How to keep those summer herbs going when the harvest days are over

WANT to save your freshly grown herbs? They may have run to seed or look the worse for wear in the heavy summer rain, but it’s easy if you know how.

Some herbs will soon be coming to the end of their natural harvesting period, so here are a few top tips on how to pick them to enjoy for months to come.

The best way to harvest it is to start snipping as soon as the leaves are large enough. If you want fresh mint into the winter months, take cuttings now. Pick three leafy, non-flowered sprigs that are about 10cm long, sit them in a glass of water on a windowsill, and they should take root fairly quickly.

MINT:

Pot the cuttings into multi-purpose compost, and the mint should continue to grow. Cut it regularly and it should bush out.

Doesn’t dry well, so if you want to save your harvest, freeze bunches in a plastic bag, then you can rub the leaves off the stalks when you remove them, as needed.

This Christmas favourite – for stuffing – also is also ornamental because of its leaves striking texture and tone.

However, being a Mediterranean

PARSLEY:

SAGE:

dry, turning from time to time. Once totally dry, keep them in airtight screw-top jars.

If it has started to flower don’t cut them off, because seeds will be developing which can be used in cooking. At the end of summer, cut the flower stalks complete with seedheads, and hang them upside down in a warm, dry place, but out of sunlight. Tie paper bags over the heads to catch the seeds, and after a few days, shake the bag to encourage the seeds to drop.

CORIANDER:

Dry them on a tray before storing them in an airtight, screw-top glass jar. When you want to use them, grind them in a spice mill or a pestle and mortar.

They may have long finished flowering, but if you want the oniony flavour of chives later on in the season, you’re best off digging up a small clump from your garden to repot and take indoors.

Cut the foliage down to 2.5-5cm (1-2in) above the top of the roots, then repot in multipurpose compost for windowsill plants, which should soon start growing and will be ready after outdoor plants have died down for the winter.

CHIVES:

Dry herbs at home to use once your fresh crops have finished plant, it won’t like a wet winter. Try drying sage leaves now by blanching them and then dropping in cold water before laying them on baking trays in a warm area to