This Week’s Guest Blogger is Nikki Cooper, Owner of Old Hogden, seeds straight from the potting shed, the heart of the garden
The Herb Garden
I always think that the best part of the vegetable patch is the herbs. How nice it is to cook a meal; suddenly realize you need thyme and oregano. Out the back door, to that special spot to tweak some leaves, giving magic to your food.
Yes flavour, but so many other things as well. Herbs have many healing properties. Take chives for instance. They are antibacterial and a great circulatory stimulant. Chopped up in scrambled eggs, added to sour cream and butter on a baked potato – it’s enough to make your mouth water!
Parsley is another great herb. It is quite slow to germinate, sometimes taking 6 weeks to pop through the earth, but once up you have a tasty herb that is around for a full two years and gives far more than it takes, being full of vitamins A and C, iron, calcium and magnesium, just to name a few. Brilliant anti-inflammatory and antihistamine, so makes a good herbal tea in the hay fever season.
Herbs are easy to grow. Mostly they are best started off in small pots on a sunny windowsill. Basil loves warmth, so I always start mine off in the airing cupboard. Water it, then cover in cling film to make a ‘mini greenhouse’. Just don’t do what I did and forget about it.
My favourite thing is to give all the herbs a full on ‘haircut’ around July/August time. I have a large sieve that I got a long time ago. All the herb cuttings go in here and then they sit in the airing cupboard until I get round to seeing to them. Pop them in a blender, taking out any large tough stalks first and add a good dosing of celery salt. This makes an amazing condiment for the table as a replacement for salt, giving flavour and good heath all round.
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