what can i do with the herbs in my garden?

i dont know what i can use them for. i am growing:

lemon thyme
lime thyme
roman chamomile
parsley
rosemary
basil
oregano
spearmint

 

Chamomile tea is great for a calming effect, although I'm not familiar with the "Roman" variety, and parsely, rosemary, basil & oregano are great for cooking; dry 'em out, ground 'em up and find some recipes online. I make a mean pasta sauce heavy on the oregano and basil...

 

Herbs make a good part of my farm's income. I don't want to disappoint any of my customers by running out, so I grow a lot of each herb. I sell and / or barter as much as I can (fresh herbs are great for bartering). Some of the extra herbs are dried (I think every gardner should have a dehydrator). I donate some of the fresh and dried herbs to a food bank and also to a women & children shelter. They get food donated, but the herbs really help. Some things I have way, way too much of (example: rosemary) I've just cut and added right back to the compost pile.
Most of what I grow are perennials or self re-seeding bi-annuals (parsley), basil and cilantro are the only annuals. So another thing I do is harvest as needed and leave the rest to grow and be bigger and better next year.

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

Well, I've been told that there are a lot of fabulous recipes out there that require rosemary, basil or parsley. I don't cook, so I don't have any on me, but I'm sure there are some good ones on the internet.

 

sounds like a badass pasta sauce to me! heavy on the basil, a pinch of oregano, thyme, and rosemary.

rosemary is really good on potatos. Really good. eggs too, if you eat eggs.

fresh parsley is really good in soups. and dips.



you can make pesto w/ the basil if you have a lot. throw the leaves in a food processor or chop em up with some garlic, olive oil, parmesan cheese if ya do cheese, and salt and pepper. you can keep it in a jar in the fridge and put it on pasta, pizza, toast, sometimes i even stir it into scrambled eggs. hell, sometimes i eat it with a spoon!

spearmint and chamomile make nice teas. sometimes i make tea with tyme too.
and oregano if i have a sore throat.

of course, theyre always tastiest when fresh, in my opinion :]

 

I'm coming to your house for dinner!!

 

Lemon thyme is great on fish or pasta. I also use lemon, to boost the lemon flavor. (It drys well, too,)
Rosemary is VERY strong, so be careful with it, it is also prickly, so cook it a while (unlike most fresh herbs, you can add it earlier in the cooking time.)
I use rosemary for middle eastern and Meditrerranian dishes, from lamb to TVP and/or either egg plant or zuccinni with olive oil, lemon, parsley put into pita breads with some cous cous. Mmmmmmmm.
My dh and I have "Chicken Vesuvio" cook offs. We both use Rosemary, oregano, lemon ect, added to chicken, and tomato, with pasta or potatoes. Or you can just to "Potato Vesuvio" with peeled cut potato, Rosemary, oregano, parsley, olive oil, some Balsamic Vinegar and roast it for an hour in a glass dish. I'm getting hungry.

You can add parsely to anything. It is mild and yummy. Pasta, potatoes, rice, meats, TVP, ect, anything.

 

Oh yeah, Spearmint makes a NICE tea, and you can also add a little to mediternian dishes, like Hummus or Tabule. (druminmama cringes at my spelling on this..... )

 

Oh, you're making my mouth water.... Mint is good in frosting too.

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

MMMMMMM, I am going to have to make some tabule and hummus today. I have a entire side yard full of mint. I didn't listen to the "don't plant mint in an open garden." warning, now the entire raised bed that spans the side of our house is filled with it. Makes a nice ground cover, though. But the stems are so tough, I have to get the Scythe out in the fall, dh says I look like "The really tiny Reaper." LOL!

 

Use them for cooking. A meal cooked without herbs is no meal. And you could make nice tisane ("herbal tea") from the spearmint and chamomile.