Growing Delicious Herbs in Your Garden

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.

Garden Mint

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.