Fresh HERBS: what when how - Gully Creek Cottage

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I’m not a gardener… let’s just start with that. I’ve mentioned before that I kill ivy & cactus–so what does that tell ya? But I do love herb gardens and I do pretty good with them. There are still some herbs however, that I can’t grow but I haven’t given up on them. I thought this would be a perfect post because I just got back from vacation. When we returned, our parsley was crazy – overgrown. Today, some Fresh HERBS: what ∙when ∙how!

We’re new to the Midwest and new to gardening in this zone. I know not to expect to have a ginormous rosemary bush like I’ve been accustomed to because it doesn’t fair too well here. The same for basil, I’ve been told. But here’s to what I do have in the herb garden!

In the garden

we have:

cilantro
basil
oregano
two varieties of sage
tarragon
dill
rosemary
parsley
mint

The parsley has gone a little crazy along with the sage, so I have been harvesting a lot of those two.

When to harvest

When you’re ready to start trimming & snipping on those home grown fresh herbs, gather the following:

shears
basket or tray
twine

The best time to harvest fresh herbs is early in the morning. Snip your herbs and gather them up for a clean rinsing. After rinsing , I shake excess water off and place them on a clean dishtowel to dry.

Followed by stringing them together in small bundles and hanging to dry in a cool, dark place.

This takes anywhere from 6-14 days to completely dry (unless you have a dehydrator)! You’ll know when they’re dry by the crispness when you crunch them in your hand.

Once dry, you can mince, chop or leave whole. I sometimes leave my sage and mint whole.

The fun part

Now you’re ready to store & use!

You can choose to bag them or fill in jars. But why wouldn’t you want to bag them and add a cute tag???

I’ve made some that you can print & use if you want to go that route! Just download them HERE!

They even have a place for you to put your name on it! There are a variety of them like parsley, lavender, thyme, cilantro, etc.

I made a whole sheet of just parsley for mine cause I had so much of it! If you want to do that just cut the image with herb you want. Save. Add to a new document and repeat until you have a whole sheet full. (Size: 3.84 x 4.41)

Print, cut & tag!