@robairdmacraignil yeah, these are our favorites! They never disappoint! We have some chocolate mint we managed to accidentally drop on the ground and now we can’t rid of it haha. Great for summer mojitos though!
Does oregano spread much?
I have found that oregano does self seed a bit but with nice fragrance and the flowers so popular with bees I'm happy to see it pop up in unexpected places. Just saw someone else mention bay leaf and have lots of that growing here as well. It makes a very nice garden plant bringing some nice green colour to the winter months and some seedling plants I put in the ground a few years back are already over a metre tall. Winter savory is nice as well but needs good light levels and mine is not looking great this year since it got overgrown by some other plants.
I wouldn't be without coriander (salsas, salads, soups and curries), dill (to use with fish mainly but also because I really love the plants growing in the border), mints, rosemary, sage (fried crispy sage leaves are delicious sprinkled over chicken, pork, squash etc etc), chives and parsley.
I use them all for cooking. Those silly little bags of herbs in the supermarket are ridiculously expensive and I love being able to use big generous fistfuls of whatever works best with today's menu.
Don't grow many veg these days as we are away too much for watering / harvesting requirements. Herbs in the ground, however, just look after themselves...
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
Sweet cicely is one of my mainstays and I wouldn't be without lemon verbena. Sorrel is another one I don't think has been mentioned (perhaps it's not strictly a herb) - 'buckler leaf', red veined and common - all very nice in winter salads - a lemony flavour. I also grow lovage, various mints (black peppermint, tashkent mint, ginger mint) and also marjoram and greek oregano. Greek oregano self seeds in my garden but it's easy enough to pull out if you don't want it. Sweet cicely also self seeds here but apparently it won't in a warmer climate. They are a bit harder to pull out (deep roots) but no real trouble. I have chives, garlic chives and welsh onions, broad leaved and lemon thyme and sage.
Dill, fennel and coriander don't play well together, so keep them separated so they don't cross pollinate. Likewise, make sure different types of mint don't touch each other
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Another vote for lovage here. Thyme and marjoram are a must, as is bay. Sorrel is another we use frequently and I like to have pots of basil on the windowsill. Sadly coriander seems to bolt too readily to be of much use.
Apart from what you have and thyme, I grow pots and pots of lovely liquorice fennel. It brightens every dish, everything from omelettes to shakshuka. And I bunged it into the roast chicken last night- yum!
Winter savory. To me it's kind of aromatic, that top of the mouth clearing sensation like eucalyptus or mint. My OH swears it's a pepper taste that gets weaker as you cook it. The cat will steal a sprig and take it away and cuddle it.
We put it on chicken with rosemary to get the flavour to go all through.
What a great list got assembled from all posts! Will have to try to grow some in pots ( more leafy ones to get them away from deer).
Love hearing you talk about favorite ones, feel really inspiring for widening my meal repertoire
Here's a little something we started to make now with little bits of herbs available at the moment. Small flatbreads for lunch with little bit of everything another one was Margherita with tarragon on top, but my SO inhaled it before i could take a photo ))
Posts
I use them all for cooking. Those silly little bags of herbs in the supermarket are ridiculously expensive and I love being able to use big generous fistfuls of whatever works best with today's menu.
Don't grow many veg these days as we are away too much for watering / harvesting requirements. Herbs in the ground, however, just look after themselves...
Dill, fennel and coriander don't play well together, so keep them separated so they don't cross pollinate. Likewise, make sure different types of mint don't touch each other
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
We put it on chicken with rosemary to get the flavour to go all through.
Love chewing a freshly licked chocolate mint black peppermint leaf too!
Will have to try to grow some in pots ( more leafy ones to get them away from deer).
Love hearing you talk about favorite ones, feel really inspiring for widening my meal repertoire
Here's a little something we started to make now with little bits of herbs available at the moment. Small flatbreads for lunch with little bit of everything