Saturday 16 July 2011

Herbs

Many herbs look good in a flower border. as well as being useful for cooking. I like to have a generous supply not far from the back door. Above are golden marjoram, variegated sage, and Italian thyme. I add a mix of chopped golden marjoram, thyme chives and mint to salads.
Last year I had some in a hanging basket just outside the door so I could reach then without going out in the rain.
Below is a selection of herbs bought recently including wonderfully aromatic Vietnamese coriander and zingy lemon verbena whose flavour seems more lemony than lemon.
I also got dill, chervil, coriander and winter savoury which is new to me. I was on the look out for it after hearing about it on one of Nigel Slater's TV programmes. These have been potted up and are growing fast.



I buy my herbs from the Foxhollow Nursery (click here for location) It's up a narrow track and feels like the heart of the countryside rather than the edge of the London suburbs. It is one of the smallholdings on the Little Woodcote Estate. These smallholdings were originally offered to returning servicemen after World War One as part of the 'Homes for Heroes' in the 1920s
This one has a large selection of herbs so there are several varieties of, say, rosemary or thyme etc as well as the unusual and more exotic herbs. They also grow and sell Christmas trees.

The thymes are in full bloom


and on the right are some Christmas trees.


5 comments:

Jill said...

Lovely post. How fun to be around all those herbs and plants!!

kraplap said...

Tessa, I love my herb garden too ! And this year I also have Vietnamese coriander for the first time, and we love it !!

Zuda Gay Pease said...

Lovely! I love fresh herbs from the garden...you can't get much better than that! I've never heard of Vietnamese coriander.

zuda

Colours and Textures said...

Petronella do you eat your Vietnamese coriander raw or cooked?
I shal start with it in a salad.

Judi said...

I have fresh herbs growing in my garden, too ... but they don't look nearly as pretty!

My favorite is sweet basil....yumm!