Growing your own herbs is a great project for any gardener. Fresh herbs are so much better than storebought at a fraction of the price. They’re also easy to grow and take up little space making them ideal for container gardening or just those who are too busy for a full garden.

Herbs to Grow

If you don’t already have an herb garden, these are a few great herbs to start with:

• Basil
  This heat-loving annual can really make homemade pizza or pasta great.
• Lemon Balm
  A member of the mint family, lemon balm is vigorous and perennial. It’s most commonly used to make a relaxing, lemony tea.
• Thyme
  Another perennial, thyme is quite easy to grow and useful. We’ve actually got a whole post about why you should grow thyme.
• Cilantro
  If you love to cook, a few cilantro plants are a must have. The leaves and seeds are used in Chinese, Indian, and Mexican cuisine.
• Parsley
  Fresh parsley is so much more flavorful and it’s beautiful and nutritious too! It doesn’t mind cool weather so it can be direct sown in early spring.
• Chives
  Easy to grow and perennial, chives are a great choice for new gardeners.

Harvesting 

There are a few general tips that can help you capture the best flavor and aroma when it’s time to harvest your herbs.

• Harvest your herbs before they flower as leaf production typically declines after flowering and some plants lose flavor after flowering.
• Harvest in the morning just after the dew dries but before the heat of the day. This is when the plants’ oil content is highest so they’ll be the most flavorful and aromatic.
• Harvest your herbs right before you need them if you can. They lose flavor quickly.
• Avoid washing your herbs if possible.

If you’re harvesting from a perennial plant like lemon balm or chives there are a few additional things to consider.

• Stop harvesting at least 1 month before your last frost date. This gives the plant time to recover, store energy for winter, and avoids encouraging young shoots that could be harmed by a frost.
• For most plants, you should avoid harvesting more than 75% of the plant’s growth.

Preserving

Air Drying

Herbs that have low moisture content, like thyme, can be dried in bundles. Simply cut several stems and tie them together with string. Then hang them upside down in a dark, well-ventilated room. To avoid dust you can place a paper bag upside down over each bundle. Your herbs should be dry in 2-3 weeks and you can remove the leaves and place them in an airtight container for storage.

Herbs with high moisture content like lemon balm and cilantro may need to be dried more quickly, especially in humid climates. You can pull off the leaves and lay them in a single layer to dry on a screen.

Dehydrating

If you have a dehydrator you can preserve a lot of herbs quite quickly. It’s probably easiest to dry whole leaves and then brake them up for storage in an airtight container. When drying herbs be sure to use a low temperature to preserve their flavor best.

Freezing

Herbs are surprisingly easy to freeze and there are several ways to freeze them. The simplest way is to just chop them up, spread them on a cookie sheet, and freeze. You can then move them to a container so they’re easy to grab a pinch when you’re making dinner.

Alternatively, you can freeze them in ice cube trays. Herbs like lemon balm can be chopped up and frozen in water in ice cube tray, excellent for making iced lemon balm tea! Others like basil can be frozen in ice cube trays in broth or butter for adding to meals.

Adding herbs to your garden is well worth the effort especially if you know how to properly harvest and freeze them. Keep these tips in mind this summer as you use your garden fresh herbs for great meals and maybe even a few cocktail garnishes!

April Garden Tips from our own Ira Wallace, author of The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast

(also published in the VABF newsletter)

April is the month to start your succession plantings of beets, lettuce and carrots every 2 weeks. These small succession plantings let you have a steady supply of vegetables fresh for the table all season. Early in April is a good time to harden off your cabbages, broccoli and other brassicas started in March; then transplant them by mid-month. They thrive with compost, a good organic mulch, and row cover against the frost.

Hill your early potatoes when plants are eight inches high, and again two weeks later. Watch out for potato beetles – handpick. Don’t forget to buy more seed potatoes for a second June planting, while you can. Store them in a cool dark place until you are ready to plant them. This late planting often yields less than your tradition St Patrick’s Day planting, but they will store better for winter eating.

When the weather is warm enough (soil temp is over 65°) then sow corn and transplant a few early tomatoes such as Glacier or Stupice under row cover. There is still time to start more tomatoes from seed. You can also start watermelons, cucumber, and cantaloupe in soil blocks or paper pots to get a jump on the warm weather crops.

If you ever wonder how to polish concrete to make your garden even better,  just follow the link.

We are still eating sweet potatoes from last summer’s crop. They are really an amazing crop that can be stored at room temperature for almost a year. So don’t forget to order some slips now so you will have them in time for planting when May rolls around. We start our slips in the greenhouse from the best of last year’s crop. We grow a dozen varieties, from All Purple to white-fleshed O’Henry, Sweet dry white fleshed red skinned Japanese Red, and traditional orange-fleshed Beauregard or Bush Porto Rico. I love them all. If you haven’t grown sweet potatoes before, Southern Exposure’s Sweet Potato Growing guide will tell you how.

Harvest greens, enjoy abundant salad greens, savor asparagus, and prepare to weed.