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Master growing herbs in the garden to elevate your cooking

Growing a selection of your own culinary herbs is one of the single best things you can do to to elevate your cooking and add flavour and nourishment to your meals. Herbs are essentially living flavour bombs, and once you are growing your own you will find you have more inspiration to cook from scratch, and less need to rely on highly processed additives, sauce mixes and the like. Beyond that, understanding which herbs compliment which vegetables will unlock even more kitchen creativity, so read on to master growing your own herbs, and find out which classic vegetable and herb combos go well together so you can truly up your cooking game.


Dumpling and vegetable stew  in a pan on a wooden table, garnished with rosemary and parsley. A wooden spoon rests in the pan, adding a rustic touch.

INTRODUCTION TO GROWING HERBS

There are many herbs to choose from when planning a new herb garden, and luckily most of them are easy to care for providing you give them the right conditions. It is important to think about what type of herbs you would like to grow and why, and what experience you are wanting to achieve from them. 

Are you imagining a terraced garden with stepping stones throughout to meander down, and all your herbs placed together in this area, or will you have some of your herbs dotted throughout your vegetable plot to deter pests and create interest? Do you just want to grow a few chives and parsley plants in pots on your windowsill to compliment your breakfast eggs, or do you have bigger aspirations, such as a barbecue or pizza oven zone that you would like to grow herbs around to add to your food as you cook outdoors, like thyme, lemon thyme and basil. The options really are endless, but it is worth keeping in mind that you will want the herbs that you use in your day-to-day cooking nice and close to the house, with herbs that you only harvest every now and then being grown further away. 

Try to grow your herbs close to the kitchen for ease of use
Try to grow your herbs close to the kitchen for ease of use

TYPES OF HERBS 

Herbs fall into two main categories, annuals and perennials, with a few herbs such as parsley and angelica being classified as biennial, which means instead of setting seed every year like an annual, they take two years to complete their lifecycle. 

  

Perennials 

Within the perennial group there are a few subgroups;  

  • Mediterranean perennial herbs - these love full sun, not too much rain and light well-drained soil. Thyme, sage, lavender, oregano, marjoram, borage, bay, and rosemary all fall into this category with the latter two also being classed as shrubs. 

  • Tropical perennial herbs – these need heat, rich soil and humidity, and are best grown in a frost-free environment. Depending on where you live a plastic or glass house may be the best option. Some of these include lemongrass, cardamom, turmeric, ginger and galangal. 

  • Cooler climate perennials – these can handle a bit of shade and prefer rich soil and cool moisture. French tarragon, chives, mint and horseradish are all cool climate herbs, with mint in particular loving constant moisture.

Sage is a Mediterranean perennial
Sage is a Mediterranean perennial

Annuals and biennials 

  • Parsley, coriander and angelica all prefer rich, friable moisture retentive soil and don’t mind being planted in the shade

  • Dill and fennel prefer light friable soil and are easy to grow in early spring before it gets too hot, fennel even thriving in winter conditions if frosts aren’t too heavy.  

  • Heat loving basil is a summer annual that is easy to grow from seed and has many exotic varieties to choose from. It enjoys compost enriched moist soil with a sunny aspect and lots of heat. 



Dill prefers it cooler
Dill prefers it cooler

THE TRADITIONAL HERB GARDEN

A traditional herb garden has all your herbs growing together in one area, usually just outside the kitchen for ease of quick harvesting. Ours is right next to the stairs that lead up to the house, and it is terraced with the herbs that prefer it drier at the top, and the herbs that like it moister on the bottom.

Wooden porch of a house with stone steps and herb garden. Sunlit greenery surrounds the rustic setting, creating a serene mood.

When creating a garden like this, you want to think about where certain herbs grow in relation to the house, deck and kitchen. For example, we have planted lavender where we can smell its floral aroma as we sit on the deck in the summer, while stepping stones lead down from the house through the garden to access key cooking herbs such as the rosemary which is halfway down the terrace. Creeping thyme and lemon thyme grow over rocks right next to the steps that lead from the kitchen, while parsley and coriander are wedged into shadier spots where moisture accumulates between the large boulders that make up the three terraces of the garden. Mediterranean herbs in particular love growing near rocks as they thrive on the heat emanating from them.



GROWING IN POTS

 Apart from horseradish, which forms an extremely long taproot, all of the herbs mentioned above can be successfully grown in pots, as long as you stick to the conditions they like. If you live in a climate where winter means snow, or if you want to have a go growing the more tropical herbs, pots allow you to move your herbs around or grow them indoors, giving you far more control to provide the conditions they need to thrive. This is important for evergreen perennials like rosemary.


Another benefit of growing herbs in pots is that you can have a wide variety of herbs all in one space close to the kitchen. Since herbs that have similar requirements love to grow together, you can pack lots of flavour combinations into one pot. Imagine rosemary underplanted with creeping thyme and golden oregano, or a pot outside the back door dedicated to chives, Italian parsley and fennel. You could even experiment by planting some strawberries around the edges of a pot of basil - speaking of basil, how about one small pot of baby leaf basil on your windowsill just dedicated to summer pesto production? 

Just try to match the soil type to the plant, and remember that plants in pots need extra watering in dry weather.

As a side note mint is the perfect herb to grow in a pot near the house under a dripping tap, even if this is a shady area. It can be invasive, so keep it in a pot if that worries you, and don't plant anything else with it.


Italian parsley
Italian parsley

GROWING IN THE GARDEN

Because of the varied places that different herbs enjoy growing, if space allows, you may like to have some of your herbs dotted throughout your vegetable garden. There is good reason to do this, because companion planting with the right herbs will help your vegetables grow big and strong, with certain herbs like chives even helping to ward off nasty pests such as carrot fly. 


Dill going to seed in the potager garden
Dill going to seed in the potager garden

Companion planting

  • Chives with carrots - chives help to repel aphids, slugs and carrot fly  

  • Basil with tomatoes – these two are absolute best mates and thrive in each other's company 

  • Borage with strawberries - the borage helps to bring bees over to the strawberry patch and is also said to increase the flavour of the fruit 

  • Coriander with tomatoes – the tomatoes help to shade the coriander so it doesn't set seed too quickly, and when the coriander does flower it attracts hoverflies, which are a beneficial insect for the tomato plants, helping to keep aphids away, among other things 

  • Comfrey and horseradish around fruit trees - horseradish deters rodents while deep comfrey roots draw trace minerals up to the fruit trees feeder roots.  


There are plenty of other combinations that go well together, and allowing your herbs to go to flower will increase the amount of beneficial insects you bring into your vege patch. Have a go playing around with what works well for you.

Basil grows well under tomatoes
Basil grows well under tomatoes

SOURCING YOUR HERBS 

Once you know what type of herbs you would like to grow and where you would like to grow them, you need to think about where you will source them from, and which ones you can grow from seed and which ones you can grow from cuttings. Apart from the obvious (but sometimes costly) answer of buying your herbs from a garden centre, there are a few other options for how to get your herb garden established. 


From seed

A lot of herbs grow readily from seed, and it is just a matter of waiting for the right growing conditions. Basil, coriander and dill are best for beginners as they are simple to germinate and like to grow en mass, so don't require pricking out, but the soil must be warm enough; this is especially important for basil. We grow all our parsley from seed too, but it can take three weeks or more for the seeds to come up, and the soil needs to be kept constantly moist during this time, so it requires a bit of dedication! 


Vegetable garden with stone path, basket of assorted produce and flowers below. Text: "Growing From Seed: The Ultimate Handbook."


If you would like more direction of how to sow seeds successfully, I have created an in-depth 20 page guide that goes right into exactly how to grow from seed with troubleshooting steps. You can purchase it here.

 



Division 

If you are lucky enough to know someone with an established herb garden, you can ask them if you can take divisions of some of their herbs. Mint, chives, thyme, oregano and lemongrass and are all easily grown in this way. You just dig off a section from an adult plant, making sure you have roots attached to the piece you are removing. With mint you only need a small piece of root, but with something like chives you will want to divide a large plant in half or quarters using a very sharp spade to sever the plant top to bottom. With chives it is also wise to give them a complete prune back after planting. You can pot the divided herbs up to get them going, but more often than not I plant divisions directly into their permanent spots. Horseradish, and rhizomes like ginger, turmeric and galangal, grow simply from planting a small section of the root into moist rich soil. 

 

Cuttings 

Lavender, rosemary and sage all grow well from cuttings. You can either take soft tip cuttings in spring and early summer, or hardwood cuttings from late summer through to late winter. Cuttings are a great way to get a lot of plants for free - so if a rosemary hedge is on the horizon you may want to consider taking this route - but they do require dedication and foresight as you won’t have an established plant for at least a year. Cut healthy unflowering stems off the plant you are taking cuttings from and remove most of the leaves from each stem. Plant around the edges of a small pot which is filled with a mixture of mostly grit and potting mix. Keep well misted and place somewhere humid and warm but out of direct sunlight. Cuttings can take weeks to root, so be patient, and keep an eye that they don't dry out. When you see roots growing out the bottom of the pot you can begin to plant them into individual pots.



Chives grow easily from division
Chives grow easily from division

USING HERBS IN THE KITCHEN

When it comes to cooking with herbs, you can experiment with many different combinations, in fact I encourage it, but it is a good idea to have a bit of a background knowledge on classic combinations first.


Classic combinations

  • pumpkin and sage (roasted or soup)

  • tomatoes and basil (fresh or roasted/in sauces)

  • tomatoes and thyme (roasted or in sauces)

  • courgette with oregano or thyme (sauteed or roasted)

  • courgette with mint (mixed through fresh once cooked)

  • potatoes with rosemary or sage (roasted)

  • potatoes with chives or dill (potato salad or in quiches)

  • aubergine with basil or mint (chargrilled with fresh herbs)

  • egg with dill (salads or quiches)

  • egg with chives (sandwiches or quiches)

  • parsley in soups and stews

  • coriander with carrots (soup or topping for roasted carrots and whipped feta)

  • apple with fennel (salads)

  • cabbage with orange with fennel (salads)

  • cucumber with mint (raita or salads)

  • cucumber with basil (Greek salad)

  • parsley in soup stock and soups (use the stems as well)

  • parsley in stews (use the stems as well)

  • French tarragon with eggs (hard boiled and over hollandaise)

  • refried beans with coriander (nachos/quesadillas etc)


There are of course plenty of other combinations but this list hopefully serves as a beginning point for flavour experimentation.


Dill goes well with potato and egg
Dill goes well with potato and egg

Herby recipes

Below are a few recipes that are heavy on herbs for inspiration - there are plenty more in the recipe section of the website



Bowl of green zhoug sauce on yellow cloth, wooden table. Plate with potatoes and feta in background. Fresh cilantro nearby.
Zhoug - Fresh coriander and garlic hot sauce

Feel free to let me know how your herb garden is going
















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"In this time of fast foods and instant gratification, when even some health foods are highly processed, we could all benefit from taking the time to bridge the gap between the kitchen and the garden, so we can better nourish ourselves and our families."~ Aby  

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