Herbs
For Flavor and For Aroma

Your own herbs will give you double satisfaction:
In gardening and in cooking

Some are annuals started from seed each year.

A few are biennials.

Others are perennials (some winter-hardy, others tender to frost).

They are almost carefree.
Put them where they’re handy to pick and sniff. Create an ornamental bed near your back door, place pots on the patio, or fill paths on vegetable area.

Requirements are simple
Herbs will thrive in sunshine and need good but not highly fertilized soil. Ground and culture that grows satisfactory vegetables and flowers will be fine. An area 6x10 feet will supply all a family of 5 can use, allowing 3 or 4 plants of each variety. Space them 15 to 18 inches apart.

You can grow some indoors. When it gets too cold, bring young plants inside; and treat them like other house plants. You’ll especially enjoy parsley, sweet basil, sweet marjoram, and chives.

Harvesting for storage
The flavor of herbs is in the oil contained in tiny glands in their leaves. Because that oil content is highest as plants begin to bloom, that’s the best time to harvest. Choose a sunny morning after dew is off the leaves. Hang stems in bunches to dry, or spread on screens or trays. Keep in airy place out of sunlight until leaves are crackly dry. Strip off leaves, or rub them through a sieve to turn them to powder form and store in airtight containers.

Seed heads are ready to harvest when color changes to brown and stalks look dry. Cut on a hot dry day, and spread on a cloth-covered tray in a dry spot. Store in tight containers.

Facts About Some Favorites

Chives - Winter-hardy perennial; member of the onion family; it grows 10 inches high from a small bulb. Leaves are chopped for flavoring of salads, and cheese. The plant makes an attractive flower for perennial borders with clumps of low lavender blooms at iris time. The neat tufts of foliage make good edgings for paths or beds.

Dill - Annual used chiefly in flavoring pickles. Feathery aromatic foliage and flowers resemble those of wild carrot. Use leaves only when fresh, seed heads either fresh or dried.

Use young leaves or branch tips fresh or dry of peppermint or spearmint.

Parsley - Biennial grows to 5 inches high. Sow seeds inside in early spring and transplant outdoors when weather warms. Parsley makes attractive border for paths. Young plants can be potted for indoors. Leaves are used, green, for garnish and in salads; dry for flavoring.

Savory - There are two kinds. Winter Savory is a low shrubby perennial (one of the plants used to edge the Mount Vernon Herb Garden). Summer Savory is an annual 18 inches high. Leaves of both plants are used the same way, though their flavor differs slightly. Good with green beans.

Tarragon - Best known for its distinctive flavor in vinegar. It’s a bushy, 18-inch-high perennial grown as an annual in cold climates. Buy young plants.

The aromatic needle-like leaves are used dry or fresh for seasoning. Buy plants.

Sweet marjoram - 2-foot high perennial grown as an annual in cold climates. Scented leaves in powder form flavor meats, casseroles, and salads. Start from seeds or roots.

Sage - Gray-leaved shrubby perennials grow 2 feet high. Start from seed or plants. Use leaves fresh, dry, or powdered to season meats, stuffing, stews, and also for tea.

Thyme - Bushy or trailing perennial often grown in rockeries. Start from seed or plants. Use dried young leaves as seasoning for meats, dried flowers in sweet sachets.

Caraway: Seeds and leaves are used to flavor foods; roots are cooked as vegetable. Plant is a hardy biennial, producing seed the second year. Starts from seed, usually self-sows.

Time to experiment

Now that you have your very own herbs, use them in cooking. Try different combination, become an expert, a real chef!