Garden Designer & Plantswoman | Bel Grierson | Loughborough, Leicestershire
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Garden Inspiration, Expertise and Advice

Growing Delicious Herbs in Your Garden

25/9/2020

 
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Chives
As we’ve all been forced to spend more time at home and less time socialising this year, many of us are reconnecting with our gardens and creating tasty food to feed our loved ones. One way of combining the too is to grow your own produce. Herbs must be the best crop if you’re looking for a low maintenance option, where by you have little input but can regularly harvest fresh and delicious leaves as and when you need them.
I love to cook & popping out and pick something to flavour a casserole, curry or sauce is a real treat. I tend to use the hardy evergreen herbs like Rosemary & Sage in the winter months & the softer perennial & tender herbs like Basil, Mint and Coriander in the spring & summer.
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Garden Mint
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Sage

Many of the culinary herbs we use come from warmer climes so they need some loving care if they are going to survive and thrive in our cooler and wetter environment.  Most like a sunny spot with free draining soil.  I added some horticultural grit to my clay-loam soil when I first prepared the patch to help rain water drain through and avoid root rot.  Growing in terracotta pots can also be highly successful as they naturally drain well and can be filled with suitable free draining compost too.
Shrubby herbs - e.g. Bay, Rosemary, Sage & Thyme. These I grow in containers so I can control their growth and give them really free draining soil.   I tend to grow a Rosemary & Sage plant for about 3-4 years until it gets really woody then I start again with a fresh plant.  These bushy herbs are perfect for slow cooked dishes like stews and roasted vegetables. 
Hardy perennial herbs - Chives, Mint, Tarragon & Oregano for example will happily reappear each spring and provide handfuls of tasty soft leaves through until autumn.  These are the herbs I use to flavour a dish towards the end of cooking to give a fresh zingy lift to the dish.  They grow happily in my heavy soil, with a trim back & a handful of fertiliser in spring. Every few years a lift and split them during spring, dividing them with a spade & replanting the fresh vigorous pieces.
Hardy annual herbs- Coriander, Rocket & Parsley are sown from seed in pots during the spring (or bought ready grown) & can then be planted in the herb bed alongside the perennials as long as they have a drink occasionally in the hottest summer months.  Although Parsley is actually a perennial I tend to start with new plants each year as they are prone to going to seed in their second year.  With their tender leaves these annual herbs are best raw or added just before serving to preserve their flavour.
Tender herbs
Basil is wonderful with its hit of aniseed and is delicious with pasta or salad.  I grow this from seed alongside my tomatoes in the green house so that it benefits from the heat of the greenhouse.  Lemon verbena is a slightly tender shrubby herb which smells amazing.  The intense lemony fragrance is wonderful in a summer punch with strawberries. I grow it in a terracotta pot on the patio and then move the pot in to the greenhouse for the winter.
It has been tricky to source herb plant during lock down, but online specialists and local garden centres and nurseries now have them back in stock and there’s a great range to choose from. I ordered a few Thyme and Sage plants recently and they arrived in the post ready for me to pot them up.  I hope you are inspired to create your own herb patch / pots to provide fresh pickings from your garden.
If you are looking to transform your garden and include a herb patch or possibly a kitchen garden get I touch with Bel to see how she can help. Contact Bel here or call 07506 750250

Bel Grierson

Expert Plantswoman and Garden Designer with 20 years experience in horticulture.  Bel loves to share her knowledge and enthusiasm with those with gardens large and small.


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    Author: Bel Grierson

    Expert Plantswoman and Garden Designer with 20 years experience in horticulture.  Bel loves to share her knowledge and enthusiasm with those with gardens large and small.

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"If you are looking for advice on your garden or a new designs then look no further than Bel Grierson. We have used her on several aspects of our garden to lower the maintenance and update the planting with spectacular results. Bel is easy to work with and is totally in tune with all our requirements."

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"Bel has delivered a delightful garden with a design that has transformed a shallow plot surrounded by fences, into a garden full of interest.  Bel listened carefully to our concerns and gave her total attention to each step of the way." ​​

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​​"Our 20 year old garden was looking tired and boring. No colour and a mishmash of plants that were past their sell-by date. We had no idea what to do to rescue the situation as we knew very little about what plants would do well. Then we found Bel. Our garden is transformed; beautiful colour that just keeps coming all through the year, easy maintenance and a joy to sit and look at with an appropriate glass in one hand. Bel interpreted our thoughts perfectly and has produced an extraordinary result. She is patient with non-gardeners, knowledgeable and highly professional. Not afraid to get her hands dirty and endlessly helpful. I simply cannot recommend her too highly."

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"Bel redesigned and planted our garden this summer. It has transformed it from dark and dingy to a fresh open space. Bel is a pleasure to work with, friendly and helpful, full of ideas and always ready to listen to what you want and find the best way of delivering it. Recommended!"

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​"Bel provided good advice and warm, friendly and professional support at all stages of our garden transformation. Her knowledge about plants and her design ideas gave us confidence from the outset. We are delighted with the result, and now look forward to enjoying our new garden in the months and years to come."

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"Bel has recently redesigned a large area in my garden which was previously a 'wilderness'. I was very pleased with the design that she came up with - it was clear that she had paid attention to what I had said I wanted and understood my style. Great communication throughout the process and now that the planting is finished I am looking forward to next spring and watching it develop."

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Thank you very much Bel for your design to renovate our back garden. It’s been great to work with you, we really appreciated spending time with you to hear your ideas and develop those with you for a new vision for our garden. We love the pond and wild at the back of the garden and the new plants you’ve sourced have all settled in very well and we are excited to see how they will grow!

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