I took a sneaky morning off from real life last week and went to have a look round Jekka's Herb Farm. Jekka McVicar is pretty much the queen of herbs with dozens of RHS gold medals to her name. Her herb farm is an inspirational place, packed with herbs of every description, and more varieties than I'd ever seen before. Some of them are ones she has bred herself.
It was wonderful to see how good herbs could look. I think many people have a pot of neglected mint or a rosemary in need of a prune. I know I have. Jekka had fantastic round mint bushes in tip top condition with so many intriguing flavours. Banana mint, lime mint, chocolate mint, berries and cream, apple mint. I left determined to take better care of my herbs. The rosemary and mint will be repotted and the bay trees will get a feed. I've got a list of things I'd like to try.
I particularly loved how many bees were clustered around the herbs in flower. They were particularly attracted to the lavender, the thymes and the borage, although I know they were on many other flowers as well. The farm is organic and Jekka has bee hives producing her own honey.
It all made me think that I don't use herbs enough in the kitchen. They really do add another dimension to food and in many cases they have a good effect on the body as well. The biggest boy has a little herb garden in his raised bed, and I think I shall try and add a few new things to it this summer and take a bit more care of the plants already there. Do you have any herbs you'd particularly recommend?
That sounds like a great place to visit. Lovely photos.
ReplyDeleteI love herbs and made myself a new little 4' x 4' raised bed for herbs this year. So far my bunnies have had pretty much everything I've picked from there though! ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of lovage, it's got a lovely strong savoury celery-type flavour which tastes great in soups and stews. Lavender leaves go really well with chicken and/or bacon as well as sweet dishes. I can't live without dill, flat-leaf parsley, oregano, marjoram, chives, fennel or tarragon, and I've got sage, coriander, basil, thyme and five kinds of mint too. And borage has been self-seeding in my veg beds for years now - I always like to leave a few plants in there because the bees love it so much and the flowers look pretty in drinks.
Herbs are a great way to add flavour to food so you need less salt.
What a beautiful herb garden. I would love to visit too. Your photos are so nice. I think herbs are the one type of plant I have very little trouble growing. I have rosemary, lavender, tarragon and thyme, plus basil in the summer. We ate some of our basil on pizza last night, the first of the season. Yum!
ReplyDeleteI only have a few perennial herbs (all the usual suspects) and sow parsley, coriander, basil and dill each year. This year I'm giving chervil and summer savoury a try. Jekka's Herb Farm looks lovely. Have a lovely week xx
ReplyDeleteI only have a few perennial herbs (all the usual suspects) and sow parsley, coriander, basil and dill each year. This year I'm giving chervil and summer savoury a try. Jekka's Herb Farm looks lovely. Have a lovely week xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a garden you visited! I recommend chives and rosemary, sage and peppermint. :-) ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteI've always admired Jekka's displays at the flower shows I've visited, it would be a great place to see I'm sure. Good luck with your herbs. So much better to grow your own than use a couple of sprigs from a supermarket packet and throw away the rest. The rabbits ate my coriander but left the basil to the slugs.
ReplyDeleteI'm laughing because just this afternoon I wandered down to our community garden to get some mint, which is in a pot and looking very neglected. And this afternoon I was looking at my own herbs at the side of our cottage thinking I really must get the pruning shears and have a go at them. As far as what to try, how about a curry plant? I've put one in with my herbs this year, hoping to get curry leaves from it. I sometimes run across recipes calling for curry leaves, and they are very hard to find fresh here. All I can get are the dried leaves. Also, I put in something called a pineapple sage plant. When you rub the sage leaves between your fingers it smells just like pineapple.
ReplyDeleteLovely! I'm adding this to my list of places to visit. I think herbs tend to get neglected because they are usually such robust and hardy plants. I know I neglect mine but you are right - they can add so much flavour to food.
ReplyDeleteI've always wanted to visit, I'm very jealous but pleased you had a good day. We have a couple of pots of chocolate mint which is wonderful in a mug of hot water. Also a huge lovage bush which can be kept in check by cutting it back. It's rather nice shredded into a risotto xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous place - it must have smelled wonderful and been a-buzz with bees! I like the sound of berries and cream mint! I grow quite a few herbs in pots outside of my back door, including several mints - chocolate, eau-de-cologne, strawberry, apple, pineapple, ginger and grapefruit (I'm a bit of a mint-aholic) - and sage, marjoram, hyssop, sorrel, cives, garlic chives, tarragon and blackcurrant sage. In the garden there's rosemary, lavender, fennel, thyme, chamomile and lemon balm. I use the mints, lemon balm, chamomile and blackcurrant sage for tea. Marjoram is good on pizza, fennel with roast vegetables, chives, sage, sorrel, hyssop and tarragon are nice in omelettes and salads. Someone once told me that mint needs lots of water, but they often go a bit thin and leggy in pots, I find.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely place to visit. This year I've grown basil, flat leaf parsley, borage and marjoram from seed and have just starred using them in the kitchen. And I also grow Rosemary, thyme, sage, fennel, mint and chives in the garden, some in pots by the kitchen door and some in the ground in easily accessible places. I regularly renew my thymes and mint, and rosemary and sage are very easy from cuttings. I nearly forgot the dill, which grows like Topsy at the allotment and forms a pretty circular mound of feathery foliage. Lemon balm is my current favourite herb. Makes a lovely tea and such a delicious scent when you add a sprig to a posy of flowers. I agree that one of the best things about growing herbs is the bees they attract.
ReplyDeleteThat's somewhere I've always had on my 'dream visit' list (along with Petersham Nurseries). Those calendulas look lovely - we planted some from seed this year and I'm hoping to try making a salve.
ReplyDeleteI read about the magical properties of nettles the other evening. They're amazing, so much more nutrient-rich than kale or spinach. Apparently if you pick them after they've flowered you need to dry them out before use. We have loads of them right behind the garden fence so I thought if I'm going to lop them I may as well make use of them too, so have a couple of paper bags at the ready.
Another favourite is dill. Childhood memories and those feathery leaves and yellow flowers - herb perfection!
P.S. I was surprised to discover all those mint varieties too!
Hope you had a lovely weekend.
S x
That's somewhere I've always had on my 'dream visit' list (along with Petersham Nurseries). Those calendulas look lovely - we planted some from seed this year and I'm hoping to try making a salve.
ReplyDeleteI read about the magical properties of nettles the other evening. They're amazing, so much more nutrient-rich than kale or spinach. Apparently if you pick them after they've flowered you need to dry them out before use. We have loads of them right behind the garden fence so I thought if I'm going to lop them I may as well make use of them too, so have a couple of paper bags at the ready.
Another favourite is dill. Childhood memories and those feathery leaves and yellow flowers - herb perfection!
P.S. I was surprised to discover all those mint varieties too!
Hope you had a lovely weekend.
S x
I have a little area on the patio with lots of herbs in pots. I have chives which is a great addition to salads, coriander great in soup, rosemary, thyme, lavender which I dry out each year and a couple of mint. What a great trip out I don't think I have ever been to a herb farm before, how wonderful.
ReplyDeleteПрекрасная прогулка на ферму! Спасибо за красивые фото) Наслаждаюсь)
ReplyDeleteI too have had Jekka's Herb farm on my list of places to visit. Did you go on one of her lectures? You choose the best time of year to go too, it looks fabulous. I love herbs we have mint, apple mint, thyme, rosemary,lavender, marjoram,fennel, parsley and coriander. I have just planted some borage wished I had known about planting it by the beans! Sarah x
ReplyDeleteShe took us round a small area of the herbetum and talked to us about what she was growing there. In the afternoon she was going to do another part of the garden I think. It was fascinating, and very inspiring. Top tip for rosemary - pop a bit of it in your tea, it's good for the memory. I'd forgotten that until now. CJ xx
DeleteGood post and lovely pictures. I don't use herbs in the kitchen but grow a few, such as lavender and pot marigolds, on the plot for the bees. Flighty xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous place to visit. I do love herbs and we're drinking LOTS of mint tea at the moment. I didn't know about rosemary being good for the memory though - I definitely need to start using some of that! xx
ReplyDeleteMarjoram is a useful one to grow - insects love it and it's great in the kitchen too. It looks a fab place I'm very jealous you got to visit:-). I loved her Chelsea garden. Xx
ReplyDeleteWe grow mainly "hard" herbs, sage, rosemary and the like, but they do well and the bugs seem to like them too! Looks as though you had a wonderful day out!
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of Jekka McVicar and her herbs, although I've not been to her actual garden; I've admired her Chelsea stands and gardens. We grow thymes, chives, lavender, hyssop, borage, basil, rosemary... Love them all and the bees they attract! Sam x
ReplyDeleteWe just have the common type of herbs really, mint, parsley, basil, sage, Rosemary, chives etc. We have just dug up the herb bed on the plot as now we grow our herbs in pots in the garden where we can pick them fresh as we want them.
ReplyDeleteHow fascinating! I had no idea about rosemary in tea. I'm not a great tea drinker... do you think I could steep some in hot water and get the same memory boost, or does tea have to be present?
ReplyDeleteI like to think you are posting these glorious colourful sunny pictures just for me, CJ :-) thankyou, so needed in our winter months!
ReplyDeleteI do not use my herbs often enough either, especially in the wintertime when to get them means a trip out to the garden in the cold and dark :-( thank you for this glorious reminder. what a joy it must have been to be there.
Gorgeous pictures from your herb farm visit. I'm also keen to use a wider variety of herbs and focusing on marjoram at the moment (delicious with courgettes and tomatoes). Lemon verbena will be next. In cocktails, I think.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to visit Jekka's farm. Her garden at Chelsea was so beautiful. I wanted to just lift the whole thing up and bring it home. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteIt looks a wonderful place to visit, CJ and your photos are superb. I'd love to attract more bees to the garden, I'll plant more herbs. I have Rosemary, parsley, a variegated Marjoram and three types of mint so far. The coriander and basil don't do so well here, too tender. I have them just outside the backdoor so they're easy to get at as I use them all the time for cooking. xx
ReplyDeleteOh CJ, that just sounds like heaven! I would love a proper herb garden and keep planning one but never manage it. Next summer, I keep saying. I can just imagine how inspiring this place was. Thank you for sharing it with us - your photos are gorgeous by the way. xx
ReplyDeleteAstounding photos, did the bees pose on their own or did you have to talk them into it?
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