Mad About Herbs

Welcome to the Mad About Herbs blog.  My name's Madeleine Giddens and I'm a herbaholic!  Here is where I come - when I'm not working on my business or looking after my gorgeous daughters - to write about my passion for herbs and share with you what I've learnt over the last 7 years about their culinary and health benefits.

Please take your time and wander through some of my recent postings or use the categories in the column to your right to locate your own areas of interest or use the search box a bit lower down on the right.

Oh - and if you'd like to receive a regular  'sprinkle' of herb tips and information in your inbox, you can subscribe to my free online newsletter by clicking the link over there on the right!  You'll also get a free ebook '7 Everyday Herbs Made Simple' which gives information about how to use 7 herbs in your cooking and it also give a summary of their reported health benefits.

Herbs in Borders

If you don't have space for a separate herb bed, there are many herbs that will look great in your garden borders.

These photos show a selection of herbs that had been planted into the borders in our garden by the previous owners.

This is my favourite one, it is Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens); I originally thought it was the True alkanet (Alkanna tinctoria).  Thank you to Debs Cook of Herbal Haven for pointing this out.  You can read much more detail and clear photos of the differences and uses on her blog.

This is garlic mustard also know as Jack-by-the-hedge.  It has a mild garlic flavour which is great for gently spicing up salads.

This one is Sweet Woodruff; ready for harvesting the flowers to dry for use in pot pourri and other crafts.  It is low-growing and doesn't mind being planted in shady places.  The scent is subtle but lovely and the flowers such a beautiful vivid white.

There are a few patches of these dotted around the borders; they are called Perennial Cornflower (Centaurea montana) and are good for ground cover but are not edible although in some parts of Europe it is used medicinally.

How to make Rosemary Syrup

One of my ezine subscribers requested this recipe and I thought some of you may want to try it too.  One word of warning; rosemary is a very strong flavour so you don't need much of it.  I made it to drizzle onto a lemon cake and it was different but nice.  Rosemary goes particularly well with oranges so you could use this syrup drizzled onto some freshly cut orange segments.

This method can be used for other herbs as well although herbs with more delicate leaves do not need to be simmered after adding to the mixture; just leave them to infuse for half an hour.

Cut and wash 3 to 6 sprigs of rosemary.  You can put the whole sprigs into the sugar solution or strip the leaves from the stems, bruising or chopping them to help bring out the flavour; you will need approximately 3 tablespoons.

Place 200gms sugar in a pan with 200ml water and bring to the boil until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Add the rosemary to the mixture and simmer gently for a further 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat and cover.  Leave to infuse for at least half an hour then strain out the leaves.

This syrup can be stored in a jar which can be kept in the refrigerator for about 1 week.  If it is for use on a cake,  prick the cake all over with a thin skewer or toothpick and drizzle the syrup over so that it completely soaks into the cake.

Hmm, lemon balm syrup or mint syrup sound tasty, might try that next or maybe I should make cough syrup instead, there seems to be so many people with coughs and colds at the moment!

If you have any favourites or other ways you use syrups, feel free to leave a comment below.

Herby birthday books

It was my birthday last Sunday and for some reason I got lots of herby books! Now why would anyone think I was interested in herbs?

Seriously though, there's some great books there, I can't wait to give them a read and try out some recipes.

You can find more information and reviews about most of them in my Amazon bookstore.

The Edible Wild Plants & Herbs book is a lovely book and  great if you want to get into wild foods, it has plenty of recipes, 400 to be precise! 

Culpeper's Herbal has been on my wish list for a long time so I'm looking forward to reading that one.

I've been told that I have too many herb books, is that possible?  I don't think I'll ever stop learning new things about herbs!  If you have any favourite herb books, feel free to let me know by leaving a comment below.

Back pain and Herb Garden Update

I had a wrestling match with some ivy on one of our fences (the ivy is behind some  shrubs); the ivy won so I ended up with back pain which lasted a good week.  The moral of this story is not to twist and pull!  I'm all better now so I got stuck in to all the gardening jobs I hadn't got round to like sowing seeds inside and outside, transferring seedlings and plants.  The photos are of my garden as it is now; there is still a lot to do as you can see but I'm getting there slowly but surely!  It will look much better once the plants are all in and I've got some gravel down on the paths.  The herb area used to be an area of lawn but it is now an area split into four main beds with one central bed, I've yet to reclaim the border along the fence!

This photo is one of the beds which has been more or less planted up, I've just got to be patient and wait for it to fill out!  I ended up buying some thymes and purple sage to get a quicker effect but all the green sage plants were grown from seed so will take longer to become established.  I'm calling it the 'Med Bed' (as in mediterranean) because it mainly has plants that don't mind dry and sunny conditions.  In it I have thyme,  thyme 'silver posie' , lamb's ears, cotton lavender, feverfew, sage and purple sage forming a cross shape to create four small areas for annuals.  So far I have sown coriander 'leisure' and 'moroccan', dill and marigolds.  The fourth area is for sweet basil; this will be something new for me because I normally leave basil in pots because it doesn't normally like being transplanted so I'll sow some seeds direct and transplant some to see what happens.  On the left hand side of the bed are oregano, lamb's ears, feverfew and sweet marjoram; one that I bought plus some seedlings that I started about 6 weeks ago.  Along the two shorter edges are a row of rosemary cuttings that I've had for a while in pots.  The aim is to keep the structural herbs; rosemary, sage, marjoram and oregano, cotton lavender, thymes trimmed and provide some shelter/shade to the roots of the annuals so they are less likely to bolt.  Not sure how this will look/work out because of the different growth stages of some of the plants but it's fun trying it out.

Just out of shot is a pile of dead branches which are the remains of a very large berberis that we removed; we're still being prickled by the vicious spines that fell into the borders.

This is the central bed with an Apothecary's Rose in the middle, chives around the edge (to deter  aphids from the rose).  There are also some violets and heartsease plants in there.

 

The salad burnet has grown rapidly and the flowers are about to open.

I'll add some more photos of the herbs at a later date either into the photo album or somewhere like flickr.  Any recommendations for photo storage welcomed!

Spring Tonics and the Herb Society on TV!

The Herb Society have a great article on their website about using dandelions and nettles as spring tonics and if you watch BBC1's Countryfile this Sunday (27th April) you will see Jenny Jones Dip Phyt, FNIMH and Debs Cook making some of the recipes from this page. Can't wait!

I've only made Nettle Soup and Dandelion Syrup so far so I may give these other recipes a go. 

Ten Top Tips for Growing Herbs in Containers

Following on from my post about the advantages of growing herbs in containers, here are some tips to help you have a beautiful and thriving herb container garden.

1.  Choose an appropriate container and compost i.e. A heavy stone trough wouldn't be a good idea for a balcony garden and a heavy soil based compost wouldn't be suitable for a hanging basket or windowbox unless the fittings are very secure.

2.  Make sure you can lift the container if you are planting frost tender herbs in it because you will need to place it in a frost free place for the winter if you want them to survive until the following year.

3.  Use a good quality potting compost mixed with coarse sand to help with drainage, plus a 2 to 5cm deep layer of gravel/crocks at the base of the pot.

4.  If you are using metal containers don't place them in full sun; the herb's roots will shrivel!

5.  If you want a low maintenance container garden or don't want to use liquid feeds, you can add a slow release fertiliser into the compost.

6.  If you want to minimise the amount of watering you need to do, consider adding water-retaining gel or granules into the compost.  I have seen people add cut up bath sponges which I guess would have a similar effect although I'm not sure if any chemicals would leach into the soil?

7.  As soon as you see roots starting to grow out of the base of the pot, you know you need to re-pot the plant into the next largest size container.

8.  Check the moisture levels of the container soil daily during warm spells.

9.  Try not to cram too many herbs into one pot; they need plenty of light and space to avoid them growing too tall and spindly.  A group of containers with one herb per pot can look stunning.

10.  Trim/harvest your herbs regularly to promote fresh bushy growth.

Oh, I thought of some more, here's a few of them.......

 

11.  Place your containers where they will get plenty of light especially in the morning.

12.  Place containers away from strong and persistent winds; it stresses your herbs out!  This is especially important if you are growing taller herbs in a container; the stems may break.  Wind tends to dry out the soil and can also blow away the top soil if there is not mulch on it.

13.  For established herbs in containers, mulch in the Spring by removing the top 2 to 5 cm of soil and replacing with a mulch of fresh compost.

14.  Plant herbs that like similar soil conditions in the same container. i.e lavender and mint wouldn't be a good combination.

If you have any tips or herb container gardening questions, feel free to leave a comment below.

Herbalism and Walking in the Alpujarra, Spain

I've received details of the above course which may be of interest to some of you.  The course is limited to 12 participants and is suitable for beginners and experienced herbalists alike.  It takes place every year in the Alpujarra region of the Sierra Nevada, Spain with expert herbalist Julio Donat.

Julio will introduce you to the vast and intriguing  world of plants, teaching you to identify the varied flora of the Sierra Nevada  (including medicinal, edible, and dangerous plants).  You will learn about the  qualities of different plants, collecting methods, drying, conserving and cultivating. 

You will also learn about simple traditional preparation of plants, making infusions, decoctions, macerations, tinctures, unguents, creams, soaps, toothpaste and perfume.

So if you fancy a week away you can find out more at the Bootlace website or for more details of the week you can contact Fiona Primarolo by email.

Aromatherapy Dough

Why didn't I think of that!  Dough with pure essential oils incorporated into it.  My daughter gets travel sick even on short journeys so this might just be worth a try.

Mohdoh have brought out a range of mouldable medicines to combat a variety of childhood ailments through play therapy, colour therapy and aromatherapy.  There are six products each of which tackles different symptoms from travel sickness to anxiety.  As the dough is kneaded, the essential oils are vaporised, inhaled and absorbed through the skin. 

You can choose from No worries, Smart, Are we there yet, Calm, Breathe and 40 winks.

The product is non toxic and contains pure essential oils.  It retails at £6.49 or £30 for all 6 and is available online at www.mohdoh.co.uk

Has anyone tried these?

How to make Marigold Cream and Tincture

I'm thrilled to tell you that one of my photos has been used on the Herb Society's website as part of their article about Marigolds (Calendula officinalis).  It is one of my favourite  herby flower combinations: rosemary and calendula.  It looks and smells great and is so simple but effective.

The article details how to make Marigold cream and tincture.  Marigold is very good for relieving inflamed or itchy skin, alternatively, you could just stick them in a vase because they look so pretty!

  To read the herb society's article, click here.

10 Reasons to Grow Herbs in Containers

Growing herbs in containers has many advantages, this post refers mainly to outdoor containers which can be anything from an old pair of wellies to large stone troughs!

1.  Anyone can do it; you don't need much space and with the top tips coming up in a future blog post, you should have a beautiful, fragrant and useful addition to your living space.

2.  They can be put almost anywhere.  They can be on steps, windowsills, attached to walls, placed on plant stands, in a windowbox, on a balcony, by the kitchen door or hung from brackets if using hanging baskets.  If you use a plant stand you can garden standing instead of bending over.  You can move them around as necessary eg move them into the shade if it gets too hot and into the sun if their current position is overshadowed by trees or buildings.

3.  Less chance of weeds or other invasive plants taking over in a container.

4.  You don't need to worry so much about garden pests.

5.  It is easier to plant up, maintain and harvest from a container.

6.  A smaller investment of time and money than a garden patch.

7.  You can choose a different theme for each container. How about a 'Perfume Pot' or an italian theme or just keep it simple and have one herb per pot.

8.  If you grow tender herbs in  containers .eg basil, lemon verbena, pineapple sage or scented pelargoniums, it is easier to bring them indoors when there is a risk of frost.

9.  You can control the soil type and growing conditions to suit the herb's requirements eg Have a sandy soil for thymes, fertile and moist soil for mint plants.

10.  Containers are ideal used for invasive herbs such mints, lemon balm, soapwort and tansy.   

This is just a small example of the information contained in my herb gardening e-book that I am currently editing, it will be jam-packed with useful information about starting a herb garden and then how to keep it alive!  If you have found this blog post useful and want to be one of the first to know when the e-book is available, just drop me a quick e-mail.  You'll be on my priority list and therefore entitled to a limited early bird discount offer.  Thanks!