Propagating and Preserving Herbs
Yes, the growing season has been lovely, relaxing and rejuvenating. Now fall is fast approaching. So what does a good herb gardener do right about now?
This is the time you can spring into action, harvesting the herbs you have, preserving them for winter — and transplanting those you can to keep them growing next year.
Propagating New Plants
After successfully growing herbs all summer, you’re ready to create new plants. There are three main methods you can do this: ·dividing the roots of the existing plants ·taking cuttings of the herbs in your gardens ·healing in or layering.
Root Division
This is a simple approach to creating more herbs. With a spade or shovel, work the roots loose from a clump of the densely growing herbs. Take this grouping out of the ground and separate the plants, starting at the roots. You want to do this rather carefully.
Once separated, you can place one of the groupings back in the original spot and the new group can be planted elsewhere.
Herbs From Cuttings
In either the spring or the fall, take a long, woody shoot from the plant of your choosing. Cut the shoot at an angle, close the ground. Next remove the leaves from the very bottom of this cutting. Coat this cutting with a rooting powder and then pot it in a light soil mix. Water it well and you should get a new plant growing soon.
Herbs Through Layering
This might be a new method to you. It encourages a plant to divide itself and form a new plant. To grow new herbs through layering, bend a long woody shoot in half and bury the middle of the stem under a few inches of soil. Hold it in place with a rock if needed. Within a month to six weeks, the cutting or the healed-in stem develops its own root system and is ready to be transplanted.
Harvesting and Preserving Herbs
Growing herbs is just part of the fun of your herb garden. Another aspect of herb gardening, which many people enjoy, is harvesting and preserving the herbs once the growing season ends.
Different herb gardeners are bound to have different ideas about the best method to harvest these plants. The great herbalist and nun of the 12th Century, Hildegard of Bingen firmly believed that all medicinal plants should be harvested when the moon was waxing, just prior to it becoming full. Herbs taken at this time, she believed, possessed their greatest potency. She did concede, though, that the herbs would be preserved for an extended period of time if they were harvested during the waning of the moon.
Many others believe that herbs should be gathered only during a full moon. This is the time, they contend, when the sap of the plants and the strength of their oils are the greatest.
While you may consider these ideas “old wive’s tales,” it’s true that the season of harvesting seems to play a part in the herb’s potency.
Herbs whose medicinally active ingredients are found in their roots and rhizomes — like ginger, ginseng and mandrake, for instance — are more potent when harvested early in the spring or in late autumn. At this time, they have actually reserved much of their energy and essence below the ground.
In harvesting these types of herbs, dig widely around the plants in order not to cut or damage the root system. Wash the roots with cold water and thoroughly dry them.
It’s also true the essence of a plant becomes concentrated with each succeeding night. The herbs, therefore, are most potent when they’re picked in the early hours of the morning well before the sun’s heat and the light dissipate any essential oils in them.
Just about all herbs should be harvested before they bloom. The active healing substances of these plants lose their potency after the flowering process. They’ve just spent much of their energy on blooming and generating seeds.
When you harvest herbs, be sure to use sharp pruning clippers so you won’t tear the stems. If you don’t cut too low on the stem, you’ll discover that some herbs (particularly basil) will produce more growth for harvest.
You might plant to collect seeds from some of the herbs in your garden. Choose the specific plants, which will go to seed. When the seeds are about to mature, place a paper bag over the flower and tie it shut. When the seeds mature, snip the flower and turn the bag over. Just shake it to gather the seeds in the bag.
Preserving Your Herbs
Now that you’ve harvested the herbs, you’ll want them to last as long as possible by drying them. In days past, it was custom to simply hang the herbs in a warm, dry, shady location, and wait until they crumbled easily before storing them in various containers. The roots were washed, split and then spread into a single layer on a clean tray.
This traditional method takes up space and time. It takes days or weeks to dry the leaves, stems and flowers. Roots may take up to a month or more to completely dry properly.
When drying herbs for medicinal or healing purposes, time is literally of the essence. The faster the herbs are dried, the more potent the volatile aromatic oils in the herbs will be. That’s why most commercial herb producers use special equipment for drying herbs.
In order to speed the process, herb gardeners now place their herbs on a baking sheet and place it in an oven set at 95 degrees. This method is convenient and inexpensive, but it also has a few disadvantages as well. One, if it’s hot you might not want to use your oven. Also, your oven may not heat evening.
These issues may not bother you, but if they do, consider buying a small produce dryer. This is a tabletop appliance with built-in removable trays that uses a hot air fan to dry the herbs. The nice thing about having a produce dryer is you can dry many different fruits as well.
Drying is Just the Beginning
You can store herbs dried, or you can reduce them to a powder. For some, this is the most convenient form for use.
A traditional method is using a mortar and pestle. This interesting way provides a hands-on connection to preserving your herbs and to the past. You can also grind your herbs in a coffee bean grinder. If you’re worried about mixing coffee flavor with your herbs, purchase one just for this purpose — they’re fairly cheap at ten dollars.
For those gardeners who have large amounts of herbs, a large grinder is advisable.
Storing
Take a quick look at any bottled herbs and spices from a store and you’ll notice they’re in clear containers. This is probably to let you see the herb or spice when you buy them, but it’s not the best way to store herbs. Why? Light, the giver of life for these plants for so long, is also the destroyer of potency and flavor once the herbs are dry.
Instead, store your dried herbs in opaque containers — glass or ceramic are best. Fill the container to the top to limit the amount of oxygen in them. Carefully stored aromatic herbs, like sage, rosemary and thyme, can actually remain potent for a year or more. Expect herbs that don’t carry much of a fragrance, like alfalfa to last even longer.
Moisture Kills
Moisture is another enemy of your dried herbs. If they should happen to get wet once they’ve been dried, quickly dry them again to prevent the growth of mold. You’ll also want to be vigilant about keeping insects out by keeping the containers tightly closed when you’re not actively using your herbs.
Freezing Fresh Herbs
So far, we’ve discussed drying herbs to use later, especially if these are for healing purposes. But if you’re storing culinary herbs, there’s no reason why you just can’t freeze these. Then you can just pull them out in February to cook a hearty soup. Simply cut the stems or the leaves of the herbs and rinse them. Pat them dry and then freeze them in re-sealable bags.
Preserving herbs can be relaxing and fun as a family activity, with friends or even by you. And now, through the rest of the year, you can enjoy your tea, culinary and healing herbs.
Aren’t you glad you started your herb garden? From basil to chives to sage and thyme, each herb has its own special characteristics, special growing quirks and its specialties on your kitchen table and for healing your body.
There is always something to learn. Don’t become discouraged if some of your plants fizzled out this year. This happens once in a while with any kind of gardening. A certain flower or vegetable won’t take off. Sometimes we know why, like when we’ve had an extremely rainy summer, or we didn’t provide for enough drainage. Your soil type might be great for one type of plant but not another. If you can learn why a plant didn’t grow well, consider growing it in a different place where you can treat the soil, or in a pot.
Chances are you had many successful herbs and learned a lot about each plant. As you grow herbs from year to year, you’ll also learn about their many beneficial uses.
Happy Gardening to you all!
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