Most herbs grow profusely and produce much more foliage than you would expect, and it is often not possible for you to use the herb quickly enough during the spring and summer growth period. Now, in autumn, remember that some herbs die down in winter and are not available all year round.

For these reasons it is a good idea to know exactly how to harvest your wonderful home-grown herbs so that there is always some herb available in your home for your use.

Bear the following points in mind when harvesting herb leaves and flowers: The best time to harvest a herb is when the plant has reached maximum maturity and is producing some flowers. Some herbs produce flowers repeatedly throughout summer and can be harvested several times during summer, while others only produce one flush of flowers.

Pick the leaves or flowers when the plants are dry - that is after the dew has dried off, and not after a rain storm or after the plants have been watered. Damp or wet herbs will develop mildew when they are drying, and then they will have to be thrown away. You cannot use a dried herb which has gone mouldy, slimy or smelly.

Pick herbs between 9h30 - 12h00 during the day. Any earlier and the plants are damp, any later and the sun has warmed the plants to such an extent that some of their volatile oils have evaporated.

Always pick from the healthiest plants.

Herbs enjoy being picked, but a good rule is to never pick more than one third of the length of the stem, or cut back more than one third of the whole plant. This allows the plant to recover fully afterwards.

Drying herb leaves and stems:

1. Shake off dust, any insects, and pick off any shrivelled leaves.
2. Make large bundles of herbs and tie firmly with a piece of string and hang the bundles in a warm, airy place, out of the sun, or
3. Lie the stems and leaves on a piece of clean paper on a tray, or in a shallow cardboard box in a warm, airy place, out of the sun, or
4. Lie the herbs on a mesh screen in a warm, airy place, out of the sun, or
5. Strip the leaves and flowers off the stems and put it in a paper bag. Don't compact the herbs in the bag. Shake the bag daily to ensure proper aeration.

Unless you know your herbs very well and can tell them apart when they are dry, it is a very good idea to dry each different herb apart from the other. Herbs look very different when they are dry. To be safe, write the name of the herb on a small piece of paper and leave it with the herb.

When completely dry and crisp, rub the leaves off the stems onto a tray, discard the stems, unless they are very thin. Leave the leaves whole or rub them down to the smallest size you require.

Drying herb flowers:

• Some herb flowers have to be picked individually e.g. calendula,
• Place these on trays or mesh screens and turn over every day to assist the drying process.

Some herbs flowers are picked with stems e.g. lavender, and many stems can be bundled together, tied with string and hung up to dry. When the flowers are dry, they can be used whole or broken up into pieces.

Storing dried herbs:

• Dried herbs are best stored in a clean cardboard box with a lid, or large paper bag or a glass bottle with a screw top lid.
  Label! Label! Label!
• Never forget to label the dried herb - preferably with the name and the date it was picked, or packed. Once again, this is because it is so difficult to identify dried herbs apart, and especially once they have been removed from the stem or have been crushed a little.
  Properly dried herbs can be kept for 1 year to 18 months.

Text: Margie Frayne

Top