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Herb Garden: A Quick And Easy Garden of Edibles
By Niki Hayden
While die-hard gardeners fiddle with finicky tomatoes and delicate eggplants,
there’s another garden to be considered by those looking for sturdier, less
demanding edibles. It’s one that cuts grocery bills substantially, provides
perennials as well as annuals, and grows vigorously with minimal time or effort from the gardener. This is the herb garden. Here basil,
parsley, cilantro and dill flourish in the vegetable garden. Thyme,
lavender, mint and sage fit into a perennial garden. Garlic, as a bulb, is well
worth growing but best set aside in a bed of its own.
An added boon is that all these herbs are easy to grow from seed. Planted
indoors like tomatoes and eggplants, they’ll be ready to put out of doors
earlier than either tomatoes or eggplants. Most herbs come from ancient plants
that have survived for centuries with little tinkering from humans, while many
of the vegetables we grow are the product of laboratories in the last few
decades. What we have gained in size or flavor has lost ground when it comes to
basic survival.
Herbs have thrived because they need not bear fruit or even flowers. We grow
them for their leaves. The distinctive aromas we carry into our kitchens are the
single most important characteristic and that aroma is ancient. Most plants have
evolved with toxins that make their predators ill. Herbs are no exception. But
the herbs we love have evolved to ward off other predators. Humans are the lucky
predators to benefit from the strong flavors that may generally discourage a
four-footed browser.
Check the areas of the world where certain herbs originate and you may be
able to guess the conditions that allow them to thrive in your garden. Thyme,
lavender, and oregano come from the Mediterranean dry climes. Some lavenders and
many thymes can take winter cold. Mint, too, is associated with the Mediterranean
but requires wetter conditions.
The north European cuisines that embrace dill and parsley require moisture,
too, as does cilantro, which often accompanies Thai flavors. But in your garden
parsley, cilantro and dill require the same growing conditions so they’re
worth growing together. Cilantro likes cooler temperatures and will bolt as soon
as summer arrives. Parsley and dill will soldier on, nearly oblivious to what
nature throws at them.
Thyme now is as ornamental as edible because many creeping varieties are
beloved as ground covers. For an herb garden, it’s hard to beat the ordinary
Thymus officinalis, which grows into a small bush. Shape it into a tiny ball and
allow it to flower; it rivals lavender as a bee magnet. The flowers are as tasty
as the leaves.
Best of all, these herbs rarely have any problems with pests, except for the
parsley worm. But in this case, it’s worth growing plenty of dill and parsley
for this caterpillar, which turns into an exquisite black swallowtail butterfly.
 Thyme, lavender and sage will last for years in a perennial bed, as will
chives. Chives are members of the onion family, like garlic. But unlike garlic,
we’re not harvesting the bulb so it’s easy to include chives with the
thymes.
Mint fits into a perennial garden although it demands more water. I keep mint
in a spot with little or no additional watering to check its invasive tendencies. Some gardeners grow mint only in pots to
prevent it spreading. Others grow mints in pots and submerge the pots into the
garden soil. Any of these techniques is worth considering because mint can make
a nuisance of itself.
There’s another reason to grow some herbs in pots. Basil is a tender annual
that originates from the South Seas or South Asia. It requires lots of water and
warm temperatures. Growing basil in pots will lessen the amount of water you
must lavish to keep it healthy. A pot of basil also allows you to move this
tender herb inside if temperatures outside drop suddenly. Few other herbs will
be as tricky as basil. But the joy of having an armload of basil to cook with
makes all the fuss worthwhile. I grow rosemary in pots also because it is tender
in my part of the world and rarely winters over. It’s whisked into the house
when temperatures drop below freezing.
Parsley, although a biennial, is planted each year for the most tender
leaves. This underused herb is worth rediscovering for the vitamin clout it
offers. Combine it with garlic or chives, dill or thyme in any recipe that uses
fresh herb marinades. Or toss it in your mixed salads. Parsley could become one
of your basic salad greens.
Dill often self-seeds and it’s easy to save dill seeds from year to year
for replanting. A single umbel flower will contain hundreds of seeds if left to
ripen on the stalk. Cilantro, too, is planted each year in early spring. I
include them in the lettuce, beet, chard and spinach garden—what I call the
salad garden. The conditions of that garden with loamy soil, a thick mulch for reasonable moisture,
and an early spring start make them great companions.
Perhaps you have other herbs that fit your cuisine. Salad burnet or pineapple
mint. Whichever you enjoy, herbs are an easy start to growing your
own food. Even if you never attempt a tomato vine or pepper plant, herbs will
satisfy a need to grow something for your table. They’ll add a resilient and
tough beauty to the rest of your garden, too.
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