CyberSalad: Garden Pursuits: Herbs

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     To most people herbs mean seasonings. Yet the lift they give food is only one of the varied pleasures herbs offer. They can be used for dyes, ornaments for room decorations, scents, home-brewed teas, and in the landscape around the house, eye-catching delights of foliage color and pattern.
     Whether culinary herbs are used to flavor summer salads or dried for later use, they taset best if they are harvested in their prime. One practical way to make sure that tender young leaves or ripe seeds will not be overlooked is to locate the herbs in vegetable beds, where the crops may be planted and picked together. Another answer, which takes advantage of the plants' aromatic virtues, is to grow the herbs close to the kitchen door, where their perfumes act as a constant reminder to the cook.
     Months, even years, after herbs have been picked they go on giving pleasure in dried form. Culinary kinds keep their flavor when they are packed in air-tight containers. Many decorative herbs remain colorful and shapely; Silver King artemisia can be bent around wire rings to form dried wreaths that make handsome gifts. And herbs like lavender, which still smells sweet after drying, can perfume a room in the aromatic mixture of roots, leaves, and flowers called porpourri, or used in sachets and nosegays, or to scent bath water, candles, oils, or perfumes.
     Herbs as a group are relatively easy to grow. Begin your herb garden with the herbs you enjoy using the most. For example, choose basil, oregano, and fennel for Italian cooking; lavender and lemon verbena for making potpourri; or chamomile, peppermint, and blue balsam mint if you plan to make your own teas. The optimum growing conditions vary with each individual herb species. Some of the herbs familiar to North Americans, such as lavender, rosemary, thyme, bay laurel, marjoram, dill, and oregano are native to the Mediterranean region. These herbs grow best in soils with excellent drainage, bright sun, and moderate temperatures.

	Garlic		Rosemary		Chives
	Lavender		Mints		Lemon Balm

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Site launched January 1, 2000.
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