Growing Herbs for Cooking

Cuisine Herbs
If you cook with herbs then you might have already thought about growing your own herbs for cooking. It's easier than you might think as well. You can learn how to set up a small herb garden, how to cultivate and prepare herbs as well as what herbs to use with certain foods. In no time at all, you can become an herb specialist and your food will be all the better for it!

There are many different types of herbs such as culinary herbs, aromatic herbs, medicinal and much more. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden Handbook on Herbs lists 73 different types of herbs. There are many common and non-common herbs and if you are a beginner culinary herb gardener, there are some that may be easier for you to start with. Parsley, thyme, savory, marjoram, mint, chives and basil are some common herbs used in cooking.

Herbs for Beginners

If you are a beginner herb gardener, you might not know what herbs to plant since there are so many to choose from. It is a good idea to get a variety of flavors and uses in cooking so that you are not stuck with all one kind of herb. You can choose from:

• Strong herbs such as rosemary, sage and winter savory
• Accent herbs such as dill, mint, sweet basil, sweet marjoram and thyme
• Blending herbs such as chives, summer savory and parsley

These are great to start out with and over time you might want to move into other interests and less common herbs. Remember that there are annuals, biennials and perennials to choose from. The climate will also effect the type of herb you choose. Annuals include anise, basil, chervil, coriander, dill and summer savory. Some samples of Biennials are caraway and parsley. Perennials are chives, fennel, lovage, marjoram, mint, tarragon, thyme and winter savory.

Of course this is not a complete list but it gives you an idea. Annuals are herbs that will bloom only for one season and then they die. Biennials live for two seasons but they only bloom on the second season and perennials bloom each season once they have been established so they are very popular.

Preparation and Drying

Once you have grown the herbs and you are ready to actually use them, it requires some preparation. You have to dry the herbs before you use them in cooking. Most herbs reach their peak just before flowering so you can collect them then for drying and storage.

Cut the herbs in the early morning when the dew has just dried. You should cut annuals off at ground level and perennials about a third way down the stem. Now wash the herbs with the leaves on the stem in cold water to remove dirt, dust, bugs, etc. You can drain them on towels or by hanging upside down in the sun to let the water evaporate.

Next you will strip all the leaves off the stalk leaving only about the top six inches. Be sure you also remove any blossoms. You know that the herbs have to be properly dried before storing and certain hers such as mint and basil need to be dried quickly or they mold. One way of natural air drying is to hang them in the dark in paper bags. Be sure to hang upside down because this lets essential oils flow from the stems to the leaves.

The room should be about 20 to 25 degrees and be well ventilated and dust and dirt free. It normally takes about 1 to 2 weeks for the herbs to be completely dry and feel crumbly.

If you need to dry quickly you can use an oven. Place the leaves or seeds on a cookie sheet and cook on low heat (less than 90 degrees C) for about 2 to 4 hours. You can also put them in the microwave for about 3 minutes, mixing them around every 30 seconds so they dry evenly. Once your herbs are properly dried you can store them until use.

Which Herbs for Which Foods

There are so many different types of herbs that it may be hard to know which herbs are good for which foods. There are no set rules for this but some general guidelines are set below.

Basil is good for tomatoes and other vegetables as well as fish, meat, poultry, potatoes, cheese, garlic and summer fruit. Thyme is good on meats as well as soups and stew and vegetable dishes. Nasturtium is a good garnish for salads, entrees and desserts and sage is good on meat and fish dishes. Oregano is best on Italian dishes and dill is good for many things such as chicken, fish, beef, asparagus, beans, beets, carrots, cabbage, corn, cucumbers, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, breads, eggs and cheese. Mint is also often used for flavor in drinks and sauces. A good rule of thumb is to remember that you don't want the herbs to over power the food, and you don't want the herb to get lost in the flavor of the dish you are using it in. A more pungent or stronger herb marries well with a more robust meat or food and a more subtle herb goes well with a lighter dish.

Herbs to grow indoors

Here are some of the herbs which will grow well indoors. Choose as many of these as you can find room for. They will bring fragrance to your home, exciting taste to your foods, and a little fillip to your imagination.

ANISE
Hung over your bed, anise may not make you as fair and youthful as our ancestors believed, but surely the new interest which it brings to foods will keep your appetite young. Although anise is generally grown for its sweet seed, the fresh leaves are appetizing in fruit salads, soups, stews and herb teas.

Start anise from seed or bring in a young plant from the garden and let it have plenty of sunlight.

BASIL
This herb grows particularly well in the kitchen, for it doesn't mind the heat. Keep the plants trim by using the leaves generously in salads, stews, ground meats, poultry stuffings and fruit cups. It is a necessity in any dish containing tomato, or with fresh tomatoes. If you have enough basil, sprays are beautiful in bouquets.

Start basil from seeds or bring in healthy small plants from the garden. You can put three or four light green, smooth-leaved basil plants in the same container. In the spring I set the basil plants back in the garden. These plants can be counted on to produce seed. This is not always true of those raised the first year from seed, because our growing season is too short for seeds to ripen thoroughly.

BORAGE
Although borage is more attractive in the garden than in the house, a pot containing three or four plants will furnish young cucumber-flavored leaves for salads and cool drinks.

If it blooms, the blue flowers are worth the space given this somewhat coarse, hairy-leafed plant. Borage loses its flavor when dried, so use its young, tender leaves. Start the borage from seed or bring in young plants from the garden.

CHERVIL
This fine-leaved herb resembles parsley in looks but not in taste. It is too lovely to look at and too good to eat to be left out of the kitchen herb garden. Bring in a plant and use the fresh anise-flavored leaves for garnishing and to season sauces, soups and salads. The white blossoms are small and fragile. It will germinate rapidly and may be grown from seed.

CHIVES
A clump of chives may be bought at almost any grocery store. If you have both an outdoor and indoor garden, divide a large plant and bring part of it to the kitchen window. The spikey leaves are excellent wherever a delicate onion taste is desired.

DILL
The Orientals used dill in brewing up charms. We “charm” our guests by using its seeds in pickles, fish sauces and salads, but Europeans use the leaves, too, in cooking. Why not try them?

PARSLEY
This herb, one of the oldest known to man, is as popular today as always. When grown in a sunny window in a glazed or metal pot so that the roots will not dry out, it will thrive for a long time. Use rather small plants, for the taproots of mature plants are long. Parsley does better in a cool temperature. Do not use fertilizer. Although parsley will do well inside, it will not be as strong and full as when it grows outdoors. The curly-leafed variety is the prettiest, the flat-leafed type the tastiest.

If you do not have a plant to bring in from the garden, it should be easy to get one from a nursery.

ROSE GERANIUM
Best-known and easiest to find of the fragrant-leaved geraniums is the rose geranium. The leaves are useful in potpourris, sachets and in bouquets, and they are soothing in the tub. A bit of leaf in a cup of tea gives an indescribable fragrance. If you don't know how to use it in apple jelly and cakes.

Start new plants with cuttings from an established plant. Since they are sensitive to cold, you must bring rose geraniums indoors in the winter.

ROSEMARY
Rosemary, the herb of poetry and legend, is not easy to grow, but it is worth the trouble. Grown in a pot as a house plant, it may be less than a foot tall and its lower branches will fall gracefully over the sides of the pot. The leaves resemble long, oval pine needles, particularly when dried. The leaves of rosemary are more fragrant than the flowers, and when gently crushed, they will give off the warm odor of pine.

Rosemary is a tropical plant, and it must be cut back, potted and brought indoors before frost. Your first plant should be purchased from a nursery as it is hard to start rosemary from seed.

SAGE
If you can find a small sage bush, it may be brought indoors. Its furry grey-green leaves are attractive and its fragrance pleasant. Although you will probably use sage which you dried during the summer, a growing plant gives a nice variation in hue to your indoor garden.

TARRAGON
Tarragon must be brought in for the winter in most climates, and may be set back in the garden in the spring. Early in the summer, start new plants from cuttings, for tarragon does not set seed which will germinate. Plunge the new plants in the earth, pots and all, and let them grow during the summer. When the first heavy frost causes the leaves to fall, you can trim back the stems and transfer the plants to larger pots for wintering indoors. Its young leaves are delicious in eggs, fish, meat and poultry dishes and salads. Plants must be purchased at a nursery.

THYME
Thyme will thrive in your window. Use it sparingly, in poultry stuffings, stuffed peppers, onions, zucchini squash, in meat and fish dishes. Start thyme from seed, and make sure that it has a sunny spot in which to grow.

Basic Leaf Mold

Instead of carting leaves to the curb, recycle them the way nature does, by turning them into an invaluable soil builder. Leaf mold greatly improves the structure and water-holding capacity of soil. It also creates the perfect conditions for the community of beneficial organisms that dwell in your soil, and it's great in potting mix.

There's really no excuse not to make leaf mold. It's free, easy-to-make, and readily available. If you don't have enough leaves in your own yard, trade raking duty with your neighbors in exchange for theirs. Before you use leaves that have fallen on your neighbors' lawns, be sure to ask them if the grass has recently been sprayed with synthetic chemicals. If so, don't use the leaves. Grass clippings with chemical residues can get mixed in with the leaves and contaminate them, says William Brinton, Ph.D., director of the Woods End Research Laboratory, in Maine. Still, Dr. Brinton explains, chemical contamination is not a significant concern with leaf mold because its lengthy decomposition time allows for chemicals to break down as well. Do not use leaves that have been raked into the street for municipal pickup, because they may contain lots of sand, fuel, or oil residues.

Do-It-Yourself Leaf Mold
Making leaf mold couldn't be easier. Start by ensuring that the leaves are thoroughly moistened, says Abigail Maynard, Ph.D., of the Connecticut Agriculture Experiment Station. Dehydrated leaves begin to lose nitrogen, and this hinders the decomposition process. Here are two ways to transform leaves into leaf mold.

• The lazy gardener. Pile leaves in a sheltered, inconspicuous area of your yard and leave them for two years.
• The ambitious gardener. Make a 3-by-3-foot leaf mold "cage" from stakes and chicken wire. Speed up the leaves' rate of decomposition by running a lawn mower over the pile a few times. To ensure even decomposition, Dr. Maynard suggests, turn the pile occasionally.

Using Leaf Mold
Now, here's how to use this nutrient-rich soil conditioner.

• Peat substitute. Use leaf mold in place of peat because it has similar qualities and it's a renewable resource.
• Moisture-retaining mulch. Leaf mold can hold up to 500 times its own weight in water. Place it around (but not touching) the crowns of annuals, perennials, and vegetables to help them maintain moisture during summer.
• Soil conditioner. It's easier for roots to penetrate soil and take up nutrients when the soil is not as dense. Dr. Maynard and her colleagues in Connecticut completed a 12-year study on the role leaf mold plays in changing soil characteristics. They found that garden soil amended with leaf mold had a 20 percent lower bulk density than soil to which leaf mold was not added.
• Drought-proof soil. The Connecticut study also found that soils amended with leaf mold increased their water-holding capacity by almost 50 percent. The amended soil could hold nearly a two-week supply of water for vegetables. Caution: This water-holding capacity can be a problem for seeds planted in early spring, because they may rot in the cool, wet soil. Dr. Maynard suggests planting extra seeds to compensate for seeds lost to rot.
• Seedling mix. Mix one part leaf mold with one part well-aged compost or worm castings for a nutrient-rich potting mixture for seedlings.

What Is It?
Leaf mold: Leaves that have fully decomposed over a long time.

Leaf compost: Compost made by mixing leaves with other organic materials.

Humus: The dark, spongy material created when microorganisms break down organic matter. Leaf mold and leaf compost both eventually turn into humus.

Organic Gardener Philosophy - Reap the rewards of going organic

The benefits of organic gardening are clear, perhaps so simple and straightforward that gardeners used to complicated explanations must dial down their expectations and adopt an attitude closer to those of previous generations.

The earth matters. What we do in our own backyards matters. The food that we put in our bodies matters. And it matters especially to the smallest residents of the planet, birds and bees and other critters whose numbers are dwindling; children, whose bodies take in more pesticides relative to body weight than adults. The American National Academy of Sciences estimates that 50 percent of lifetime pesticide exposure occurs during the first five years of life.

Gardeners don't have to contribute to the grim statistics. They can learn to follow the advice of J.I. Rodale, paraphrased by Texas organic leader Malcolm Beck when he writes that "poor soil can only produce poor plants, and poor plants produce poor animals and human bodies."

The opposite is also true. By building up soil content with composting, cover crops and the addition of minerals, plants become less prone to pests and diseases, and the people who eat those plants (or work alongside them) are healthier for it, as are streams, creeks and rivers.

The education of people about gardening expectations, that using native or well-adapted plants reduces the need for water or that reducing lawn space has similar benefits, helps take the desire to be part of a solution to environmental concerns and makes it something tangible and do-able.

Easy to use products and feedback for fledgling gardeners with problems are other keys to organic gardening.

But the real essence of it is an approach that honors and supports something you can't quantify; the delight in raising fruits and vegetables you know are the best for your family, the pride in producing a healthy green lawn without chemicals or undue water use, the satisfaction of turning fallow land into something that draws butterflies, earthworms and other signs of a healthy, vividly functioning environment.