Preserving Fresh Herbs - Part 2

Before the frost in the next few weeks I'm scrambling to finish harvesting and preserving the fresh herbs from my garden. Herbs can be kept for a long time by drying or freezing (or transforming into another ingredient like a flavored oil or butter.) Some I scoop up and take indoors too - for example chives, parsley and basil. 




Most often herbs are kept for long periods by drying or freezing them. Some recommend using the oven or a dehydrator, but I find air drying is easiest, the least expensive, accessible to all, and keeps the flavor better. While air drying is a slow, the herb leaves should retain flavor oils than other methods mentioned. Microwaves can also start your herbs on fire (now that's a funny story to share some other time...) 

Formal Herb Garden - Dublin

How to Air Dry Herbs:

Preserving Fresh Herbs

It's no secret that I love to grow my own herbs. When harvesting fresh herbs it's best to nearly decimate the perennials - so that often leaves me (pun intended) with large quantities of herbs at one time. That has lead me to investigate different ways to preserve their freshness. Keeping herbs fresh is mostly about water - preserving water in the plant and avoiding excess condensation on the leaves to cause rot.

For the love of fresh Herbs!

Leafy herbs - like parsley, basil or mint, do not keep as long as non-leafy ones (like tarragon, rosemary, chives, thyme, or dill.) More large leaves gives greater surface area for water loss and space to capture moisture which lends to rot. So keep that in mint when you harvest or buy fresh.

Once during a class, a gentleman asked me when fresh herbs were no longer suitable for use. I wanted to say "when they don't look fresh" :? but instead the reply was when the leaves turn dark, dry out or any part of the plant begins to show traces of mold or rot.  

Not all herbs are equal - they need to be treated differently. 

Wine Crate Container Garden - DIY up-cycle

Earlier this week I was giving a presentation on container gardening with a focus on Herbs. When I give garden workshops I like to have something live to use as demonstration so I decided to up cycle a wine crate into a container garden. 

Wine Crate Herb Container Garden - DIY

There are a number of how-to websites that simply treat - drill holes - plant. This didn't seem to be quite sufficient for a container that I hoped would last all summer outside. I keep in mind that wine crates are designed for one time use; they are not the best wood out there and are usually not constructed very well. Therefore, I decided to do a few things differently than others propose. My technique includes:

Kitchen Scraps to Garden Treasure - Easy Plant Propagation

Starting plants from leftover scraps

Springtime and fellow gardeners are getting excited about planting seedlings. Seed starting is a key activity. This year I'm excited to be planting food scraps. Yes, there are a number of foods that you can grow from kitchen scraps. That's pretty great. The next best thing to buying local is not buying at all. Is this food recycling? It's nice to always have a home-grown supply of these items on my kitchen window sill or garden.  While it saves a little bit of money - it is also easy and fun! Kids that come over find it amazing.

To facilitate the process I use a plastic container from Costco apples. These little impressions are the perfect place to put the root end of celery, carrots, lettuce. Take a look at how this all works with examples of specific veggies. 

Here's my list herbs and veggies that I've (tried to) regrow from the scraps. Others listed at the bottom can be grown from seeds - but that's another story :)

Planning My Vegetable Garden

Home Grown Goodness! 

One of my favorite garden activities in the winter time is planning out the plantings for spring and summer. This year I'm getting more serious about the vegetable garden. That is because I'm eating lots more veggies this year :) and my neighbor cut down mature ash/elm trees which were along the property line and reducing the sun available to my garden.

Last year I broke my wrist in the spring so the vegetable garden never really got planted. It sat fallow all year. So this year it should be ready to burst forward with an abundance of produce!

There are many great resources for planning a vegetable garden. Advice for site selection, soil preparation, and more available. My task was selecting the plants and arranging them.

Mosquito Repellent Container Garden Plants and Plans

Mosquito - Garden pest! (wiki)

Did you know that certain plants naturally repel mosquitoes? I should have put in more of these "Mosquito Repellent" plants into my container garden this year.  If more of these mosquito container gardens were on my porch - maybe I would be out there more too! I just created several container garden plans for a client who's children are allergic to mosquito's. While they also contracted with a spray service to control these pests, they wanted to naturalize the garden, lawn and container garden with some easy to grow plants which will also repel mosquitoes. 

Here are plants to use to reduce mosquitoes nibbling on you and your guests. Below, I've also included a few suggestions for container gardens with these, and crafty ways to use them as party decorations too. 

Marigold (wiki)

• Catnip (Nepeta cataria). A perennial for an annual depending on your location, catnip is more effective than DEET at controlling mosquitoes. Cats love the plant and will rip into it if it's in an unprotected garden bed. Plus the plant has a tendency to become invasive. Keep a couple of plants in hanging containers to avoid both problems.
• Marigold (Tagetes spp.). This sun-loving annual also repels other pests and is an excellent border plant for your vegetable garden. Marigolds are easy-to-care-for and you can easily collect seeds for the next year. 



Rosemary in Bloom (wiki)

• Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis).  I love this herb and keep one in a large container and over winter it in my cold climate garden. The oil is pleasing but disgusting to mosquitoes. It’s attractive for container or herb gardens which requires little water.

Urban Children's Garden Revisited - Harvest time

In spring I had the pleasure of touring an after-school programs urban garden - which was growing along the fence between two buildings. The photo at the right shows you the location of the garden along the fence.

The kids were so excited to be growing their own vegetables and herbs when I was here in the spring. I was skeptical that there would be produce at the end of the journey - I'm pleased to say they were so successful!

Take a look back at where they started in this blog in May 2014 - and see the results in August in the photos below. This is a wonderful example of maximizing small urban spaces as productive growing areas. I would have never thought that some of the vegetables would grow under these low light and small container conditions.

Children's Urban Gardening - Making do with small spaces

Urban Children's Herb & Vegetable Garden

I had the opportunity to visit Creative Little Minds, a bilingual day care on Chicago's Northside. I was pleasantly surprised to see how the owner, Gloria, is incorporating gardening into the regular activities for everyone. This is with very little space in a city block. Here's the integration of Urban Gardening, Community Gardening, Children's Gardening and education all in one.   

Maybe these are some best practices:
1) Select clear garden spot with easy access for kids.  There is no threat to other garden plants or outdoor furniture or breakable objects. I think the use of the fence and walkway on the side of the house (pictured right) is a great idea. Although I wondered if there was enough sun for mature plants. 

2) Plants, pots, and tools are all placed within easy reach and at their level. I can imagine that it is easy for kids to inspect their plant growth every day.  The planters on the fence are at multiple heights - based on each child's abilities.

Harvesting Herbs for perfect flavor

Do you want to know when to harvest herbs from you garden? Here are tips I've garnered over the years. 

First off - is the herb something that you grow for the leaves, flowers, or seeds. That matters. For example, when harvesting (the evil) mint, pick the leaves you need. For thyme or rosemary you may take a whole sprig for putting with a roast. In other cases, like garlic, wait until the plant practically dies away and dig up the bulb. 

Tips for harvesting leafy herbs:

• When: Harvest as soon as the plant is established and frequently to encourage plants to produce new leaf growth. (Chicago would say early and often!). I like to cut herbs in mid-to late morning when they are no longer moist from dew and after I've figured out dinner plans in early evening ;)   In the heat of the day, if it's really hot, plants may droop a bit and harvesting at that time may harm the plant.  Especially with the hot summer's we've had lately.  

Make Your Own Herb Flavored Oil, Butter & Vinegar

I harvested my first crop of spring chives which is quickly followed by a flurry of kitchen activity making compound butters, flavored oil & vinegar and drying chopped chives.   The compound butter in particular makes a fun gift for foodies, it's easy to make, and comes in handy for quick / delicious meal preparation.  Below I've captured my thoughts on using fresh herbs in this way featuring chive blossom vinegar.

Spring Chive harvest - Using all parts to make Compound
butter and flavored vinegar

Compound or Herbal Butters

A great method for using fresh herbs is to make them into flavored butter. 

I've tried two techniques - 

Propagating Herbs - get more for less!

If you have a mature herb plant, multiply the joy and get more plants from the one you already have.  One way is with seeds - but I find collecting seeds challenging so I use cuttings, division, and layering to get more for less.   also included below some photos of very inspirational herb gardens!

Here are the recommended techniques for some common herbs. 

Source: thecafesucrefarine.com

• Basil (Ocimum basilicum) – stems will sprout roots in water. See the photo of sprouting basil. Check out this post for easy steps. 
• Bay  - take semi-ripe cuttings in late summer or early autumn. Divide suckers in spring. 
• Chives  - Divide bulb clumps in spring or autumn.
• Lavender - take softwood cuttings.
• Marjoram  - Take softwood cuttings in summer or divide in spring.
• Mint - Take softwood cuttings in summer. Rhizome cuttings in spring. Divide in spring.
• Oregano - Take softwood cuttings.
• Rosemary  - Take semi-ripe cuttings in late summer or heel cuttings in spring. Can be layered or mound-layered in summer.
• Sage  - Take heel cuttings or softwood cuttings in early summer. Layer after flowering. Mound layering in spring.
• French tarragon - Underground runners for root cuttings taken in spring. Divide mature plants every two to three years in spring
• Thyme  - Take softwood cuttings in late spring or summer. Simple layering in early autumn. Mound layering in spring.

Below is more of description of each of the techniques mentioned above. 

Maximizing Your Herb Garden - Maintenance

Formal Herb Garden (Photo from St Louis Mag, by JJ Lane)

If you've put in an Herb garden or started them up in containers - a little maintenance can really improve your harvest.  While I envy a large formal herb garden like the one shown on the right - I need to maximize a much smaller place. That means some work year round. Good news is that herb plants, general have low maintenance requirements. All one needs to do during the growing season is remove weeds, provide water, perhaps mulch or fertilize, and prune/harvest.  Below see more details on these steps and other considerations.

Container Gardens - Growing Herbs

Grow Your Own Fresh Herbs - Container Gardening

More recently as I teach Container Garden classes I'm asked specifically about growing herbs.  In particular small urban patio gardens and families with small children seem to enjoy this activity. I am an avid consumer of fresh, home grown herbs! Photo of harvest of mint, dill, parsley! Herb container gardening is a great way for new gardeners to dig in. There is a great satisfaction in serving delights from your garden. Plus the fragrance from herbs is wonderful. There are many herbs that I always grow in container (aka mint!) This year I'm putting more herbs and veggies in containers to make it easier to access from my kitchen! Planning container gardens is one of the many tasks on my Spring to-do list for my cold climate garden.