Читать книгу The Edible Herb Garden - Rosalind Creasy - Страница 7
Оглавлениеculinary herb gardens
What a luxury it is to have a garden full of herbs! Even this country's best chefs usually can't match the meals created from such a garden. Imagine having enough lemon thyme or fennel to be able to use the prunings for smoking pheasant or salmon. Think of creating a salad, as if from the heart of France, with fresh tarragon and chervil, or making a Thai salad with real Thai basil. Fresh herbs are the signature of a chef and often a specific cuisine, yet very few markets in this country offer more than a meager selection.
When I think back on my cooking of years ago, it feels as though I was working in black and white and monaural. The form was there and it was enjoyable, but the depth and richness were missing. Now that I regularly use fresh herbs, I'm cooking in full color and stereo. The zip of fresh mint or the many flavors of thyme give the dishes more dimension. Twenty years ago I started on my herb adventure by adding fresh chives to potato soup and fresh basil to spaghetti sauce. What a difference! I went on to use fresh dill on fish, pesto on pasta, and herb vinegars on salads. Now, after years of exposure to the full range of herbs, and thanks to many people's guidance, I use many more in my cooking, and almost all of them are fresh.
Herbs are the easiest to grow of all the edible plants and are great for beginning gardeners. Another incentive is that cooking with herbs can be a very healthful way to add excitement to meals. At a time when the safety of the salt and fats in our diet is being seriously questioned, it's a relief to explore enjoyable substitutes. I get so tired of being deprived in the effort to be "good." Using herbs deepens the pleasure as well as the healthfulness of food.
As I mentioned, my education in herb cookery started slowly. I was always an avid gardener, so years ago I put in a basil plant or two and some dill and chives, and that's still a good way to start. My serious interest in herbs took hold when I visited the herb garden at Caprilands in Coventry, Connecticut. This extensive garden, fueled by the enthusiasm of the late Adelma Simmons, actually contains many different kinds of herb gardens: one that attracts butterflies, an all-gray one, a garden full of scented geraniums, and another with herbs for drying. At Caprilands, my sister and I enjoyed a meal in which herbs were used in each course, and Adelma came around while we ate to talk about which ones we were enjoying. That trip to Caprilands opened my eyes to the vast world of herbs and their many possibilities.
Since then I have visited many public herb gardens, and I highly recommend them to other interested gardeners and cooks. Visiting these gardens is a great way to learn to identify the appearance, smell, and flavor of individual herbs. This country has hundreds of beautiful public herb gardens. Try a visit to our nation's herb garden in Washington, D.C., at the United States National Arboretum, or to the Cloisters, with its wonderful medieval garden, in New York City. Or sample herbs at the magnificent formal herb gardens at the Missouri and Chicago botanical gardens and the historical gardens at Old Sturbridge Village and Monticello. All grow a wonderful range of herbs and usually provide a guide to help you identify them.
Once I had a working knowledge of most of the herbs, I found I needed the help of creative cooks to explore herbs in the kitchen. For every one way I thought of to use an herb, someone like herb maven Carole Saville or Rose Marie Nichols McGee (who was raised in the shadow of Nichols Garden Nursery, a well-known herb supplier) had created ten. And in the hands of master chefs such as the late Tom McCombie of Chez T.J.'s in Mountain View, California, and Ron Zimmerman of the Herbfarm outside Seattle, Washington, dishes came alive with herbs.
A small collection of herb containers adorns my rose patio. The pineapple mint, sage, and lemon balm shown here grow well in all but the hottest humid climates.
There are dozens of varieties of thyme and I chose six different ones to set off my bird bath. In the perimeter beds I planted chives, scented geraniums, golden sage, and a selection of salad greens. To unify this little garden I included the showy, but decidedly not edible, tall graceful foxgloves and blue star creeper (Laurentia fluviatilis) in between the boards.
Both Carole Saville and Rose Marie McGee grew demonstration gardens for this book to put their creative information together and show us how simply and elegantly herb gardens can be created. In the process, they shared much information on how to maintain and cook from these gardens.
One final comment before we proceed. You might be totally un-acquainted with some of the herbs covered here. In my research I was struck by how much of our available information and our emphasis on growing and cooking herbs comes from Europe. This is a wonderful bank of knowledge, but it excludes the many cultures around the world that season their foods with native plants. These so-called exotic herbs have a place in the new world cuisine, and I have included them here. I know you will find them as exciting as I have.
Golden sage, chives, French thyme, Spanish lavender, and rosemary in containers greet visitors to my garden. In the beds curly parsley, winter savory, Oriental chives, oregano, and flowers line the walk.
how to grow an herb garden
Jim Wilson, owner of Savory Farms wholesale herb growers, came to visit me one day, and as he walked up my herb-lined front path, he became completely engrossed in the plants before I could usher him into the house. He kept leaning down and rubbing his hands over the foliage. "Your thyme and tarragon grow so much more lushly than ours," he said. "We have problems with nematodes and wilt diseases." He was clearly envious of the 'Greek' oregano. Jim, probably best known to most gardeners as the one-time Southern host of the Victory Garden television show, grows his herbs in humid South Carolina in a climate very different from that of dry California. As we renewed our old friendship, the subject of herbs came up again and again, and we compared notes about the different species and how they grew in the different parts of the country. How we see, say, lovage and angelica grow to seven feet tall in New York, yet only to three feet tall in Texas; how scented geraniums are perennial and five feet across in San Diego but grow as annuals only two feet tall in Idaho. Despite the differences, though, we were struck by how most gardeners can grow most herbs and how all can have a wonderful time doing it.
Growing Herbs
The majority of herbs are perennial plants that need six to eight hours of sun daily, very well drained soil, little fertilizing, and spring pruning for renewal. In areas of the country where the ground freezes, most might need only mulching, although tender herbs such as rosemary and lemon verbena must be brought inside in the winter in cold climates. Alternatively, they can be treated as annuals and replanted every spring. In arid climates they need irrigation (drip irrigation is ideal) and should be washed down occasionally to prevent spider mites.
In hot, humid climates, where plants are bothered by nematodes, fungus diseases, and high heat, perennial herbs can be planted every year in a new area of the garden or in containers. New research indicates that marigolds planted among herbs helps repel nematodes from plants in the ground. Where garden soil is poorly drained, containers can be a solution. Madalene Hill and Gwen Barclay, authors of Southern Herb Growing who are based in Texas, have had much success avoiding many diseases and mitigating the extreme heat by growing their herbs in raised beds and by mulching the plants with small-diameter gravel, sometimes called chicken scratch. The gravel helps promote drainage and reflects summer heat, thereby keeping the soil fairly cool.
The annual herbs, such as basil, dill, chervil, and cilantro, are grown in a somewhat different manner, as they need annual planting and better soil than the perennials.
In most cases, there are solutions to most cultural problems that might arise with herbs, and even gardeners with no yard at all can grow a few herbs on a sunny windowsill.
Herb plants can be planted in a simple dooryard cluster, in a flower border, in containers, or in a traditional formal knot garden, so-called because the plants are laid out to form intricate patterns when viewed from above. As a rule, because they need similar growing conditions, annual herbs are at home in a bed of annual flowers and/or vegetables or clustered together. Perennial herbs grow best surrounded by other perennial flowers and herbs. For ease of maintenance, the informal cluster of perennial herbs is hard to beat. But, if a formal knot garden has always been your dream, be prepared to give continual care. The plants will need constant clipping to look their best. Whatever your choice regarding garden design, the most important factor concerning your herb garden is how close it is to the house. All the herb authorities I know agree that the closer your herbs are to the kitchen door, the more you will use them in your cooking.
A harvest of unusual culinary herbs (right) includes a red monarda flower, lavender, scented geraniums, golden oregano, and rose hips.
The herbs—nepitella (bottom left cornet) and chives (center)—grow in a border of edible flowers including nasturtiums, violas, calendulas, and arugula. All thrive in full sun and moist, organic soil.
The following section describes a small herb garden and covers general herb-growing basics, from planting to maintenance, based on the experiences of Rose Marie Nichols McGee and Carole Saville. Their gardens are more complex and show how varied herb gardens can be. Many gardeners are interested in container herbs, so that information is covered in the next section. The nitty-gritty of growing herbs is covered in Appendixes A and B. Appendix A has information on planning an herb garden, bed preparation, mulching, planting, irrigation methods, fertilizing, and composting. Appendix B provides an overall look at beneficial insects and the basics of pest and disease control. Let's start with a prototype starter herb garden.
Herb Garden Basics
Before you begin growing many herbs, it helps to know that the great majority of them fall into two major categories: perennials, herbs that live for more than two seasons, and annuals, those herbs that live only one season. When you begin, it also helps to choose herbs that are generally easy to grow. In most climates these are the sun-loving perennials: thyme, oregano, French tarragon, and chives. All originated in Europe and, with the exception of chives, are drought-tolerant and need little fertilizing unless grown in sandy soils. In hot, humid climates and mild desert regions French tarragon can't tolerate the heat, so you might want to try Mexican tarragon (Tagetes lucida) instead, which is also easily grown and may be available from local nurseries (or ordered from many of the sources listed in the back of the book). The popular perennial herbs can be purchased as small plants at most local nurseries from spring through early fall.
There are few gardeners who grow herbs and don't include basil. While still easily grown, basil needs annual planting every spring, rich soil, and some TLC.
Basil seeds are available from your local nursery, but most beginning gardeners find it easiest to grow basil from young nursery transplants. (If you prefer to start your own seeds, see "Starting from Seeds" in Appendix A.) When selecting your basil plants, avoid those that look yellow or wilted or have started to flower. (Note: In some nurseries basil seedlings are sold a dozen plants or so to a small four-inch container. When you take it home, gently separate the young plants and plant them out. Failure to separate the plants will create a sorry clump of basil.)
For your first herb garden, I suggest planting one plant each of thyme, tarragon, and oregano, two chive plants, and three or four basil plants. If you're new to cooking with herbs, learning to grow and becoming comfortable cooking with these tried-and-true herbs will be all you need to make a dramatic change in your cooking as well as your gardening.
Planting Your Herb Garden
Gardeners in cold-winter areas will do best to plant in the spring or early summer; gardeners in mild climates will be able to plant all but basil through the fall. To plant your herbs, clear an area of the garden that gets at least six hours (eight is better) of midday sun and has great drainage. If you live in a cool-summer area, try to locate the garden near masonry to give extra heat for the basil. In hot-summer areas herbs grow best with late-afternoon shade. An area four feet by six feet will be enough for the suggested herbs.
Remove rocks and any clods, rake the area smooth, and spread four or five inches of organic matter or compost over the soil. With a spading fork, work it into the top six inches. Place your herbs with the short ones—thyme and chives—in the front, tarragon in the middle, and the taller oregano and basil in the back. Thyme and chives will spread to about a foot, the others up to two feet, so space them accordingly. Dig a hole about a foot across for each herb and sprinkle a few tablespoons of bonemeal or other form of phosphorus around the bottom of each hole and mix it in well. In the holes for the basil plants, add a few coffee cans full of manure or good compost, then add a source of nitrogen such as a few tablespoons of blood meal or fish meal. Mix the amendments into the bottom of the hole.
My front entry overflows with herbs. In the ground are the showy society garlic (the mauve flowers are used in salads), chives, savory, borage, and thyme. In containers are nutmeg geranium, and many different sages and thymes.
Gently nudge each herb seedling out of its container by putting your hand over the top of the container, turning it over, and tapping it to loosen the plant. If roots are collected in a mass around the outside of the root ball, gently pull them apart and spread them out. Put the plant in its hole, making sure the crown of the plant is level with the bed. Cover the seedling with soil and firm it in place so there will be no air pockets.
If you are putting in a drip watering system, this is the time to lay your ooze tubing around the plants and secure them. Make a small watering basin around the plant and fill it with water. (Many gardeners find it helpful to put a label next to each type of plant so they can identify their herbs.) Water a final and critical time to make sure all the roots have received a soaking. Mulch the area with two or three inches of mulching material to cut down on weeding and watering. Watch for slugs and earwigs on the basil—a flashlight foray the night after a watering will usually reveal these critters. Pick them by hand and drop them in soapy water to kill them.
To prepare the soil (top), spread four inches of compost and two inches of manure over the soil and work it in with a spading fork. Dig a hole four times the size of the herb's root ball and work in ¼ cup each of blood meal and bonemeal. Plant the herb at the depth it was in the container (middle) and press down around the plant. Install drip irrigation and mulch (bottom) with two inches of compost.
Keep the new plants moist for the first week or so. Slowly start letting the plants get a little drier between waterings. Use your judgment—if it's very hot or windy, or if the plants start to wilt, water more often. If weeds come through the mulch, pull them so they will not compete with the herbs for water and nutrients.
Maintaining Your Herb Garden
After a few months your herbs will be growing well, and a watering maintenance schedule will become established. In climates where rain is reliable, you will probably need to water only during a drought or in very hot weather. In arid climates a weekly routine is sufficient for all but the basil, which may need watering every four or five days.
Fertilize basil every six weeks or so with fish emulsion or fish meal according to the directions on the package. If you don't have a chance to harvest your basil, when it gets large and starts to flower you will need to prune it back by taking clippers and removing the top half of the shoots. This will encourage the plant to put out lush new leaves instead of setting seeds and declining. Unless the soil is sandy, the rest of the herbs seldom need fertilizer.
Prune all the perennial herbs using hedge or hand shears in late spring. Most herbs need to be cut back by at least half, though if the plants are not growing vigorously, remove only a third of the growth. Oregano and thyme are only hardy to USD A Zone 5, or to minus 10 to minus 20 degrees; chives to USD A Zone 3, or to minus 50 to minus 40 degrees; tarragon to USD A Zone 4, or minus 30 to minus 20 degrees; and in cold climates, all will overwinter best with three or four inches of a straw or compost mulch layered over them in the fall after the ground has frozen. The mulch is not used to keep them warm but to ensure that they will not heave out of the ground when the soil freezes and thaws.
After a few months the basil is in full production and the chives, tarragon, and thyme are ready for harvest.
Most common herbs and a few unusual ones are available from local nurseries in small plastic containers. It's important to label your plants so you can identify them, especially those that are less common. In addition, I find I need to record the location and planting date of my new herbs in a journal because the labels sometimes get lost or become faded.
harvesting your herbs
For me, harvesting herbs often means a last-minute dash to the garden to pick a few leaves for cooking. When I have it together, though, I harvest a number of my favorite herbs and put them in a glass of water and place them on the windowsill above my sink. I then use them with abandon—all I need do is reach for a sprig or two. If I want to keep the herbs longer, I put them in the refrigerator, and they'll keep fresh for at least a week. To harvest larger amounts for preserving, choose a time when the herbs are at peak flavor, usually just before flowering, and when the plants are growing well enough to renew themselves. Another good time to harvest is when the plants need to be cut back to be renewed. Then one of the luxuries of having an herb garden is most evident, as you can use large amounts of the prunings for smoking. When you smoke fish or meat, place branches of green herbs such as thyme, lavender, fennel, rosemary, or dill over the wet wood chips before you close up the smoker. Voila, lots of instant flavor.
Harvesting the Seeds of Herbs
To harvest the seeds from dill, caraway, cumin, coriander, and fennel, start to assess their ripeness a few weeks after the plants bloom and when the seed heads start to turn brown. The seed heads of dill and fennel will shatter and shed their seeds more readily than the other herbs, and if you want to make sure to harvest all the seeds, tie a paper bag around the ripening seed head to catch the seeds. In all cases you can remove the seeds by hand once they have turned brown, or you can harvest the whole heads, leaving six inches of stem attached so you can tie the stems together. Dry the heads by hanging them upside down. First put a brown bag around the heads, secure it with a rubber band, and hang the bunches in a cool, dry place. When the heads are thoroughly dry, pull the seeds off the heads, put them in clean jars, and seal.
Preserving Herbs
Fresh herbs are best in many cases, but most herbs are not available year-round, so good cooks over the years have learned ways to preserve the flavor. The best way to preserve an herb depends on the herb. As a rule, the dense, small-leafed herbs dry best, and the fleshy, larger leaves freeze well, either chopped or in butters. Most herbs are suitable for preserving in vinegar or oil.
Drying Herbs
The following directions for drying herbs are best used for bay laurel, borage, chamomile, marjoram, mint, rosemary, sage, bay, chives, dill, lavender, lemon verbena, Mexican oregano, sweet woodruff, thyme, winter savory, and oregano.
Harvest all herbs in the driest part of the day and wash them if they're gritty, and pat them dry. There are different ways to pick and dry them. Some methods work best for herbs with large leaves, others for those with small leaves. You can easily pick the single large leaves of sweet bay, lemon verbena, and borage and lay them out in a single layer on a screen; the long leaves of chives can be treated this way as well. I find it tedious to harvest herbs with small leaves and compact stems, such as thyme, rosemary, savory, chamomile, and sweet woodruff, as single leaves. I prune sprigs three or four inches long and lay them out on a screen; once the herbs are dry, the leaves can easily be stripped off the twigs. In all cases, for quick drying, you can put the screen with the leaves on it in an electric oven at a very low temperature (104°F) for a few hours; or in a gas stove just lay the herbs on cookie sheets, and the constant 95°F of the pilot light dries them in a day or so. If you have more time, place the screen in a warm, dry place indoors, such as a garage or attic, and dry for five to seven days. Stir the leaves once a day.
This basket (right) overflows with a harvest from my front herb border. It includes the unusual dittany of Crete (Origanum dictamnus), which is used in liqueurs, spilling out of the front, Mexican tarragon (Tagetes lucida), which is sometimes used in place of French tarragon, the mauve edible flowers of society garlic (Tulbaghia violacea), and bunches of rosemary, (back left), and oregano (back right).
Herbs that grow fairly tall and produce long sprays, such as oregano, sage, mint, lavender, and lemon verbena, can be dried by hanging them in a warm, dry place. Create bunches bundled with a rubber band to hold the sprays together. (The rubber band will also hold them when they dry and shrink.) As I do this in my dusty garage, I like to cover the bundles with tissue paper to keep the herbs clean. Seed heads of dill, fennel, and caraway I handle in the same way, but I also put a paper bag over the heads so the seeds will not drop to the floor.
Some gardeners swear by drying herbs in the microwave oven. This works well for a small amount, but I do find that the leaves get darker than when air-dried. Place cleaned herbs on a piece of paper towel and microwave them on high for a minute at a time. Rotate the herbs often. Repeat the process until the herbs are brittle dry. Dense herbs like rosemary will take longer than delicate ones like dill. When your herbs are dry, store them in airtight containers in a cool, dark place.
Garden sages can spark the cook's imagination. Try making fritters with the flowering stalks, adding the leaves when you roast potatoes, and using the unusual foliage for garnishes.
Freezing Herbs
You can also preserve some herbs by freezing. I do this with fennel, dill, chervil, chives, tarragon, and mint. Just wash the herbs, pat them dry, and take the leaves off the stems. Leave them whole or chop them. Put the leaves in a self-sealing plastic freezer bag, press out the air, label, and freeze. You do not need to defrost them before using them in soups, sauces, and marinades. The herbs will have darkened and turned soft, but the flavor keeps for a good six months. Herbal butters are another way to freeze the flavor of herbs. (See the recipe on page 72.)
herb garden design
As a landscape designer, I feel compelled to share with you a few of my own personal herb gardens and the design process I went through.
My favorite herb garden is the one I had installed in the front yard a few years ago. Instead of using the plants as the major feature, I used a strong geometric pattern formed by putting 2 x 12 boards in the ground in a ray pattern. For the focal point in the middle I placed a birdbath. I got the wood for free from the lumberyard since they had been cut off the end of larger boards that had been milled for other projects. (It took six months of visiting lumberyards, but it was worth it.) The boards were cut into long wedges and scored on the back with ⅛-inch-deep grooves to prevent them from cupping. They were then laid out in a ray pattern and secured in place by two layers of bender board nailed to both sides of the circle. I used all sorts of culinary herbs around the outside and toward the middle: thymes, oreganos, lavenders, tarragon, lemon balm, and chives, along with a few salad greens and disease-resistant roses. Within a year the ground cover had filled in and the plants looked mature enough to make it a magical garden. We still refer to it as the Magic Circle (see pages 24—25).
Another herb planting I enjoy is the herbal entry up my front steps and walk. In this case, while the steps and walk add design interest, it's the herbs and flowering plants that get the attention. I chose purple, yellow, and light pink as the color theme and filled in other parts of the garden with lots of variegated herbs. I think their white-and-green and white-and-gold leaves make a perfect foil for the deep hues of yellow and purple. I chose variegated lemon thyme, golden and tri-color sage, and golden oregano as the stars of the front border and added yellow violas in the spring and yellow species marigolds in the summer.
The McGee Herb Garden
Rose Marie Nichols McGee grew up in Oregon next door to an herb nursery. Maybe I can be forgiven, therefore, when I say that she knows herbs from the ground up. For years I ordered herbs from her parents' company, Nichols Garden Nursery, and it seemed natural to contact them when I was searching for knowledgeable people to share information on herbs.
Rose Marie and her husband now own and manage the nursery, and she was very enthusiastic about growing a demonstration garden for me. She saw it as a great excuse to put in a small herb garden for her mother. Her mother has been hampered by arthritis for some years and missed having a garden. What a wonderful little garden the new one turned out to be! Rose Marie cut a modified kidney-shaped area, about ten by twenty feet in size, out of an existing lawn and filled it completely with herbs. The idea, she told me, was to make "an informal and inviting little oasis, with paths so my mother—or anyone!— could get right in and enjoy it."
Pink, purple, and yellow flowers give warmth to my herb entry and help tie together the great variety of plants. The walk is lined with yellow species marigolds and gloriosa daisies, purple sage, and pink roses. The herbs include curly parsley, oregano, tricolor and golden sages, winter savory, anise hyssop, society garlic, and dittany of Crete.
The bed preparation was rather straightforward. Rose Marie began in late spring by digging up the area and then, to save a lot of weeding in the future, sifted through the soil to remove all the rhizomes of the weedy quack grass that had grown rampantly in the lawn. She then put on a layer of mushroom compost and hand tilled it in. Finally, to prevent another future problem and to give the garden a clean line, Rose Marie put in a black plastic edging to keep the lawn from growing into the herb bed.
One design objective was low maintenance, which meant making a perennial garden with spaces reserved for annual herbs like basil, calendulas, cilantro, dill, and nasturtiums. She explained: "This year, because it's new, I've added many annuals, but by next year the perennials will fill it in and be in their glory and I won't add many annuals. I enjoy having a constant supply of flowers and color in the garden for most of the season, so I chose many of the flowers to bloom at different times of the year."
Rose Marie decided to start the blooming season with sweet cicely, which blossoms in spring along with the daffodils and has white, lacy, very fragrant flowers. Other herbs that will bloom throughout the growing season include clary sage, which produces great spikes of lavender flowers; regular chives, with their lavender blossoms produced in late spring; Oriental chives, with white flowers that smell like roses and that bloom in July and August; two varieties of lavender that bloom most of the summer; lemon mint, which will provide a lot of color in late August with its shaggy purple heads; and pineapple sage for late-fall color—its scarlet blossoms will brighten up the garden from September until it is cut down by frost and dies. During the first year annual plants yielded much of the garden's color—the purple foliage of 'Red Rubin' basil, orange and yellow nasturtiums and calendulas, and the large yellow heads of dill.
The garden was designed with low edging plants in the front and along the paths, with a gradual increase in the height of the plants toward the middle and back. Rose Marie used as focal points for the design a dramatic angelica plant, with its large spreading leaves and handsome foliage, and two graceful statues of monks made by a local artist.
I asked Rose Marie to talk a bit about how she uses herbs from the garden. "I harvest angelica when it's just starting to bloom," she began, "because that's when it has the most flavor. I don't let the flower heads develop at all. I then simply take the large stems and cut them up and boil them in a sugar syrup. Once they're candied and dried, I chop the stems and add them to my favorite shortbread recipe. Another herb I enjoy is sweet cicely. I use the foliage in salads during the year and the seeds in fruit or green salads. The seeds are tender and have a sweet anise flavor."
Rose Marie Nichols McGee, of Nichols Garden Nursery, created this herb garden oasis in the middle of the back lawn of her mother's house. The garden includes sages, nasturtiums, thyme, lavenders, rosemary, and chives.
There was a great deal of basil in the garden, and I asked Rose Marie how she prepared it. She told me that she and her mother preserve it by chopping the leaves and layering them in a jar alternately with layers of Parmesan cheese and then freezing it. They find that it keeps very well that way, and they sprinkle basil on vegetables and salads and use it in pesto and spaghetti sauce all winter long.
On my last day at Rose Marie's garden, she laid out a marvelous tea party—the very vision of a childhood fantasy, complete with scones with scented basil jellies, shortbread with candied angelica, and lemon verbena tea. All the confections were wonderful, and all were filled with herbs!
Designing Your Herb Garden
You can start herb gardening in numerous ways. For example, a few annual plants of basil, dill, chervil, and cilantro can be spotted around your vegetable garden or interplanted among flowers. In this case little soil preparation is needed beyond what you have done for the existing vegetables and flowers. Adding an occasional perennial herb like lavender, Oriental chives, sage, fennel, and thyme to a perennial flower border is easy too. Just loosen the soil and place the transplant in the soil, water it in and mulch the soil, water it again off and on for the first few weeks, and let the rains (or drip irrigation) and Mother Nature take over. If you are a beginning herb gardener and want to plant just a few herbs in a corner of your yard, then you might consult "Herb Garden Basics" on page 8. However, if you are planning a fairly extensive new herb garden, you will need to prepare the soil more carefully and design the beds for ease of access and for appearance.
The Nichols garden and the Saville garden (shown on page 75) are examples of two completely different layout styles that would work in any garden. The Nichols garden is an informal cluster of herbs in a free-form design located in the middle of a lawn. It is easy to install, and its informality requires little maintenance, as plants don't need to be continually pruned to be kept to a specific shape and size. The Saville garden, in contrast, is a more formal design and will take a few years for the hedges to become established. While certainly not high-maintenance, it will require more care than the Nichols garden. Consider too my herb gardens—an entry garden with steps up the walk, a circular herb garden built around a birdbath, and a streetside herb border. Look too to the dozens of geometric traditional herb garden designs. Whether you choose an informal area on either side of your front walk, create an informal shape in the lawn, or install a formal herb garden off your patio, plan for an area not much more than 400 square feet. This is a good size for most gardeners and gardens. It is a manageable size to maintain and has room for dozens of different herbs. For most designs, first lay out either strings or hoses along the ground to give you an idea of the area and a feel for the size and shape.
My magic circle herb garden is large, measuring forty feet by forty feet, and has room for many herbs and a few salad greens. It is a fairly formal design in that I used large plants to anchor the corners, created a geometric form in the middle, and placed similar colors and shapes of plants in repetitive patterns around the center. If I had wanted it to be more formal I would have used small clipped hedges to circle the birdbath and around the outside. Further, I would have repeated the same herbs in the perimeter beds.
Installing a Formal Herb Garden
If you want to install a traditional geometric herb garden, either of the two following simple and straightforward formal designs are an easy way to start. Mark off an area twenty feet by twenty feet. For the first design (see drawing, page 21, top), create bisecting paths that cut across the diagonal in an X and create four equal triangular beds. Another option is to choose bisecting paths that cross each other in the middle and form a cross, creating four squares (see page 21, bottom). To make both designs more interesting, place a square or round bed in the middle and put a focal point sundial, sculpture, or birdbath in the middle. Paths through any type of herb garden should be at least three feet across to give ample room to walk and use a wheelbarrow. Beds are generally limited to five feet across, as that is the average distance a person can reach into the bed to harvest or pull weeds from both sides. Consider putting a fence, wall, or hedge around the herb garden to give it a stronger design, and to keep out critters if need be.
Designers use many different techniques to create the feeling of formality. Here are a few tips for planning your own garden.
• Create formal gardens using geometric shapes—not free-form lines.
• Use small hedges, traditionally boxwood, dwarf English lavender, or germander, to outline the beds and sometimes the perimeter.
• Clipped hedges and herbs or topi-aries give a decidedly formal feeling to a garden.
• When you use the same plant many times (especially when you repeat them in the same location in all the geometric beds), it tightens the design and makes a garden feel more formal.
• Line paths of formal gardens with paving, gravel, or lawn grasses, not straw or compost.
• Formal gardens usually include a focal point or two to interest the eye. Place these in the middle of the garden, on the four corners, or in the middle of each geometric bed. Focal points can be plants in containers, birdbaths, statuary, or very showy plants such as tree roses or herbs with unusual foliage.
Bisecting paths (above right) cut across the sides of this formal herb garden. A round bed is cut out of the center and a focal point container is placed in the center. A small hedge borders the beds and yellow flowers are used at each inside corner to add interest. The second design (bottom right) is also geometric. Here a square bed is cut in the middle and given a fancy plant for a focal point. Repetitive plants have been used on the corners and the garden has been fenced to give it a sense of enclosure.
This lovely formal herb garden is at the Minneapolis Arboretum. Many cities have public herb gardens and they are a rewarding way to see how different herbs perform in your climate. The boxwood hedges, brick walk and edgings, and the geometric shapes of the beds give a sense of formality. Container plants are used as focal points. Here they contain rosemary and sweet bay, two plants that will not winter over in harsh winters, but that can be brought inside to a sun room or greenhouse. The arbors and trellises create outdoor rooms and give a feeling of enclosure to this garden. A similar effect can be used in the home garden to frame an herb garden, but the dimensions of the structures should be smaller and more in keeping with the intimacy of a home garden.
This informal Texas herb garden belongs to Lucinda Hutson, author of many herb books. The terra-cotta statue gives it a regional identity, as does the informal bench in the background. Both act as focal points and unify the design. Rosemary, oregano, society garlic, and arugula that has gone to flower spill out of the beds with abandon.
I designed this hillside herb garden with creeping thyme around the paving stones, and yarrows, rosemary, lavenders, and society garlic around the paths. More culinary herbs follow down the hill and include sages, fennel, and chives. The deer on the property have the consideration to leave them all alone.
I designed a small crescent-shaped bed (above) with thyme, Oriental and garden chives, society garlic, and variegated oregano to be the focal point for my vegetable garden. Within six months it had filled in (below) and made a graceful entrance to the garden.
My magic circle herb garden was made with eighteen, slightly tapered, three-foot-long wooden boards in a circle around a birdbath. I chose blue star creeper for the ground cover to fill in between the boards, and for color, nonedible foxgloves with their pink spires. It includes many varieties of thyme, chives, scented geraniums, cilantro, arugula, tarragon, lavenders, and sages.
herbs in containers
Iplant many herbs in my garden, but I've noticed that nowadays I'm growing an increasing number in containers—herbs on the patio are oh-so-handy to the kitchen, and, further, using herbs in containers gives me a range of design options. I liken it to hanging pictures in a room—spotting containers around my garden adds interest. If I feel like bright primary colors, I bring out my enamel containers; if I want a cottage-garden effect, I use my aged terra-cotta favorites.
Growing herbs in containers is also valuable for gardeners with small yards and for people forced to grow edibles in containers because their soil is infested with nematodes or root rots. In addition, as containers can be brought inside, in harsh-winter areas container growing may be the best way to grow tender perennials like rosemary and sweet marjoram.
How to Grow Herbs in Containers
After years of trial and error, I've found five secrets for success with growing herbs in containers:
1. I use only soil mixes formulated for containers. I've found that garden soil drains poorly and pulls away from the sides of the container, allowing most of the water to run out, and it is often filled with weed seeds.
2. Since containers must have drainage holes in the bottom to prevent the plant from drowning, at planting time I cover the holes with a piece of window screening or small square of weed cloth to keep dirt in and slugs out. (New evidence indicates that gravel or pottery shards in the bottom actually interfere with drainage.)
3. In hot weather, I now use only large containers, those large enough to provide generously for the plant's root system and hold enough soil so that the plant needs to be watered less often. I find that a small number of the small herbs like chives and thyme will grow in twelve-inch containers, but most grow best in large containers (eighteen inches or more in diameter). My Southern friends report that in their climate large containers are mandatory, as the roots on the south side of small pots bake in the hot sun.
4. After years of pale plants, I find I need to fertilize frequently and evenly. For me, biweekly doses of fish emulsion work well, as do granulated fish meal and slow-release fertilizer granules renewed every six weeks or so.
5. I find the most difficult aspect of container growing is to maintain the correct moisture in the soil. Succulent herbs like basil and chervil suffer when not watered enough; on the other hand, the Mediterranean drought-tolerant herbs succumb to root rot if given too much water, especially the sages. Once I learned how to water properly, I was on the road to success.
All gardeners need to learn to water container plants properly; even in rainy climates, hand-watering containers is usually a necessity, as little rain penetrates the umbrella of foliage covering a pot. I find that when I hand water, it is most helpful to water the container twice. The first time premoistens the soil (I think of it as moistening a dry sponge), and the second watering is when I feel as though I am actually watering the soil. The opposite of underwatering is overwatering. To prevent this, I test the soil-moisture content with my finger before watering.
Herbs make handsome container plants. They are compact, have a lovely range of foliage colors and textures, and most bloom at least once a year. Here the foliage of a purple sage contrasts with yellow and orange nasturtium flowers, and the spiky texture of the chives sets off the rounded nasturtium leaves.
Watering container-grown herbs is critical for all gardeners, but it's of even greater importance for those of us who live in arid climates. After years of parched-looking plants, I finally installed a drip system. What a difference! I use Antelco's emitters, called "shrubblers" (available from plumbing-supply stores or by mail order from The Urban Farmer Store, 2833 Vincente Street, San Francisco, CA 94116), as they are tailored so each container on the system can have the exact amount of water it needs. My drip system is connected to an automatic timer, so it's scheduled to water every night for five minutes from spring through fall.
Overwintering Herbs Indoors
As you can see, growing plants outside in containers has its challenges, and the problems are exacerbated when you bring the plants inside for the winter. In essence, you change a plant's environment from a bright, sunny spot with fairly high humidity and a normal ecosystem and relocate it to a dim area with low humidity and no natural predators. It can be done, and done well, but it requires care, thought, the right plants, and a suitable sunny spot in the house. As a rule, herbs that tolerate shade are the most successful. If you plan to cook with many of the herbs, you will need more plants than usual, as herbs grown indoors over the winter grow more slowly than those outside.
It's late spring in my garden and time to pot up young tarragon, lavender, and scented geraniums before the weather gets too hot and they need water twice a day. A harvest of curly parsley, to make a lovely cream soup, oregano for drying, and the purple flowers of the Mexican sage (Salvia leucantha) for a table bouquet, complete the scene.
Containers can become the focal point of a garden. Here an old wooden bucket filled with golden sage and a nail barrel with ornamentals and creeping rosemary draw the eye. In the background the flower spikes of anise hyssop attract bees, and in the foreground a winter savory peeks out from behind a species yellow marigold.
1. Select a place in the house that gets at least six hours of direct sun a day. Temperatures in the sixty-to seventy-degree range and areas away from cold drafts are best. If a sunny window is not available, then set up an area with fluorescent lights. Locate fixtures six inches above the plants, and run them for sixteen hours a day.
2. Choose herbs that are fairly adaptable to indoor conditions, such as mint, parsley, winter savory, lemon balm, and scented geraniums. Chives grow fairly well indoors but tend to go dormant for part of the winter. If you have an attached greenhouse or bright sunroom, you might try the sun-loving bay, oregano, rosemary, sweet marjoram, and thyme as well.
3. For the best success, choose your plants at the beginning of the growing season and plant them in containers from the outset instead of uprooting them in the fall. Containers at least eight inches across filled with commercial potting soil do best. These containers can be sunk in garden soil over the summer to keep watering to a minimum.
4. A few weeks before your first expected frost, prune back plants; check for aphids, scale, whiteflies, and mites; and treat if infested.
5. Place plants in a shady spot for a few weeks to acclimatize them to low light levels.
6. Just before bringing plants in, wash remaining foliage well and spray with a prophylactic dose of insecticidal soap.
7. Once they're inside, isolate outdoor plants from your houseplants until you have determined that neither is contaminated.
8. Water most overwintering plants only when the soil surface starts to dry out.
9. Wash down foliage occasionally to remove dust that can harbor spider mites.
10. Turn containers every week or so, so all sides receive equal light.
11. Fertilize monthly with half-strength fertilizer.
12. Maintain good air circulation and keep plants from touching, to prevent diseases and pests.
13. If your house is very dry, raise the humidity around your plants by filling a shallow tray with pebbles and placing it under your plants. Pour a half inch of water into the tray every few days. Keep containers from sitting in the water, to avoid root rot.
14. Watch for pests; if they appear, immediately isolate any infested plants to prevent the problem from spreading, and treat them with insecticidal soap or send them to the compost pile.
Two large 'Tuscan Blue' rosemary trees and two sages, the purple 'Purpurascens' and a gray-leafed 'Extrakta,' in blue containers, adorn my front steps.
Oregano and Roman chamomile work well in the mixed border that lines my front walk. On my way into the house I can harvest a few sprigs of oregano for my supper.
