YOUR HERB GARDEN
Month-by-Month
Barbara Segall
CONTENTS
Practical project: Making a herb drying frame
Practical project: Paths through the herb garden
Practical projects: Growing herbs in containers
Practical projects: Making and planting a scented archway
Practical projects: Creating a hanging basket herb garden
Practical projects: Creating a herbal rose garden
Planting a circle of kitchen herbs
Practical projects: The dyer’s herb garden
Planting and using cosmetic herbs
Practical projects: Making herb oils and vinegars
Practical projects: Making a herb-filled pillow
Practical projects: Creating a knot garden
Practical project: Planting and using herbs for pot-pourri
Practical project: Making herbal gifts and decorations
INTRODUCTION
My first encounter with herbs was very early in my childhood when I crawled out of the kitchen door to nose into a clump of mint. Since then my appreciation of herbs has grown, and so has the repertoire of herbs that I grow. I know, use and love herbs as they grow through each season. I have grown herbs in containers, in hanging baskets, on patios, allotments and now, in Suffolk, have a half-acre garden where herbs predominate. There is a circular culinary wheel, an informal herb potager, and through the rest of the garden herbs play an important role as attractive plants in herbaceous borders.
I love the taste of mint and have two collections of these aromatic but invasive plants. In an old enamel footbath, with holes drilled in it for drainage, I grow apple mint, curly mint and ginger mint. In a large round container sunk into the main herb garden, spearmint and peppermint compete with apple mint.
I also have upright pennyroyal growing in an ever increasing patch: its waywardness is always forgiven when its astonishing lavender-blue flowers appear. Creeping pennyroyal basks in a damp area near a small natural pond, that boasts a clump of watermint. The lowest-growing mint of all, Corsican mint, fills cracks in the paths of the main herb garden.
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MEASUREMENTS
Metric and imperial weights and measurements are given throughout the book. For practical instructions and recipes, follow either metric or imperial: do not mix them.
THE HERB POTAGER
I grow salad herbs, such as chervil, lambs’ lettuce, landcress and chives, mixed in with tomatoes and lettuce, as well as fragrant and edible herb flowers in my herb potager. There are various