Cooks are always on the lookout for sources of fresh herbs. Many of those most commonly used are easily grown in North Country gardens. It's a real treat to be able to walk out the back door and harvest just what is needed for that night's dinner. If you don't have room or time for a garden, you can grow quite a few herbs in a large pot if you have a sunny porch.
Because the leafy part of herb plants is used in cooking, you don't have to wait too long before you can begin harvesting. To really speed things up, buy your herbs as small plants from a greenhouse or nursery, and you can begin harvesting in just a few weeks.
ANNUAL OR PERENNIAL
Annual herbs need to be replanted each year, while perennials grown in the ground will come back every spring. There are also a few tender perennials such as rosemary, bay laurel and lemon verbena that can't survive our winters and must be brought indoors or bought new each spring.
Most of the annual herbs are quite easy to grow from seed and can be planted right in the ground or in containers in May. These include basil, dill, chervil and cilantro. Many are available as transplants, which can speed up your harvest time.
Basil grows quickly from seed, but the plants don't keep producing all season. The best flavor is from the leaves that form before the flowers appear. Once basil begins to set flowers, its leaf production drops off. If you want enough to keep you in pesto all summer, start with a half-dozen plants now and then plant one or two more crops a few weeks apart.
Dill is easy to grow if you give it lots of room. Scatter the seeds at the back of your garden, or start them in small pots with a pinch of seeds in each. It usually reseeds each year. Dill also attracts beneficial insects to your garden.
Parsley is very cold hardy, so you can plant it very early in spring and keep it well into the fall. It takes about three weeks to sprout from seed.
DISTINCT FLAVORS
Perennial herbs are usually quite prolific, so a few plants may be enough. French tarragon, chives, sage and many kinds of thyme and mint are quite hardy in our region. Watch out for the hardy oregano — it's quite aggressive and often becomes a weed. Marjoram is better behaved but dies each winter.
Be careful where you plant anything in the mint family; they are all extremely aggressive but a pleasure to have on hand. The very best way to get mint is to take a cutting from a plant you like the taste of. Clip off a stem of that plant and root it for your own garden; it forms roots quickly in water or a pot of soil.
There are many kinds of thyme, each with its own distinct flavor. They are low growing and spread slowly, so there's room for them in just about any garden. One or two clumps of chives is plenty for most people — cut it down like grass once in a while to keep the young, succulent leaves coming.
Sage and lavender are both semi-woody plants. The key to helping them survive the winter is to not prune them in the fall. In early spring, cut them to just a few inches tall. Sage is quite hardy here, but lavender is more tender.
Amy Ivy is executive director of Cornell Cooperative Extension, Clinton County. Office phone numbers: Clinton County 561-7450, Essex County 962-4810, Franklin County 483-7403. Web site: www.cce.cornell.edu/ecgardening. E-mail questions to askMG@cornell.edu
