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I totally agree with your article, herbs do also grow well in England!
However there seem to be a few missing from what I love to grow.
Chives are essential for you cannot make scrambled eggs or potato salad without them, they must never be allowed to seed, so I cut them about 1 inch above the soil, they soon come back!
Dill and Chervil are another along with Fennel, for you can't eat smoked Salmon without them.
Chervil is a hardy annual so it can be sown at monthly intervals and lasts over the winter, but cut back to use.
Sage, Rosemary, lavender and Thyme I cut back and put them in separate paper bags, tie them in some garden twine and hang them upside down in my shed, where the leaves fall off (with a shaking), into the paper bags, so we always have dried herbs for the winter.
The supermarkets charge an extortionate price for Bay leaves; the Romans brought them to Britain in the first Century A.D., and they flourish here, if you are lucky enough to know anyone who has an old one, as I do, they send up suckers and seed themselves!
Do not buy the topiary ones or the cultivars, for they are rubbish, dry them out the same way as mentioned before!
Basil and Coriander are easy to grow, with Coriander cropping in eight weeks here.
They do as you so rightly say need cutting back!
Also although not classified as a herb, try Nasturtiums, the leaves have a peppery flavour and the flowers look stunning in a salad!
Garlic is a must, I put mine in in November and it is ready on the longest day of the year, which is the summer solstice, June 21st.
Fresh lavender is also great to flavour homemade ice cream as are scented Geraniums.
Juniper berries are great and expensive, so although they only flower once every two years, they are easy to grow.
Mint is a lovely plant but has bad manners, in that it does like to spread itself everywhere, so grow it in pots, or sunken pots.
Lamb's mint was so rare you could not get it, now you can, it is not invasive, and the taste of it is sublime!
The simple reason the shops get away with selling you rubbish is; they put more than one plant in the pots, so they grow and die, grow your own, at least then you know where they come from!
Kind Regards.
From a Very Hot England.
Critter: Thanks for such an informative article--- good examples & pics. It may be an older article but I didn't know about DG back then, so I'd never read it before. =)
Neil: Wow, what a long list of herbs--- flavorings for all kinds of foods... When's dinner?! =P
I'm glad also that Dave & Terry decided to re-run "older" articles on occasion. The "fun random article" feature is also neat... every so often one pops up that I didn't catch the first time around, and I click to check it out!
Petalplants,
I always find most good cooks are also brilliant gardeners, they know about the colours, textures,shapes and more importantly they love and understand the flavour of fresh grown herbs!
I grow a lot more than on my list, for French Tarragon (not Russian which is tasteless), grows well here; that if put with a bit of lemon juice, black pepper and Garlic, then rubbed into Chicken is delicious!
People buy Parsley from their local shops and wonder why it dies; curly leaved Parsley is a biennial, the moment it flowers it dies, so don't let it flower, simple eh!
As for when is dinner, anytime you so wish!
Everyone comes for dinner here.
Regards.
From a Very Hot England!
Neil.
Petalplant,
You cannot cook without salt and pepper, so why try to cook without herbs.
Obviously I know you do, in your replies!
My wife and I are both trained Chefs, I gave that up many years ago to concentrate on gardening, which I love.
In answer to the next question, we work perfectly well in our kitchen, almost seamlessly which stuns everyone.
For a lot a couples do not get on in the kitchen.
My favorite treat is when I go Fishing, for to catch a Wild Sea Trout at night (the only time), is every Fisherman's dream.
Then to cook it with a butter sauce, with Chervil from the garden, and our own asparagus is a marriage made in Heaven!
Although I hasten to add, after all the work i put in my wife's favourite is; to go down to Kent and have an English High Afternoon Tea.
This consist of; warm scones, Homemade Butter (every thing is Homemade), Kent Strawberry jam and thick farm cream, with of course plenty of English tea!
Not good if you are on a diet!
Tarragon is perennial and is essential, it was minus 12.6 F here in February, and everything was covered in snow, it did not bother mine at all!
Kind Regards.
From a Rather Hot and Humid England.
Neil.
