Essential
Culinary Garden Herbs

   Fresh herbs are a necessity for summer cooking and salads. In fact, they are one of the significant joys of summertime. When I was taking French cooking lessons in graduate school, I yearned for an herb garden. It was an impossibility in our married student apartments. Within a year after finishing my Ph.D., when Gail and I were able to buy our first house, I put in a small herb garden. I grew some of the herbs from seed. I have cared for a number of those herbs since. When we moved seven years ago, I brought my perennial herbs with me to the new house. They are now over 20 years old.

What are the essential herbs?
Herbs are a plant used for medicine or flavor. I only grow herbs for flavor. The herbs I have found the most use for are these: parsley, basil, mint, chives, oregano, sorrel, tarragon, thyme, and rosemary. I have grown other herbs, such as chervil and salad burnet, but used them so little I no longer bother.

   Most of the herbs are perennials: they come up every year. Where we are in Pennsylvania, the parsley and basil, and rosemary have to be planted new every year. A mild winter will spare the parsley, but a second year plant goes to seed quickly, so I end up getting new plants any way. Most are available at any local nursery; many at Home Depot, Lowes, and K-Mart. When I get to tarragon and sorrel, I will give you sources.

   Let's start with parsley (petroselinum crispum). I use it in salad and for a garnish. I grow two plants of flat leaf for salad, and one of curly leaf for garnish. We use a lot of parsley in tabbouleh, the Middle Eastern salad with burgel (recipe is on our web site). Parsley likes partial shade. I plant it so it gets morning sun and afternoon shade. Enrich its soil with manure and water once a day; it will thrive. To harvest, cut a stem at the base; new stems will grow. If seeds form on a stem, cut off the seeds or harvest the stem. That will keep the plant growing all summer and fall. Leave the seeds in the late fall with the hope they will "self-sow" bringing new plants in the spring. It rarely works for me, but you may have better fortune.

   Chop up a little parsley with other herbs and incorporate in leaf salads; also use it to garnish vegetables, potatoes, and egg dishes, particularly omelets. The French use fines herbes in or on omelets: 1 part parsley, 1 part chervil, 1/2 part chives, 1-2 leaves tarragon. Since both chervil and tarragon have an anise flavor, I only use tarragon. Use parsley in bouquet garni for soups, stews, sauces, and poached fish: 2 stems parsley, 2 stems thyme, 1 bay leaf. Tie together with string or bundle in cheese cloth.

Mint (Mentha spicata). Mint, of course, began as a Greek goddess, the nymph Minthe. Hades, the god of the Underworld, got the hots for her. Not a good thing. Persephone, Hades' queen, could not handle the competition and turned Minthe into a plant. One potent plant! A little finely chopped mint in leaf salads, just two nice size leaves, adds a lot of taste. 

   Mint likes full sun and partial shade. Beware, the plant is a genetic imperialist: it will take over your whole garden if you let it. By all means plant it in a large pot sunk into the ground. Even then, it will try to grow out of the pot and tyrannize your garden with a maze of roots. It has gotten out of my pot several times. Right now it is now on a rampage.

   To harvest, just pick off a few leaves. To prolong the plant's productivity, remove any seed heads that form.

   I use finely chopped mint, just two leaves, in all my leaf salads; more in tabbouleh; sprinkle on tomato sandwiches with olive oil and feta cheese. We also put a leaf in ice tea and other summer drinks. It is a vital ingredient in our delicious cold tomato pasta (recipe on the web site).

Basil (Ocimum basilicum). There are lots of basils;
I use the ordinary green leaf sweet basil. Basil likes full sun. I don't even put mine in the herb garden; I put it in the middle of the back yard so it gets maximum direct sunlight.

   Harvest by picking leaves. As blossoms form, remove them to prolong the life of the plant. I occasionally use a little finely chopped basil in salad. Again, it is a vital ingredient in our delicious cold tomato pasta (recipe on the web site). It is the main ingredient in pesto, which is served with pasta and soup and spread on bread for a treat: mash together 1 cup fresh basil leaves, 2 cloves of garlic, and 1/4 cup pine nuts. Add in 1/4 cup of real grated Parmesan cheese, then gradually incorporate in 3 or 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

Chives (Allium schoenoprasum). Love my chives: I have both regular and garlic. They have the flavor of a very mild onion. The blossoms are edible and have a stronger flavor, that of a pungent green onion. They are easy to grow; put in full sun or partial shade.

   To harvest, cut a few stems at the very base; they will regrow. As they do, cut the other mature stems. If the stems are not cut regularly, they will get stiff and chewy. When that happens, cut them off so new tender shoots can grow.

   I use some finely cut chives in all my leaf salads. They are also used to garnish potatoes, vegetables, and egg dishes, and in fines herbes, recipe above.

Part II