The world of herbs is vast and varied one. Herbs are generally classed as any plant with leaves, seeds, and flowers that are used for culinary, medicinal, cosmetic, scent and colouring purposes.
Whether it’s basil or bay leaf that you fancy growing, there’s nothing better than growing and harvesting your very own fresh organic herbs from your garden.
Growing your herbs: Herbs need sunlight, good drainage and regular water during hot and dry weather. Potted herbs need daily watering in really hot weather, and sometimes twice a day.
Continually harvest herbs to keep them trimmed and producing new fresh growth.
Garden preparation: Add good quantities of Rocky Point ActivGrow Soil Improver or Cow Manure Plus to the soil profile before planting. Make sure you water your herbs thoroughly in their pots before planting them out.
After planting mulch thickly with Rocky Point Sugar Cane, Lucerne or Pea Straw Mulch to suppress weeds, retain soil moisture and protect soil roots from fluctuating temperatures. These mulches will eventually break down adding nutrients to the soil and feeding your herbs along the way.
Pot culture: When growing herbs in pots, using a quality Australian Standard potting mix is vital for successful pot culture. Use Rocky Point Coco Pro or Tomato & Herb Potting Mix for best results. These potting mixes have fertilisers in them that will last for months, good water holding capacity and the correct drainage for container growing.
Fertiliser: Regular applications of organic liquid fertilisers are advised for your herbs to grow to their full potential and additional side dressings of organic pelletised fertiliser, like ActivGrow Fertiliser Pellets will be needed as the months go by.
TIP: EXTEND YOUR HARVEST
When you have an excess of a particular herb consider drying, freezing or preserving them in olive oil and or vinegar. This way when they are possibly out of season, or you’ve run out there’ll be some on hand in your pantry or freezer.
Cilantro as it is also commonly known is used in a wide variety of Asian dishes. Soups, curries, salads and the seeds are used as a spice.
The blue foliage of dill is great with seafood, potato and soups.
The aniseed flavour of fennel foliage, seeds and bulbous stem can be used in sweet and savory dishes, salads, soups and more.
There are three main types of fennel. Sweet, Bronze and Florence.
Basil (depending on location) generally prefers growing during the warmer months of the year. Annual forms of basil such as Sweet, Thai, Lemon, Spicy Globe, Dark Opal, and Cinnamon will generally finish up as the temperatures drop. For continued basil harvest in autumn and winter grow perennial forms of basil such as Greek or Perennial.
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