Home Herb Garden

So you have planted herbs in your garden, and you have watched them go from seedlings to beautiful plants. Before you can use them though, there are some things that you will need to do.

Obviously, if you want to use them then you'll need to harvest them, and in that case, you need to realize that timing is of the utmost importance. This is primarily because heat and wind can disperse the essential oils, and this is why it's important to harvest your herbs during midsummer, on a calm, dry morning once the dew has dried from the leaves. Of course, you can harvest herbs without actually removing the entire plant, and providing you leave approximately two third of the foliage on the plant, it will continue growing again. Also, there is no need to use all the herbs you harvest because that which you don't use can be preserved. Ideally, you should try to make a point of inspecting the plants before you begin harvesting.

Generally speaking, there are three ways which people use in order to preserve the herbs they harvest. Most people will either end up drying them, freezing them, or preserving them in salt or vinegar. If you choose to dry them, then you should ideally bundle at least six to twelve stems together, taking care to remove any leaves which are near the base of the stems. You can then hang the bundles up in a cool area, out of direct sunlight. If you intend only drying the individual leaves, you'll need to arrange them on a screen, and you'll need to remember to turn them from time to time in order for them to dry out uniformly. There are some people who use various appliances in order to dry out their herbs, but it's always better to do it the original way instead. Of course, you can also choose to freeze your herbs, in which case you can cut them into pieces measuring about a quarter of an inch prior to placing them on a lined baking sheet. Once they're frozen you can then gather the pieces up and place them together in a bag or other suitable container, which can then be kept in your freezer until you're ready to use it. The third way to preserve herbs is by chopping them up and then covering them with vinegar. Herbs such as mint, basil or tarragon are particularly well suited to this method, although of course you can also use them to make some flavored salt. In that case, you would simply place the chopped herbs between layers of salt, and when the herbs are completely dry, you can then remove them from the salt, and store the salt in an airtight container.

For the most part though, people do not preserve their herbs. In fact, they just use the herbs right out of the garden. There is nothing wrong with this, but you will want to make sure that you properly clean your herbs first. To do this, you can put the herbs in a bowl of cool water, or even the sink if you have too many. Two tablespoons of salt in that water will ward off insects, but will not bring harm to the leaves themselves.

Once that is done, you can chop up the leaves with a salad shooter and they will be ready to use! Make sure you use each herb for it's intended purpose, and so long as you follow those basic rules you should have a pleasant herbal experience.