MUST-HAVE HERBS
Plants for gourmet growers
Fruit and vegetables might be the building blocks of the kitchen, but herbs are the fancy gilded bit on top. A windowbox or a pot close to the back door gives you access to flavours and fragrance that elevate the simplest dish. Think how much better tomato bruschetta tastes with a basil leaf or two, or how the perfume of a Thai green curry sings with a scattering of coriander leaves.
Herbs bring pleasure to more than just the kitchen. Some, like fennel and dill, deserve a place in the flower border too. And who doesn’t crush a sprig of rosemary as they wander past? There’s no end of herbs to satisfy the adventurous cook, but if you’re just dipping your toe into herbal waters, here are ten herbs guaranteed to transform mealtimes.
BASIL compresses all the joy of summer into its astonishingly aromatic leaves. There are dozens of cultivars, but if you only pick one, make it the enormous ‘Lettuce Leaf’ basil (£2.50/300 seeds, Dobies). One leaf is big enough to fill a sandwich and it’s delicious with tomato and mozzarella. ➤
Basil needs warmth to germinate and loathes being overwatered. Give plants a fertile but freedraining soil outside after the frosts or grow in a greenhouse.
CORIANDER seed has been found in British archaeological sites dating back to the Iron Age, but today we associate its leaves and stems with fragrant Asian dishes. For maximum foliage choose the cultivar ‘Cruiser’ (£1.29/150 seeds Nicky’s Nursery) bred for leaf rather than seed production. Sow direct outside or across the surface of a large pot (they don’t transplant well). Pick regularly and don’t let plants become stressed or they’ll start to flower.
FLAT LEAF OR ITALIAN PARSLEY is a different creature from the curly garnish type (99p/ 500 seeds Mr Fothergill’s) and can be eaten like a salad leaf – see the Middle Eastern salad Tabbouleh recipe over the page.
DILL has a wonderful affinity with lemon and fish, and its fronds make a pretty foliage backdrop in the flower garden, as do their lemonyellow umbellifer flowers that yield the familiar seeds used in pickles. It doesn’t like being moved so sow this hardy annual direct in spring. Sow ‘Hera’ (£1.60/250 seeds, Kings Seeds) for plentiful foliage on slower-to-bolt plants.
FRENCH TARRAGON, that marvellous partner for chicken and fish, is a tender perennial and now’s the time to buy young plants (£5.99/ 3 plug plants, Marshalls). It doesn’t set seed so must be propagated by cuttings. Plant in containers of gritty compost or outside in a sunny, sheltered, welldrained spot after the last frost. Move container-grown plants under cover in autumn.
LEMON THYME is supreme with roasted vegetables and makes a ravishing window box plant thanks to its sparkling golden-edged leaves. A hardy evergreen shrub reaching just 20cm (8in) it should flourish for several years, especially if clipped to stop plants becoming leggy. Plant in late spring into gritty compost in sun (£9.95/5 plants DT Brown).
GARLIC CHIVES have a mild garlic flavour that’s delicious in Oriental dishes or chopped into dips. A hardy perennial with broader and flatter leaves than traditional chives, these crop right into autumn if you keep cutting. Give them moist soil in sun or part shade and sow direct now (£1.99/80 seeds, Suttons) or buy young plants to bulk up over time.
MINT deserves a place in every garden whether for tea, cocktails, mint sauce or a couscous salad. Restrict their spread with a large container and keep well watered as they like a cool, moist root run. Each spring, turn out the pot and repot a section into fresh compost. Cultivar choice is vast but you can’t go wrong with spearmint Mentha spicata (£4.99/1 x 9cm plant, Dobies).
GREEK OREGANO is one of the most useful herbs you can grow, especially if you have a love of Greek food (who doesn’t?). This diminutive perennial is easy from seed (£2.15/ 1,500 seeds Mr Fothergill’s) or pick up young plants at the garden centre. Grow in sharply drained soil and full sun for the most pungent leaves. ROSEMARY is loved by cooks, gardeners and bees thanks to its evergreen leaves and precious blue or white flowers. Without rosemary we wouldn’t have rosemary-infused roast potatoes… This hardy shrub must have sunshine and sharp drainage; try ‘Tuscan Blue’ for a large, upright cultivar with bright blue flowers in spring and summer (£9.95/5 plants DT Brown).