There is something delightful and satisfying about dashing out to the garden for a few sprigs of some deeply flavorful plant, swishing it quickly through a rinse of water, and then snipping it in all its brilliant greenness to elegantly adorn a steaming bowl of fresh new potatoes or platter of fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. This simple act transforms ordinary food into gourmet delights. Fresh herbs add flavor and beauty to home cooked meals, as well as scent, texture, and pollinator food to the garden. Most herbs are easy to grow, beautiful, and lend themselves well to a plethora of dishes. A few of my yearly must-haves are basil, cilantro, parsley, and dill.
Basil is a beautiful, bushy plant grown for its leaves. Its minty, sweet, mildly spiced flavor commonly compliments tomato dishes. It can be sown directly into the garden after the last frost and should germinate in five to ten days. Thin to a spacing of 4-8 inches (10-20 cm), and pinch out the growing tips to produce a full, bushy plant.
Basil is an undemanding plant, growing well in ordinary garden soil. Give it light, even watering and full sun, and basil should reward you all summer long with flavorful leaves. Plant your basil as a companion to tomatoes in the garden, where its intense scent might help deter insect pests. Snipped across fresh garden tomatoes sprinkled with salt, pepper, and mozzarella, or shredded into a richly flavored bruschetta topping, fresh basil is a delightful taste experience.
Last summer I sowed a short row of cilantro seeds in a raised bed in the shade of a plum tree. It grew into a fluff of flavorful, slow-bolting leaves just in time for snipping into a wonderful salsa of fresh corn and tomatoes. Inevitably it bolted, sending up 2-foot (60-cm) stalks with umbels of tiny white flowers which matured into round seeds.
Often used in Asian, Mexican, and Middle Eastern cooking, cilantro is grown for its fresh-flavored leaves. Germinating in 7 to 14 days, cilantro grows well nearly anywhere and is best sown directly, as transplanting can trigger bolting. Because cilantro tends to bolt quickly when the weather is warm, it grows best during the cooler months of spring and fall. This can be a problem for gardeners who like to eat their cilantro with warm-season vegetables such as sweet corn and tomatoes. Moisture and shade can help to extend the harvest window before the plant bolts, or you can sow fresh plantings every few weeks.
Bolting cilantro switches from a flavorful herb to a delicate flower swaying gracefully in the wind, attracting beneficial insects like bees, ladybugs, and hoverflies. Round seed pods form eventually, drying to a light tan color. These seeds are easily plucked from the drying stalks and stored for future plantings or used as another seasoning called coriander. Last fall I tossed the dried seeds from my cilantro back on the bed where they had grown. By mid-March, baby cilantro sprouts were popping up, a harbinger of spring, bringing life and hope to my garden as well as fresh cooking inspiration.
On a deep winter day, I stab some holes in an empty milk jug, slice it in half, fill it with potting mix, and sprinkle in a pinch of parsley seeds. I flip the milk jug shut, duct tape it closed, and set it outside in the sunshine. Parsley can take a long time to germinate, so I wait patiently. In a month or so, little parsley seedlings appear in the potting mix, and I plant them in the garden, carefully untangling their long roots.
Parsley grows well in full sun, but it can take a bit of shade too. Harvest the large outer leaves when the plant is well-established. Chop them up and sprinkle them over buttered new potatoes, or stir them into a pot of cooked rice for a bright pop of color for your eyes and a bit of vitamins A and C, carotene, and iron for your health.
One pest that loves to eat up my parsley is the larvae of the black swallowtail butterfly, also called the parsley worm. I joyfully share and will never complain about baby butterflies. My children love these worms as well, tucking them into jars with a stick and extra leaves. My favorite solution for this delightful pest is, of course, just plant more parsley.
Another of the parsley worm’s favorite foods is dill. Dill propagates easily from seed and, like cilantro, appreciates the cooler weather of early spring. It grows rapidly and should be directly sown, as it transplants poorly. Dill is a wonderful plant to have scattered over the garden, attracting beneficial insects such as predatory wasps and flies which can help keep other insect pests away.
Fresh leaves can be harvested as soon as the plant is large enough to handle some missing leaves. Dill’s bright, citrusy flavor with undertones of licorice complements seafood as well as potatoes and onions. The flower umbels are harvested when most of the flowers are open, and used to make dill pickles. Dill is easy to save seed from. Just shake or pull the seeds off the flower heads and store them in a paper envelope. Dill also readily self-sows, taking care of the need to save seed for next year.
When summer days arrive bringing warm, hazy sunshine, a slower pace of life, and thousands of tiny insects, I’ll wander out to my garden. I will smell the minty crush of basil, peer at caterpillars on the parsley, and taste the cilantro to see if it’s bolting bitter. Insects will drone in the background as I run my fingers through the ferny dill fronds. I’ll return to the house with a basket full of fresh vegetables to eat for supper, garnished with sprigs of beautiful herbs.
Sprinkled across your supper or sprinkled through your garden, herbs bring variety, spice, and beauty wherever they are.