Starting an appetising garden

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 7, Issue 355, 25 September 1990, Page 6

Starting an appetising garden

It would seen that more and more people are taking an interest in the growing of herbs and creating a herb garden or a collection.

The old English country garden always had plants of culinary and useful herbs growing among the flowers and vegetables and made good use of them to flavour cooked dishes and home made beers and wines or to brew herbal teas and vinegars. The country housewife was very knowledgeable in the use of various herbs to relieve and cure ailments which in those days she needed to be when the half crown needed for a visit to the doctor represented a day's hard eamed pay. Most of our established gardens could be regarded as herb gardens as so many of the plants we grow purely for the pleasure of looking at them are in fact herbs. The old fashioned clove pinks with their heavenly fragrance used to be called gillyflowers and the flowers were used to sweeten and flavour home made wine. Pansies and violets garnished desserts while the common chickweed which we so ruthlessly pull out and discard to the compost heap is very rich in iron and eaten either raw or cooked is said to help relieve those rheumatic pains. If your garden is too

small perhaps to include a garden devoted to herbs a sunny border will do just as well to grown the herbs you need, or a rockery with its well drained soil is ideal for those varieties such as thymes which love to spread and sun themselves over rocky surfaces. Sunny position Whether you choose to make a garden devoted solely to herbs which can be a delightful place to browse in or to grown your herbs in borders among the garden flowers, a sunny position is essential. Only very few herbs like shade. An ordinary good garden soil is quite suitable but a little lime should be added to reduce the acidity of the soil. If the soil is extremely poor a little well rotted animal manure can be incorporated or a dressing of blood and bone is all that will be necessary to produce strong healthy plants. Planning a herb garden as a place of peace and beauty as well as being useful can be a very rewarding experience. The area chosen must lie in full sun and shelter can be provided by a rosemary or lavender hedge. Put the taller plants at the back of the

beds graduating down to the thymes, the marjorams and the chamomiles in the front borders where they can tumble over the pathways. The culinary herbs need pathways adjacent to the beds to allow ease of picking. Find a slightly shady corner with a damper soil for the parsley and the mints but don't plant them too close to each other as they prefer to be apart. Parsley and mint will both tolerate a slightly more acid soil. From seed Some herbs are annuals or bi-annuals which can only be grown from seed. These include sweet basil, coriander, dill and parsley. The seed can be started off in

trays filled with a mixture of sieved garden loam with the addition of a little well washed river sand to improve the drainage. As the seedlings grow thin out the weaker ones and plant the stronger ones up into pots to grow on until ready to plant out after all danger of frost has gone. Plant out in the evening if the weather is very warm to prevent the young plants from collapsing in the heat of the sun. Seed can be sown where it is to grow as weather conditions allow, taking care to prepare the ground and raking it to a fine tilth before sowing. Sow the seed sparingly and cover

lightly with soil avoiding planting the seeds too deeply. Keep well watered in dry weather and thin out the rows as necessary. Perennial herbs are usually propagated by root division or in Some cases by cuttings. I have found early summer is the best time to take them up here. Cuttings taken too early in the spring when our ground is inclined to be wet and cold tend to rot out, especially the lavenders. Some perennials will drop seed quite readily after they have flowered and the seedlings will grow up around the main plant. These can be transplanted out when they are sufficiently established.