Herbs revitalised

About a month ago I gave many of my herbs a very severe “haircut” in order to revitalise them and produce a new crop of fresh young leaves before the frosts force them into hibernation. It seems to have worked!

In my photo you can see Mint, Thyme, Oregano and Chives, all of which were given “the treatment”.  The Mint is perhaps the most impressive:

The new growth is very soft and delicate, not like the rather tough leaves it replaces. It will be great in a tabbouleh, I reckon, but maybe not so good in a Mint Sauce.

The others are a bit less well-advanced, but still looking good:

Not all of my Oregano got the chop. I’m leaving some of it until the birds have taken the seeds. The Goldfinches particularly love these.

Elsewhere my supply of Parsley is increasing too:

I often have difficulty with maintaining a sufficient supply of Parsley (we use a lot of it when it’s available), and I find that it seldom does well in the raised beds. For instance it often gets attacked by ants and by the Carrot Root Fly. However, earlier this year I had some really good Parsley in one of the beds in the Spring, overwintered from last year, so I’m going to try to do that again. The seedlings seen below will be planted out just as soon as the right space becomes available, and then when the weather turns cold I will protect them with cloches.

I’ll also keep some of the Parsley in pots so that I can move it around when necessary – for instance I will be able to put the pots in my coldframe when required. Having some herbs in pots is very convenient in the Winter time. It means you can bring the pot indoors and carefully select which leaves you want to cut, rather than just grabbing the first ones you see simply because you don’t want to stand around in the cold and dark (and probably rain) for any longer than strictly necessary!

As you can see in my photos, I have Parsley seedlings at three different stages now. These little ones will need thinning out soon.

Yesterday I sowed yet another batch of Parsley seeds. With weather like it has been recently, they would probably do well enough.