I often cook omlettes, and use a variety of ingredients, it’s a nice quick meal when time is short, but what always makes such a difference is adding fresh herbs.
Over the next few weeks I’m going to focus on growing your own herbs, they’re so easy to grow and you get super fresh herbs at a fraction of the cost of shop bought ones.
The easiest and possibly and some of the most useful are the evergreen herbs, once planted you’ll have a supply of herbs year after year.
Rosemary:
Ideal for robust winter cooking, but equally good in summer for barbeque food.
There are lots of different types of rosemary, my favourite is Miss Jessops Upright, you can tell by the name that it’s a more narrow type so it doesn’t take up too much valuable space. I have a group of them growing in a border, they look as good as any shrub, great shape in winter and pretty blue flowers in early summer. The bees love the flowers, so you’re doing them a good turn too.
Vital statistics:
80cm tall x 60 cm wide.
It originates from the mediterranean, so plant it in well drained soil in a sunny place, or grow it in a pot in the sunniest place in your garden in a mix of multi purpose compost, John Innes compost and a handfull of grit.
Thyme:
This is a pretty low-growing, sprawling kind of plant, brilliant with chicken, vegetables and in salad dressings. It’s the white flowered plant in the photo above.
There are lots of different types, so you can collect a few to ring the changes, try the lemon one, Thyme x citriodorus.
Vital statistics:
15cm high x 40cm wide/
It loves the same conditions as Rosemary, and also grows happily in a pot or window box.
Sage:
Common sage, as opposed to all the coloured leaved varieties, is a real stalwart, useful in so many dishes and on it’s own deep fried. It looks good to, I keep mine clipped into a nice dome shape.
After a couple of years when it’s getting mature, it’s best to cut it back in late spring to encourage soft, fresh leaves to grow. Older leaves become hard and leathery over the winter and loose their flavour.
Vital statistics:
It gets pretty big, 1m wide x 80cm tall and like the ones above, loves sun and well drained soil.
Once you’ve invested a small amount of time and money in planting these, they’re pretty much there forever. No wasted energy here.
Jill
All images: Jill Anderson
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