, however, made it in to a pesto and added it to salad an fruit salads.  Lemon balm adds a wonderful flavour to chicken and fish, and if rubbed on your skin, is even supposed to act as an insect repellent.  I have not tried it, but a friend makes ice cream from it. Lemon Balm is a relative of mint and so can be invasive, but a fresh plant can easily be made by dividing the root system.

Most of my herbs have come initially from supermarket herbs that I have propagated, or from cuttings that I have taken from friends.  Starting a herb garden does not need to cost anything. How do you use your herbs?  I preserve my herbs so that those that I can use them all year.  If you want to find out more about preserving them, you may be interested in the link below.

Preserving herbs