It seems everywhere you turn now there is another program on cooking or being a chef.  The western world has fallen in love with food – at last.  We have a belief that you are only born with so many meals in your life.  Every time you have a bad one you have wasted an opportunity for good food as you can’t have that meal again! 

Anyway food is more than just the meat or vegetables.  It is the herbs and spices and the blending of them and the inherent taste of the food.  As we have said before, cooking is like art.  The plate is the canvass and the tastes and aromas are the paints.  The only way you will ever be a good cook is by using and experimenting with the flavours.  Remember the worst you can do is not like the taste of what you have made.  Also the people you are preparing the food for do not know what you expected it to taste like.

As you use more herbs try and group them in your mind.  Some are strong and some delicate, some imbibe their flavour through the food and others ‘sit on top’ of the food.  Most importantly some should be added at the start of the cooking and some at end or even as you serve the meal.  There also blends of herbs that go well together.  Some examples are basil, garlic, oregano or coriander, chilli, lime and ginger, or rosemary, oregano, thyme and sage.

Growing your own herbs adds to the enjoyment, ensures freshness and enables you to control what sort of chemicals are applied.  It also allows you to have a greater understanding of the flavours.  In many cases the young leaves have a slight different flavour than the older ones and this will alter how and when you use them.  It is also really easy to grow your own so long as you have a few basic conditions right.

Most herbs perform best in full sun, in moist but not wet soil and need plenty of nitrogen.  If you are harvesting the seed or flower then they will also respond well to moderate levels of potassium.  Some, like rosemary, sage and thyme need good airflow to protect against fungal diseases especially if they aren’t in full sun. 

In the cooler climates some are seasonal and won’t survive a really cold winter.  These are herbs like basil, lemon grass and French tarragon.  Others struggle in the heat and prefer to be planted coming into or out of winter.  These include lettuce, Asian spinaches (bok choi, pak choi etc), mizuna and other leafy varieties. 

Winter is a good time to plant herbs like coriander, dill, parsley, chives, chervil etc.  If you are going to do this make sure you have a nice well prepared bed (raised one works best) filled with a mixture of good soil, potting mix and compost.  Make sure it is in a sunny position with plenty of air.  Mix in some calcium in the form of lime, if the pH is low or gypsum if the pH is neutral or high.  You want to end up with a pH of around 6 to 7.  When planting and in regular intervals apply a liberal dose of Seasol (or similar) and Powerfeed (or similar). Do this and you will have heaps of herbs to play with.

If you are doing this in winter then plant out coriander, parsley – Italian and curly, chervil, chives, spring onion and red bunching onion, dill and lovage.  Six of each will be enough for most families.   To get the best out of these varieties you need to harvest them regularly.  The more you cut and use them the more they will bush up and the happier they will be.  Most of them are annuals and if left alone or allowed to stress will go to flower and then seed.  If this happens don’t panic as it is easy to plant some more and the seeds are an excellent addition to soups, salads and teas.  If you put the seed in a pepper grinder the flavours are great sprinkled over a hot meal.

Garlic is great when home grown.  It seems to have a deeper flavour and less of the bitter after taste than the imported shop product.  It can generally be planted most of the year but is supposed to do best if plant on the shortest day of the year and harvested on the longest.

You will love cooking with your own herbs.  If the plants start to get large or you can’t use all you grow then you have several options.  You can make pesto (doesn’t have to be basil pesto), infuse cooking oil or blend up with a small amount of oil and make herb blocks in the freezer.  With any of these ideas it is fun to make different blends; e.g. coriander, dill, ginger and garlic. You are limited only by your imagination!