POTS & PLANTS
/GROW YOUR OWN KITCHEN-READY HERBS
Fresh Cut, Dried, or Frozen, They’ll Be There For You
by Beth Lopez
Every garden I have visited so far has had one thing in common; the gardeners all grew herbs.
When there is limited space for your garden, herbs give you the best bang for your buck. It would be hard to grow enough produce to meet all your needs, but in a small space you can grow herbs to use all year. Grow the herbs that are important to you, that express your cooking style. Grow new and unusual herbs just to find if you like them. The examples I will be presenting are certainly not an exhaustive list of what is possible.
A bunch of dried thyme is handy to have when the pot’s a-bubblng!
Some can be planted directly into the garden as seeds every spring. Some need to be planted as seedlings when it’s warm enough. If you have figured out how to start seeds indoors early in the year, you will have seedlings to plant out when spring arrives. It can be very rewarding to start seeds in little pots warm under special grow lights. However, if you find this process difficult, plants are easy to find at garden centers or farmers’ markets when the time is right to transplant to your garden.
Some herbs will come back year after year, surviving our Vancouver winters. Oregano, sage, chives, mint, rosemary and thyme are perennials in our zone and will keep growing for you every year. They die back in the fall and come back in the spring. This past winter, we had a cold snap with temperatures more suited to the BC interior and my potted mint and rosemary were killed by the cold. They had survived several winters until this one. The oregano, sage and thyme in the deep planter survived. Roots in pots are more susceptible to dramatic temperature shifts.
If you have a large planter or plot, mint is not a good choice to include in your herb garden. It is aggressive and will spread, crowding out other plants. It should be contained in its own pot.
I sowed seeds this spring for dill and summer savory which are annuals. These will have enough time over the summer to be ready to harvest before killing frosts set in.
The herbs that need to be set out as plants after frost include basil, parsley and cilantro - if you are one of those who enjoy it.
I also have patchouli, which I ordered as plugs from Richter’s in Ontario last winter. The small plants are shipped when the time is right in boxes and must be planted out as soon as they arrive. Patchouli is a hot weather plant that won’t survive outside in Vancouver winters, but it is quite happy to pass the winter on my windowsill and move back outside in the spring. This isn’t an edible herb (although I read some claims for it as medicinal) but it’s a great addition to dried pot-pourri and a great conversation starter.
You can grow your own bay leaves, but you’ll need room for their tall bushes.
I also got some plugs for Mexican oregano plants. Botanically, they are not really related to the Mediterranean oregano. The Spanish found the plant used in Mexico when they arrived and realized it was a good substitute for the oregano important in their Spanish recipes. There is a subtle taste difference, and if you’re an enthusiastic Mexican cook it’s worth growing some.
You can also grow your own bay leaves, but you’ll need enough room for a four foot bush or tree. The bay laurel can be grown in a container and kept pruned to keep it from taking over your space.
There are interesting variations of many herbs. Thyme comes in several varieties and I just planted some lemon thyme, which may or may not taste of lemon. I’ll have to wait and see. Last year I had pineapple sage, which did start with the flavor of pineapple but it soon lost out to the strong taste of sage. It was an annual. Chocolate mint doesn’t really taste of chocolate, in case you wondered. The leaves just have a brown cast to them. The possibilities for new experiences abound.
I love to go out as I’m preparing dinner and snip off a few leaves if the recipe demands, or if I think it will work. It becomes an adventure to find new ways to use these interesting flavors.
Most herbs thrive with regular pruning to keep plants squat and bushy instead of getting tall and spindly. Some of this will happen naturally as you harvest enough for the salad or stew you’re making, but a couple times over the summer, you might have to cut back more than you can use right then. That’s when you gather enough to last over the winter.
A pinch of mint is a lovely thing … in vanilla ice cream!
The majority of herbs are perfect for drying, which is the easiest way to preserve them. Cut a handful of herbs and lay them across your palm with stem ends facing the same way. With a piece of garden twine, wrap the stem ends a couple times and tie them tightly together, leaving one long end on the string. Take the bunch of herbs and swish it through a sink or bucket of clear water. I will add a piece of tape to the string where I write the kind of herb; it’s harder to tell them apart when dried. Then, hang them up, inside or outside, wherever you can tie them using the long tail of string and let them hang upside down. They need good air circulation. If you hang them outside put them under some cover to protect from rain. Check them after a week or two. They are ready for storage when they are dry and crunchy.
I strip the dried leaves over a piece of parchment, compost the stems and package the herbs in plastic bags or small jars.
The standard dried herbs that you would buy all work this way - sage, rosemary, thyme, mint, dill (seeds and fronds are usually separated and can both be used). These herbs all maintain their flavor in the dry state. If substituting dry for fresh, use less; they are concentrated.
However, two herbs that really don’t work dried are basil and parsley. All of their wonderful flavor is lost in drying and you might as well add sawdust. The easiest way to preserve these herbs is freezing. You can wash and chop and then freeze in ice cube trays with a little water. The whole cube can be added to cooked sauces or soups, but obviously won’t work like fresh basil or parsley sprinkled over as garnish or in a salad. I usually make a batch of pesto when I have a glut of basil and freeze it in small jars.
If you have more than enough for yourself, pesto or dried herbs from your garden can be packaged and included in Christmas gifts or as hostess gifts to fellow cooks.
Finally, I offer two of my favorite ways to use my herbs.
Mint ice cream made with real mint is incredible. Using a standard homemade vanilla ice cream recipe, put a large handful of fresh or dried mint leaves into the heated milk called for in the recipe and let it steep for 20 minutes. Strain the leaves out and use the milk as directed.
If you have ever made a nut brittle, I suggest one small addition. I grind dried rosemary leaves in my spice grinder, because who likes biting down on the pine needle that is rosemary? Add some ground rosemary to the sugar syrup when making brittle. You’ll thank me.
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Do you have a garden in the West End you would like to share - a curb garden, a boulevard garden, a round-about garden, a building, roof, or patio garden, a community plot, or something entirely new? Please contact me if you want me to write about your garden. beth.twej@gmail.com
