|
 |
 |
|
| Go greener |
|
| With a growing number of gardeners eschewing chemicals in favour of natural alternatives, we can suggest some effective products from our organic gardening selection |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Relax and refresh |
|
| Good food freshly prepared daily, aromatic coffee, chilled wine and a grassy play area for the children. What more could you need? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Food heaven |
|
| Our Farm Shop is heaven for food lovers! Delicious handmade food, top quality groceries, fresh fruit and vegetables and stylish cookware and gifts. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
| The Discovery Walk |
|
| As thousands of daffodils herald the spring, stroll or stride around our Walk while the youngsters enjoy the Nature Trail |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
|
Herb your enthusiasm!
|
| Thursday, 14th August 2008 |
|
|
|
IN THE GARDEN WITH PETA MARSHALL
I have a real soft spot for herbs. And it’s right next to my back door – hah!
But seriously, herbs are important to me, as they are all of us. It is no exaggeration to say that over the millennia they have shaped the way we live.
Medicinal herbs have helped keep us well; cosmetic herbs have gone into making us look better or feel good about ourselves; and then, of course, there are the culinary herbs. For gardeners, this is the main group of herbs, and they have enriched our foods and our eating beyond measure.
The names will be very familiar to you – they are all to be found in our kitchen cupboards. There are probably hundreds more than those I’m listing below, and even more still when you include the spices, such as ginger, cinnamon and so on.
It is generally best to grow herbs in a single part of the garden, and near to the back door seems sensible, for you don’t want to traipse all the way down to the end of the garden on a wet and windy night for a single sprig of rosemary to put on your roast lamb!
Herbs are mostly compact, easy-to-grow plants, and many are remarkably tolerant of drought (although both last year, and so far this year, there is precious little chance of that!). Actually, when I think about it, there are very few herbs that really thrive in wet conditions, as most give their best flavours when growing on a sandy soil in a sunny location. Mint (forms of Mentha) is the exception, as members of this large plant group are invasive, addicted to damp places, and don’t mind a little shade either.
Here are my is my A-Z (actually A-T, but who’s counting?) of best culinary herbs:
Angelica: Stems are crystallized for decorating confectionery; leaves are used in compotes of rhubarb and other fruits to reduce tartness, and the seeds are used to flavour gin and other drinks.
Basil: A tender herb, for pot windowsill-growing in the winter, or containers outside in the summer. Use the leaves is salads and sandwiches – they go really well with tomatoes.
Borage: Flowers can be used for decoration in salads, and cold drinks; the young leaves may also be used in salads.
Caraway: Numerous uses for the seeds – as flavouring in bread and sweets, in soups and widely used in Indian and Asian cookery; leaves can be used in salads.
Chervil: Use the leaves, chopped, in salads, and with cooked chicken and fish dishes that do not themselves have a strong flavour.
Chives: The most useful ‘onion’ herb, which produces little if any bulb, and is grown solely for its leaves – although the flowers are edible too.
Curry plant: Helichrysum angustifolium is the Latin name; this is a delightful silver-leaved shrubby plant. Sprigs will add a mild curryflavour to diishes, but it is not strong enough to substitute the real thing!
Dill: chopped leaves can be used to flavour cooked fish, cream cheese and soups; the bright yellow flowers make it an attractive garden plant.
Fennel: This makes a big plant, some 2m (6ft) high; the seed and chopped leaves are used for their aniseed flavour in fish dishes, salads, sauces and soups.
Hyssop: Young leaves and flowers add a spicy flavour to salads while leaves may be cooked with a wide range of meat dishes as well as being used in fruit compotes and pies.
Mint: Mint sauce is by far the best-known use, together with peppermint in cool drinks and leaf springs with new potatoes, but the delicate flowers may be used with almost any savoury or sweet dish – and experimenting is fun. There are dozens of different mints, too.
Oregano: Often called marjoram, this has a variety of flavouring uses – in salads, stuffings, with cooked meat (chicken especially), fish, egg and cheese; it’s worth experimenting with.
Parsley: there are the ‘moss-curled’ and French types; both have a strong flavour. Most people use them as a garnish, but I eat them all up! Chop the leaves for sauces, soups and for flavouring fish and cheese dishes.
Rosemary: This herb is indispensible; traditionally, of course, sprigs are used to garnish roasting lamb but it is good with other meats too, and also chopped (together with the flowers) in salads.
Tarragon: Go for the French tarragon, which is far better than the often seen Russian form; use leaves with chicken, but also to make tarragon vinegar, herb butter, tartar sauce and hollandaise sauce.
And I haven’t got room to include alkanet, sage, bay, coriander, fenugreek, thyme, sorrel, salad burnet, and a host of others.
Most herbs can be dried, by hanging them in a warm, dry, airy place.
After a couple of weeks, they can be put into airtight boxes and used throughout winter. Some people use a microwave for drying, but this requires careful monitoring, and different herbs will need doing for different periods of time.
I have to say that the only herb that disappoints me when dried is parsley, for it is about as tasty as dirty sawdust!
Want to try your hand at growing herbs? If so, a trip to the plant centre will give you lots of ideas, and most pot-grown herbs can be planted right through the year. Happy gardening!
This week in your garden
Even if it’s raining, plants in hanging baskets, tubs and windowboxes need checking daily for dryness; and add a weak solution of fertiliser to the watering twice a week.
Lift any onions that were planted or sown last autumn. Dry them thoroughly and store them in a light, airy, frost-free place. Use them before the turn of the year, as they don’t store as long as those that went out in the spring.
Control strawberry mildew – greyish powdery patches developing on the underside of curled leaves – by removing affected foliage and spraying after picking with a suitable fungicide.
The tops of carrot and parsnip roots will turn green if you don’t cover them with soil.
Peta Marshall is the plant centre manager at Priory Farm in Nutfield. Website: www.prioryfarm.co.uk
NEXT WEEK: Exotic-looking plants with BIG leaves
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
