DECEMBER 1997

THE VEGAN NEWS  


Growing and Using Herbs: The Vegan Way
 By Pauline Lloyd

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Before the Industrial Revolution it was quite common for people to grew their own garden herbs for use in the home. However, as people flocked into towns to look for work, overcrowding in small terraced houses, meant that many houses were no longer built with a garden and the custom of growing herbs fell into decline. In the last twenty years, interest in herbs has increased once again, as people have become more critical of food flavoured with artificial chemicals and of agricultural methods which rely on the use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides. Herbs are back in demand once more. And, I hope that this revival of interest continues because they are wonderful plants to grow!

Herbs are on the whole undemanding, easy-to-care for and very useful plants. And, they can usually be grown successfully, even by the novice gardener. However, as many of them come from the Mediterranean area, they often need to be planted in a sunny position in order to thrive properly. But in fact, these sun-loving herbs are ideal because they tend to be fairly drought-resistant and therefore do not require a lot of watering. Everyone should consider planting some herbs in their garden (even if they have no intention of harvesting and using the herbs!) as many herbs are valuable wildlife plants and encourage bees and butterflies to come into the garden.

For centuries, these versatile plants have been used in so many different ways and I am confident that it won't be long before you find many good uses for yours too. Historically, they have been used to: flavour food in cooking, to preserve food, for dying, to sweeten the atmosphere (as in pot pourri), in herbal remedies, herb teas and even in cosmetics.

Herb Growing Tips

I am, of course, aware that some of you will not have a garden in which to grow herbs. But, please don't let this put you off trying, as you do not need a garden in order to grow small amounts of herbs successfully. In fact, many herbs can be grown in containers placed on patios and balconies, or even in plant pots on an indoor windowsill. You can plant your herbs in troughs, window boxes, old sinks, sawn-in-half beer barrels, hanging baskets and I even have a lovely lemon thyme plant, growing inside an old chimney pot. Just use your imagination! However, those of you who are fortunate enough to have a garden, should try to avoid container-grown herbs if at all possible, as they require watering more frequently than herbs which are planted directly into the soil. (And, as I said last month, it is important that we all conserve water whenever possible.)

If you would like to plant your herbs in a special herb garden, then the best position for it is by your back door. Then you will be able to pop outside for a sprig of mint or parsley while you are cooking the dinner. Don't forget though that at least part of your herb garden should be in a sunny position. One of the easiest ways to make a herb area is to use a simple chess-board design of paving stones. Simply remove alternate paving stones and plant your herbs in the soil squares. However, you do not necessarily need to make a special area for your herbs, as they can just as easily be interplanted in your vegetable patch where they can frequently act as companion plants and will help to deter pests from attacking your vegetables.

Which Herbs Should I Grow?

Really this depends on how sunny your garden is, your cooking needs and whether you want to use your herbs to attract wildlife into your garden. Below you will find a list of the herbs that I consider to be particularly useful in the veganic garden:

The Top Twenty Herbs

NAME LATIN NAME HEIGHT WILDLIFE VALUE CULTIVATION POSITION CONTAINER GROWING
Parsley Petroselinum crispum Up to 2 feet None Seeds sown spring/autumn Sunny Yes
Basil Ocimum minimum 6 inches None Seeds sown early summer Sunny Yes
Garlic Allium sativum 2 feet None Plant cloves Nov-Feb Sunny No
Oregano Origanum vulgare 2-3 ft Bee/Butterfly Seed sown in spring Sunny Use Origanum onites
Comfrey Symphytum officinale 2-3 ft None Buy Plants Damp No
Spearmint Mentha spicata 18 inches Bee Rooted cuttings Moist, shady Yes
Chives Allium schoenoprasum 12-15 inches Bee Seeds or plants Sunny, keep damp Yes
Sage Salvia officinalis 2-4 ft Bee Seed sown early spring Sunny Yes
Thyme Thymus vulgaris 18 inches Bee Seed sown spring Sunny Yes
Lemon Thyme Thymus x citriodorus 8-12 inches Bee Cuttings or buy plants Sunny Yes
Coriander Coriandrum sativum 18-24 inches Bee Seed sown in early spring Sunny No
Cumin Cuminum cyminum 1-2 ft None Seed sown in early summer Sunny No
Sweet Cicely Myrrhis odorata 2-5 ft Bee Seed sown early spring Partial shade No
Hyssop Hyssopus officinalis 2 ft Bee Seed sown in spring Sunny Yes
Lavender Lavandula spica 1-3 ft Bee/Butterfly/Bird Seeds or buy plants Sunny Dwarf varieties only
Lemon Balm Melissa officinalis 1-2 ft Bee Seeds, cuttings or buy plants Sunny Yes
Chamomile Anthemis nobilis 6 inches ? Seed, or buy plants Sunny No
Bergamot Monarda didyma 1-3 ft Bee Buy plants Partial shade Yes
Nasturtium Tropaeolum majus 1 ft Caterpillar Seed sown early summer Sunny Yes
Rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis 18 inches-6 ft Birds eat seeds? Seeds or plants Sunny Yes

How To Use Your Herbs:

Mint sauce with lamb, or fish with parsley sauce? Well these are perhaps not the ideal way for vegans to use their herbs! Here are some of the ways that I use the herbs grown in my veganic garden:
  1. Parsley is my number one veganic garden herb - easily grown on a windowsill too, if you don't have a garden. Parsley is a very nutritious herb, high in vitamins A and C and a good source of iron and calcium. Use it raw as a garnish, in salads, or it can be cooked in sauces. There are many varieties of parsley to choose from. I prefer the variety 'Champion Moss Curled'.

  2. Basil is a strong-tasting herb. Ideal for making vegan pesto with, or for use in pasta sauces, or in fact, it will go well with any dish that contains tomatoes. I prefer bush basil (listed above). I grow it in an old bucket or trough as the slugs like it too, if it's grown at ground level. It can be grown indoors until mid-winter with some heat.

  3. Garlic - Is indispensable in the vegan kitchen. Try and eat one or two cloves of garlic every day, as it's so good for your health. It can be used in many vegan dishes - vegan chilli, bolognese etc and cloves of garlic can also be used to flavour bottles of oil and vinegar.

  4. Oregano - Excellent in tomato dishes and on pizzas. I use Origanum vulgare variegatum (Gold Splashed) because this variety is also very attractive to tortoiseshell butterflies. A form of wild marjoram, oregano is strong-tasting and so you need to use only a small amount of it. It dries well too.

  5. Comfrey - I use Bocking 14 comfrey, available from the Organic Gardening Catalogue. Comfrey makes an excellent liquid feed for tomatoes and peppers. It can also be used as a green manure mulch, as a compost activator or to make comfrey potting compost. And, it's a better source of nitrogen, potash, phosphorous and calcium, than farmyard manure!

  6. Spearmint - Add a sprig of mint to the water when cooking peas or new potatoes. Spearmint makes wonderful mint sauce which can be served on top of many vegetables and the leaves can also be used in fruit salads. It's worth growing other types of mint too, if you have the room. Peppermint, for example, can be used to make mint tea and all types of mint will attract bees into the garden.

  7. Chives - A very decorative plant, with lovely mauve/pink flowers that are very attractive to bees. It makes a good edging plant. If you intend to eat the chives, then cut off the flowers. (I have several plants, some I let flower and some that I eat.) Chopped chives can be used raw in salads and sandwiches. Also good as a flavouring if you make your own vegan cheese or vegan omelettes.

  8. Sage - Green sage plants have a better flavour than the purple varieties. I must confess that I am a secret (not any more!) sage sniffer. Go on try it for yourself, rub the leaves between your fingers and smell them! Usually associated with roast pork, I add dried sage to my dumplings and to brazil nut roasts and of course it's good in sage and onion stuffing too.

  9. Thyme/lemon Thyme - These are both good bee plants with attractive flowers and good ground cover plants too because of their spreading habit. I use thyme in roasted peppers marinated with a garlic and olive oil dressing, but mostly I grow these plants because the bees like them and they look nice. Thyme is also useful if you want to make your own bouquet garni.

  10. Coriander and Cumin - I have never actually grown these herbs myself, but I use them all the time in vegan recipes, so it would certainly be worthwhile for me to do so. They are more like spices than herbs. Use them in chilli, curries and in pilaffs. Coriander leaves can also be used as a garnish or as a replacement for parsley.

  11. Sweet Cicely - Use this herb instead of sugar when stewing up sour-tasting fruit, such as rhubarb. It can also be used in sugar-free jam recipes and in fruit salads. A good plant for growing in a forest garden as it likes partial shade.

  12. Hyssop - I've never actually eaten this herb. Its lovely blue flowers are very attractive to bees and it's grown entirely for wildlife value in my garden. Hyssop tea is supposed to be good for catarrh.

  13. Lavender - A very attractive plant when it is flowering. It can be grown as a low hedge. I dry the flowers and use them in pot pourris and in muslin sachets to perfume clothes, as it's supposed to keep clothes moths away.

  14. Lemon Balm - This plant is left for the wildlife in my garden. It's an important bee plant, but it can also be used to make lemon balm tea.

  15. Chamomile - The variety listed, in the table above, is a dwarf variety. It makes an excellent lawn that need very little cutting (ideal for the lazy gardener) and it can also be used to make garden seats with too, but do check for bees before you sit down! It stays green in dry conditions. Use Anthemis nobilis flore pleno, if you want flowers on your lawn, or Anthemis nobilis 'Treneague' for a flowerless, but highly-scented lawn. You can also make a similar lawn with thyme.

  16. Bergamot - Grown as a bee plant in my garden. Has lovely pink flowers. Can also be made into tea.

  17. Nasturtium - Looks lovely in window boxes or containers. An excellent caterpillar food plant. The flowers and leaves can be eaten raw in salads.

  18. Rosemary - Usually associated with lamb. I grow it because it's an evergreen shrub which flowers very early in the year and it cheers me up to see it in bloom when it's wintery outside and the garden is bleak and bare. It has a nice smell and needs very little watering. Use it dried in pot pourris or in sachets to repel moths.

Drying and Storing Your Herbs

During the summer months, it's nice to be able to pop outside and pick a few sprigs of fresh herbs from your garden. However, a lot of herbs die down in the winter and so it is no longer possible to use fresh herbs in this way. Many herbs can, however, be preserved so that it is possible to continue to use them throughout the winter months. Most commonly they are preserved by either freezing or drying them. Most herbs can be dried quite successfully, apart from parsley, mint and chives, which do not on the whole dry very well. (In fact, the best way to ensure a good supply of parsley, throughout the winter months, is to pot up a few autumn-sown plants and to grow them on an indoor windowsill.)

Herbs, to be stored for winter use, should be picked in the summer, usually just before the flowerbuds open, when they tend to have the strongest flavour. Pick them in the morning, after the dew has dried off them, but before it gets too hot. Tie them up into small bunches and hang them upside down in a dry, warm and airy place - an airing cupboard or shed perhaps? They can also be dried on drying racks or in a microwave oven if you are in a hurry. Dry your herbs until they are brittle, but they should not loose their colour and turn brown. When they are properly dry, remove the leaves from the stalks and crumble the herbs up. They can then be stored in small airtight-jars or containers and kept in a dark place. Basil, parsley and chives freeze well - chop them up and freeze them in small containers, or in an ice-cube tray, covered with water. It is also possible to preserve fresh summer herbs in oil or vinegar. Put a few sprigs of washed herbs such as thyme, rosemary, tarragon, or basil into bottles of extra-virgin olive oil, or white wine vinegar. (Garlic and red chilli peppers can also be added to bottles of oil too.) These bottles look nice when displayed and the herbs will soon flavour the oil or vinegar.

Herbs Grown As Companion Plants

Herbs are also useful when grown as companion plants in the veganic garden. They often deter attack by pests, improve pollination of nearby plants - for example by attracting bees - or simply help nearby plants to grow in some way; usually by releasing chemicals. Below you will find a list of some of the ways in which herbs can be beneficial to other plants in the veganic garden. (This is by no means a comprehensive list and I would suggest that if you would like to know more about this topic, that you obtain a book on companion planting from your local library.)
  1. Plant basil near to tomatoes to repel white fly.
  2. Lavender, lemon balm, marjoram, hyssop, basil, coriander, thyme, mint, rosemary and borage are all very attractive to bees. These herbs are particulary useful when planted in orchards, as they aid pollination and thus increase the yield of fruit. (Borage planted near to your strawberry patch will also increase your strawberry yield in a similar way.)
  3. Chives and nasturtiums help to prevent apple scab, so are also good planted in orchards.
  4. Garlic grown in an orchard helps to protect against attack by weevils.
  5. Garlic spray (3-4 tbsp chopped garlic and 2 tbsp grated soap in 1 litre of water) can be used to treat fungal infections in tomatoes and potatoes.
  6. Rosemary repels pests, such as slugs and snails and carrot fly.
  7. Sage repels carrot fly and cabbage white butterflies - so it's good grown near carrots or cabbages in your vegetable patch.

Should I Buy Plants or Seeds?

This is really a decision that you will have to make for yourself, as it depends on how many plants you require and how much you can afford to pay for your herbs. The following advice is therefore intended for guidance only:

If you want to harvest your herbs quickly then it is better to purchase ready-grown plants. (This is to be recommended particularly for slow-growing herbs such as sage or rosemary.) Herbs soon spread and often one plant, of each type of herb, is all that is required for the average family. Thyme, bergamot, mint and oregano should all be purchased as plants if possible. If you can afford it, then buy several different types of mint. (If you don't want your mint to spread, then plant it in a container e g an old bucket sunk into the ground.) You can also take cuttings from mint if you want to increase your supply - root the cuttings in a jar of water before replanting them. I, personally, use a lot of parsley and basil and so always grow these herbs from seed each year. In fact, parsley is best sown in both spring and autumn, to ensure a constant supply throughout the year.

Garlic is always planted as cloves - sometime between October and February. Although, I have successfully grown it from garlic bought in the supermarket, the bulbs tend to be rather small and a more reliable source of garlic cloves is from the Organic Gardening Catalogue. Here you can buy the variety 'Printanor'. (Available between October and February only). Comfrey should also be bought as a plant. Get Bocking 14 comfrey which you can also obtain by mail order from the Organic Gardening Catalogue. A moist soil is usually recommended for comfrey, but I grow mine in full sun, next to my composter. Water it with urine, occasionally!

Further Reading:

You will find many herb books in your public library. Here are just a few of my favourite ones:
  1. A-Z of Companion Planting By Pamela Allardice. Contains information on the use of herbs as companion plants.
  2. The Herb Book. By Arabella Boxer & Philippa Back. Is an old favourite of mine, but unfortunately the recipes are not vegan-friendly.
  3. The Complete Book of Herbs. A Practical Guide to Cultivating , Drying and Enjoying More Than 50 Herbs. By Emma Callery.
  4. Herbs in Healthy Cooking - Grow your own herbs and use them in a delicious range of vegetarian dishes. By Jessica Houdret. Vegetarian readers will probably like this book. The first part of the book tells you how to grow many different herbs. And, although quite a lot of the recipes contain dairy products, some are vegan and many recipes could be modified by replacing the dairy products with soya products.
  5. How to Grow Herbs & Spices - the Natural Way. By Charlotte de la Bedoyere. This books tells you how to grow herbs, using organic methods. It's published by the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA) with Search Press.

  6. Herbs. A Complete Guide to Their Cultivation and Use. By Ann Bonar. (Tiger Books International.)

Herb Websites:


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