Planting the herb garden and Fines Herbes

It's hard to believe that one year ago the herb garden was nearly a vacant site.

The "Before" photo looking from the far end of the herb garden where now the culinary herbs are.
Photo taken on 9th of February 2014.

"After" photo from that same position taken 31st of January 2015. The Bay tree
showing up as a recognisable landmark Sarah planted before 2010 when these grounds
were used as an organic gardening teaching facility.

Looking from the top of the medicinal garden towards the
culinary garden.  Photo 31st January 2015.

The Rosemary hedge was already in place but half the height and health it is today. The Bay tree, a tea tree and lemon verbena were left and herbs grown around them.  Artichokes were moved to create height and a back border to the herb garden.

The Rosemary hedge runs the full length of not only the herb
garden but nearly the whole length of the communal plots on the far right of the gardens.

It is thanks to the work and commitment of Bev, Liz and Sarah that the herb garden and the community plantings look as good as they do.  Liz took on the responsibility of designing the layout of the garden.   She split the garden into three circular gardens outlined by hedges of Santolina or Cotton Lavender, Lavender and Anise Hyssop.  

left Bev, centre Liz and right Sarah. These three have propagated
most of the herbs for the communal herb garden and  the plants that are grown
in the community plots like the sunflowers and corn pictured behind them.

Through perseverance Liz has achieved a garlic chive border along both sides of the pathway down the centre of the herb garden and grew most of them herself by seed. 

Garlic Chives frame the central pathway

The first circle at the top end of the garden contains culinary herbs.  

An Anise Hyssop Agastache foeniculum hedge encircles the culinary herb garden.  It makes a handsome hedge and loves the hot dry weather this summer has dished out. Between the slugs and snails and plant losses from dampening off it was a frustrating task for Bev to grow enough of these plants from seeds over winter for planting out early spring.  Now we have them they will readily seed or can be divided by root division in autumn.

The upright purple blooms of this herb from the mint family are loved by the bees and you can add the fragrant new leaves and flowers in salads or used as a herbal tea.

Embracing the medicinal circular garden is Santolina  (common name is cotton lavender).

When this herb flowers it produces yellow button flowers.

Liz aptly chose for the third garden growing fragrant and insectary plants the purple-blue Catmint Nepeta faassenii to border the entrance to the herb garden.

Catmint is in the mint family as you can see by the shape of the leaves and the highly fragrant leaves.

An English hedging Lavender has been planted as a border around the outside edge of the  three circle gardens. 

The Lavender hedging goes along the top and down the right
hand outside edge of the herb garden.   A Rosemary hedge edges the side
of the herb gardens next to gardeners plots.

My role in the herb garden design and planting was to suggest herbs to fit inside the hedging that would for the culinary herb garden be the most useful for our gardeners and to decide on medicinal herbs that would create some interest.  I worked closely with Liz as she had a vision of the colours and form she wants to create visually pleasing gardens.  

There are too many herbs to illustrate in one posting, so I have decided to introduce the herbs we have planted over a few postings. 

So let's start with Fines Herbes in the culinary herb garden.  These are a combination of soft herbs that are the used in French cuisine but added at the end of cooking only, otherwise their delicate flavours would be lost. 

The essential herbs in Fines Herbes are: Parsley, Chives, Chervil and French Tarragon.

Italian Parlsey Petroselinum crispum neapolitanum

 Parsley

We are growing both varieties of parsley flat leaved and curly parsley.  I wanted to create a green river of parsley in the garden but at the moment most of the plants are going to seed.  We are allowing the parsley to seed to see if natural regeneration will occur and some new plants have been planted just in case the conditions are not ideal for the parsley naturally reseeding. The seed heads are also being left for the benefit of insects. There will always be room for lots of parsley as it is perhaps the most used herb in the garden.

An extract from my blog posting on Jeannieskitchen, Parsley - a super food not simply a garnish

Parsley is said to assist in treating PMT, menopause and easing cramps. Eating parsley everyday is claimed to reduce blood pressure.  It’s probably the richest herb source of Vitamin K and is loaded with vitamins A, C and B that strengthens the body’s immune system, stimulates digestion of protein and fat.   It is a diuretic that helps to rid the body of sodium and a good source of folic acid as well as iron. Chlorophyll found in parsley is a good cure to stop and avoid bad breath – that’s why it is recommended that you eat it after consuming garlic. 

Chives Allium schoenoprasum .

Chives

Chives are the smallest in the onion plant family.  The green leaves are hollow and reed like. The variety we have growing in the garden is one of the larger varieties.

Chervil Anthriscus cerefolium should grow to a height of around 30 cm
if in ideal cool and damp conditions.

Chervil

This is a delicate herb not easily found on sale in New Zealand.  Its in the same family as parsley but has a more delicate flavour than parsley with a faint taste of liquorice or aniseed. It has good digestive properties but it's not always easy to grow.

Chervil in flower.

Chervil quickly runs to seed, especially if transplanted because of its tap root. We struggled to get seedlings growing over winter and the plants haven't really taken off as we would have liked... probably due to the dry conditions this summer.  It's good news that one of the plants is flowering.  Once Chervil gets established and is allowed to self seed you should always have a ready supply but perhaps it's just too hot and dry in our garden for it to succeed.  We have planted our chervil under the shade of the Lemon Verbena tree to give it the best chance.  Like coriander it will remain longer without going to seed if it is grown with the help of some shading from a taller crop.

French Tarragon Artemisia dracunculus- three plants growing really well. These are cuttings from my Dunedin
garden and where it was always a struggle in the colder clay soils there, in our garden it is loving
the free draining volcanic soil and the warmer temperatures.

French Tarragon

This herb's name translates to "Little Dragon" and is used to flavour chicken, egg and fish dishes with it's fragrant aniseed leaves.

It's a stronger flavour than chervil so you have to be careful as to the quantity you use.  If it is cooked the flavour is not as strong as raw.

French Tarragon is doing well in our garden because it doesn't like too much watering and is doing well over this dry summer.

French Tarragon is better flavoured than Russian Tarragon. But how can you tell the difference?  The Russian grows up to 5ft tall and to test if you have true French tarragon you chew a leaf and hold it at the front of your mouth and if you feel a numbness on the tip of your tongue then it's the true tarragon.

Next posting I will look at the stronger herbs used in French cooking in the famous Bouquet Garni.

If you see Liz or I in the herb garden we are happy to introduce you to these herbs in person.

The gardens are looking very productive at the moment and especially the summer beans. I just had to take a photo of VJ and Clements bean tree.  My grandson Beau thought it looked like Jack's beanstalk.  

Beau (4) beside VJ and Clement's giant bean teepee

Flowers and the bees

From early spring until early summer I have observed and taken photos of the busy bees at our gardens, both bumble bees and honey bees. 

You have to be quick to capture them on one flower and I was so lucky one day when I got this shot of both a honey bee and a bumble bee sharing the pollen in a poppy.

Poppies are one of the early spring flowers but keep on flowering for a number of months.  There are always bees around them.

In mid September some of the gardeners were clearing their plots for planting - others thankfully were waiting for warmer weather.  I say thankfully because when I visited the gardens you could hear the bees buzz with excitement over the overgrown brassicas and radishes that were left to flower in plots.  These flowering brassicas are important for the bees.

Daikon radish is another tall flowering plant that the bees were feasting on.

I enjoy how some of our gardeners like Rosie has here mix flowers with vegetables. This is not only appealing to our eyes but is important for bees and gives a longer term home for predator insects.  

By having perennial or plants that these predator insects can live in near your vegetables predator pests can concentrate on feeding on insect pests in their immediate environment rather than taking long commutes.  They don't want to use energy commuting unless they have to.

Calendulas are great additions to the veggie garden as they flower for a number of months and are one of the early arrivals in spring. I particularly like the dark centred calendulas(also known as pot marigold) to be found seeding around the gardens and in garden plots and the leaves can be used in salads so they have a double purpose and therefore deserve a place in your plot.

The borage flower is also useful in the kitchen and bees just love it. I made borage soup in early spring and it was delicious.  I am keen to try it again as a summer soup using cucumbers and borage. The blue flowers so attractive to bees are also attractive on cakes and in summer salads. For me borage and calendula are my two "must haves".

In springtime a welcome sight are tulips

In September with the longer and warmer days herbs like coriander and rocket quickly start to flower in preparation for going to seed. Both flowers are very attractive when you stop to look at them.

I like the delicate pink blooms of the coriander and the flowers can be used in salads.

The rocket flowers on first glance don't look that exciting but close up you can see the delicate nature of the blooms. These peppery flowers can be used in salads and have the telltale cross shaped flower of the brassica family.

In November another striking blue flower in the gardens appears - the statuesque Echium pinniniana. This Echium originally came from the Canary Islands.

Then along came the much awaited sweet peas.

 Hollyhocks started blooming in November.  Hollyhocks are a feature of our gardens and self seed to continue supply. There are a variety of pinks and reds and they are the original open flower variety that make them easy access for bees.

More flower spires in Liz's garden in December with elegant Foxgloves.

Foxgloves are poisonous and when you look at the flowers close up there is something that indicates that this flower is slightly sinister...is the patchy spots or the hairs?

Along one boundary we have Canna Lillies in red, orange and yellow.

These are just a few of the flower species we have scattered around the gardens.  It's not only because of the flowers that we have plenty of bees, just a few metres away are the hives of the Auckland Beekeeping Club. It's a win/win situation for the club bees and our gardens.