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Herbs - how to harvest!
Jacqui Harbinson
Posts: 8
in Plants
I work in a community Association and asked if I could plant out one of the larger raised planters we had (see above picture). I chose to plant herbs at the front then lettuce with flowers at the back. The flowers were poached egg and sweet william and then I put nasturtium and sweet pea around the outside. I am planning to put up some wiring from one side to the other to allow the plants to create a tunnel effect on top of the planter. My question is abot the hers. As you can see they have grown really well and I want to harvest them but unsure what to do ie cutting and storing. Any tips? I have heard some refer to freezing herbs in ice cube trays but unsure what to do. This is my first time planting anything like this!
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Posts
Snip the tips off with scissors to harvest. With most herbs the stems have side shoots all the way up so you want to cut just a above a side shoot and the herb will re-sprout from those side shoots so you can harvest again in a week or two. To freeze them, chop them as finely as you can and pack the chopped herbs into the ice cube tray and they will freeze into a little solid block.
For drinks cubes you can put a few mixed whole leaves or flowers (mint leaves, borage flowers, for example) in water in the ice cube tray. Then make yourself a nice Pimms and lemonade and drop a herby ice cube in.
Some, like oregano, you can cut a whole stem right to the ground and it re-sprouts from the base. You can then hang the whole stem upside-down somewhere cool and dry to dry out. Once they are crispy you can crumble the leaves and thinner stems and put them in an airtight jar (like the dried herbs you get in supermarkets).
Or you can preserve them by making a simple crab apple jelly and mixing in chopped fresh herbs (mint is good this way), or by making a light syrup (again, mint is lovely done this way, or lemon verbena).
You can make 'capers' by pickling nasturtium seeds too
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