Guest Post: Growing Herbs
We live in a south-facing condo in downtown Winnipeg. Fortunately we have a very large balcony that has permitted me to put out a half dozen large clay pots in which I planted herb seedlings including basil, oregano, thyme, dill, sage and Italian parsley. These are the herbs we use most often in our recipes.
I haven’t planted cilantro even though many recipes call for it. The fact is, none of us like the taste of it. I read once in my Food Lovers Companion that ‘coriander leaves have an extremely pungent (some say fetid) odour and flavour that lends itself well to highly seasoned food….many find that fresh coriander is an acquired taste.’ That comment is spot on and I have to say I have not yet acquired a taste for this herb. I love my food aromatic and tasty whether sweet or savory but definitely not fetid!
I can highly recommend Harron’s Cooking Guide – Food Lover’s Companion by Sharon Tyler Herbst, described as ‘comprehensive definitions of over 3000 food, wine and culinary terms. It is a great little soft cover book that I refer to all of the time when I see an ingredient that I am not familiar with. It also includes appendices with weight conversions, volumes of different pan sizes and an herb and spice chart. It’s an indispensable tool for anyone who, like me, enjoys hanging out in the kitchen a lot.
Getting back to the plants that I am growing and the original point of this post; my herbs are all mature now and beginning to bud and flower. The sage, oregano and thyme remain low, bushy and strong but the others are getting quite tall and spindly looking. My question is to any of you who grow herbs, at what point do you cut back the plants to make them bushy without damaging the plant? I have heard conflicting opinions about this – some say if I tear off the flower buds the leaves will fill out better. Any advice is appreciated!
– Sagan’s dad
No advice, but this makes me really want an herb garden. If I only had a patch of land.
No advice either but I’m really interested as my herb garden is going through the same issues.
Not much in the way of advice here, either, but can tell you that the basil I have growing in a pot on my deck seemed to do better after I tore off the flower buds.
I’ll send my cousin over to read this post – perhaps she’ll have some advice for you.
The cousin in question here.
Pinch off the buds. Take off the center leaves on top on the basil, but it seems to me you should leave the lowest leaves on. Not sure about that and my husband isn’t around right now to ask. That’s all I’ve ever done.
I don’t think dill and parsley can be killed by conventional means so go ahead and cut them back. The parsley can be cut to fairly near the ground and will keep growing until a hard frost kills it. I’m not sure about the dill. I think taking away the flowers is best.
Happy Spicing!
I love cilantro and I did the first time I tried it. But we’re all different, right?
I agree – trim off the flowers/buds. My understanding is, with a lot of herbs, once the flower and go to seed they pretty much die off. If you want to keep harvesting, keep trimming off the flowers so they can’t go to seed.
Thank you for the advice, I’ll nip my basil accordingly and see what happens.. also just to let you all know, Sagan is having a fabulous time in Italy and is managing to eat healthy. There is a lot of good fruit in the markets to supplement the pizza she has been sampling.
Sagan’s Dad
I always take off the flowering buds…..and I wonder…can you grow enough parsely for yourselves in a pot or do you have to trip on over to the grocery shop for some extra……I have always had to trip trip trip, that is except for the time when I had multiple pots in a huge garden!