Herb Garden, Part 1 - Seasonal Potted Herbs

This is the first part of the Herb Garden plan.




When I started on the Herb Garden journey I had no idea whatsoever what all the different herbs were with regards to cooking.  Generally I knew about a few herbs used in Italian cooking and Indian cooking but that was it.   I found I knew even less when I first looked at the huge array of herbs that can be grown.

The first type of herb I'm looking at is what I am calling the seasonal herb.  In other words it dies in the British climate and you can only grown it during the spring, summer and early autumn months after which it will die.  In particular I'm looking at how to easily have a wider variety of herbs growing close to the back door without being restricted to a small kitchen window sill.

To keep your attention, I'm really considering Corriander, Basil, Tarragon and other herbs that are small delicate plants where you want them but don't necessarily need tons.  When considering a plant you do wish to grow a large quantity of, you can read the next blog on Part 2 - Seasonal Drills.

The solution I came up with for these singluar potted herbs that die off each year had to be one on a budget that can be achieved by anyone whereever they are.  The solution nonetheless came from the Internet having seen a very creative idea of what someone had done using a wooden pallet.

When you look carefully a particular type of pallet is used - one that has braces that are turned in to four legs.   One the basis that old dusty pallets are left around for no particular reason there's a great opportunity to up-cycle here and turn something that is heading for the skip in to something useful. Having knocked the bottom slat off this pallet and removed any nails, it's ready for painting and holds twelve individual pots.

What I found particularly attractive about this method is because of its upright nature you can plant a wide variety in a very small space.  I'm currently dusting off a pallet to paint and prepare.

Generally, I'd say around twelve different seasonal herbs provides a huge variety for cooking and should be enough variety and quantity to spice up any dish, sandwich or platter over the summer months.  So it doesn't matter whether you live in a large estate house, have a tiny yard the size of a postage stamp or you work on a building site, you can have fresh herbs anywhere and everywhere.

Look out for the next entry about Seasonal Drills.

Planning the Herb Garden - do as James Martin does.

One of my aspirations this year is to really get to grips with the Herb Garden.

Last year saw the gathering together of some herbs in a haphazard way including finding some Mint growing through and someone giving a Lemongrass plant.  Saturday Kitchen is one of my favorite cooking programmes with Yorkshireman James Martin.  I has always tickled me when the TV Chefs say "just grab some thyme"...   I mean who has a Herb Garden to hand?

It got me thinking about this a little deeper and a little bit more thorough and I came to the conclusion that there's two main types of Herbs from a cultivation point of view.  There's those that stand the English winter and then there's those that only grow here seasonally.  I spent quite a lot of time last year observing the garden allowing it all to soak in and to really get in tune with the plants and their cycles.

What transpired is that there's two main types of Herbs that survive the winter.  There are those that need deep soil and there are those that are not so deeply rooted.   Mint for example needs a big deep pot and so too does Rosemary because it grows in to a small tree, whereas others like Thyme are much smaller and only need a much shorter soil depth.

To get the most from the garden I've decided to focus on planting up these two types that remain alive year after year and consider the seasonal ones more of a catch crop.  What I'm hoping this means is that on Saturday morning I can watch my favorite TV Chef and in the afternoon I can do as he does and simply pop out and get some Rosemary.

As part of looking at how to organise a productive garden I've also looked at the catch crop type herb.   This is the Corriander, the Basil and the Rocket.  Some of these are planted in drills (long lines) and others are planted in little pots.  The big question is how to carve up the space so it works practically.

Over the next couple of blog entries I'll be sharing how I'm organising the planting up of this wide variety of herbs whether they be seasonal or the shallow or deep rooted plants that survive the winter.

For now I'm happy to know I've already got the common or garden mint potted up and really glad to have considered there's four different types of planting areas required that each need to perform and produce a crop.  It's taken twelve months to gather the ideas together in to something coherent and I'm looking forward to sharing what I've found with anyone else who is starting out.

That Rosemary sure does turn Lamb in to something a bit special.