Monday 9 August 2010

When the sky is blue...the sun is shining....

The air is mild, then it is time to dry herbs.

Saturday was such a day. Yet it took two days to dry all the herbs. It is still winter and the days are short.
The herb garden.

A mixture of herbs and flowers. After drying the vivid coloured flowers remain tiny specks of colour.



Herbs and flowers dried 6.August 2010

Nasturtium flowers
Heartsease, Viola tricolor flowers

Peppermint
Basil
Italian Parsley
Marjoram
Sage
Coriander and Dill
Rocket

Thyme and Rosemary I pick and use always fresh.
Peppermint I use also fresh to add to salads and make Peppermint tea. Basil I use fresh for Pesto and other dishes.
Dill is also used fresh.

Generally I use all the herbs also fresh.

The dried herbs I use to make herb salt.

Naturally all the herbs I grow are organically grown without pesticides.


The drying facility is home made and easy to stash away when it is not in use.

the finished product


Believe it or not:

"Why should a man die while sage grows in the garden?"
Old Chinese Proverb

Photos from my garden TS.

26 comments:

meemsnyc said...

The dried herbs look amazing. I like your drying stand.

Floridagirl said...

Very nice setup. How wonderful to grow your own organic herbs!

Marilyn & Jeff said...

How fabulous to grow and dry your own herbs, I am most interested in your herbal salt as I have never seen a recipe for this. I enjoyed this peep into your garden.

Roslyn said...

Thanks for sharing this post Titania. Your herb garden looks great and the drying stand is fantastic.

fuat gencal said...

Hayırlı haftalar. Çok güzel paylaşım için teşekkürler. Resimle süper görünüyor.

Saygılar.

BernieH said...

Love your blue sky and all that sunshine. Sunshine seems to be a bit of a hit and miss affair up here lately ... we've just had so many overcast days during this Winter which is so unusual. Today is another one.

I am so impressed by your beautiful herb garden ... that's on my wish list!!! Maybe one day! Then there' your fabulous home made herb drier ... very clever!! I really enjoyed this post ... I'm sure you'll enjoy all those wonderful dried herbs!

Sisah said...

Das ist ja interessant, wie du deine Kräuter trocknest! Ich bin immer sehr neugierig zu erfahren, was für gärtnerische Maßnahmen in anderen Gärten 'erfunden' werden. Kannst du uns das nicht mal vorstellen? Oder hast du das irgendwo in deinem Blog bereits getan , und ich habe es nicht mitbekmmen?
Interessant finde ich ebenso, dass du Kapuzinerkresseblüten trocknest, verlieren sie dann nicht ihr Aroma?
LG
Sisah

Autumn Belle said...

The herbs are great for cooking and baking. You are very creative with the drying device.

Hort Log said...

Interesting post Trudi - growing, preparing, cooking and eating your own food is a fullsome but time-consuming cycle that few undertake nowadays with the proliferation of megamarts and fast food.

I would like to grow something edible in my garden too....but sadly the earth is chemicals laden, mostly not all from me though.

chars gardening said...

I agree with Marilyn I am also interested in your herbal salt recipe. The drying rack is very ingenious, I love it.

Stephanie said...

Oh so lovely! It's so nice to see you harvesting own crop, drying them and keeping them for cooking. Love your garden and the works of your hands ;-D

a d´almeida nunes said...

Beautifull weather and garden!

Meanwhile, we, in Portugal, North and Center, much hot, lot of flames...

What are we doing with our beautufull Planet?

Best best wishes and regards, Titania

António

diane b said...

What a fabulous herb garden you have.

Kathy said...

I could live in Australia now that I know you have nasty turtiums (my pet name for them) there!

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

meemsnyc,
Floridagirl, thank you for your interest and comments.

Marilyn, the recipe is very easy, you dry the herbs you have and like, crumble or ground the dried herbs finely and mix it with sea salt. I also add some dulse flakes which I buy in the health food store.
Thank you for your interest.

Missy,
Fuat Gencal,
Bernie,
Sisah, I have send you a comment.
Hortlog.
Charlotte,
Autumn Belle,
Strphanie,
as-Nunes,
Diane,
Kathy, I like this name!
Thank you all for stopping by and your interesting comments.

Kimberly said...

Titania, this is really VERY cool!! And pretty! The combo of flowers and herbs is beautiful. I'll bet it smells refreshing! Great post!!

Carla said...

Hi Titania, I love your idea of putting the dry herbs in salt. I have not done this before. My nasturtiums are not doing well this year. Maybe the weather has been too cool. I hope we have a hot September. Thank you for stopping in on my blog. I had house guests for a week and am just now visiting my blogging friends.
Carla

Corner Gardener Sue said...

Hi Titania,
I'm visiting some blogs I haven't been to in awhile. I'm glad I made it to see this post. I just took some photos of my herb garden this evening. I plan to find photos taken earlier in the season to add to a post with the current ones. I'm not sure when this post will get done, though.

I've never dried herbs outside before. I just tie them up and hang them upside down in the house. I got some basil frozen ground up with olive oil and garlic today.

Your flowers and herbs sure are pretty, and that contraption is cool.

Heather at Dusty Bay said...

Yes, it is almost time to dry herbs here too! When we moved into our 1920's house 4 years ago there was an old herb drying cabinet here so I took it as a sign and built a herb garden! It works really great too - thanks for posting and reminding me....

Pietro Brosio said...

Fantastic herb garden, Titania!
Thyme is so good in the risotto!
Happy weekend!

Pia K said...

wow, wow, wow to the top pic and oh how lovely to dry all those herbs! and having the green fingers to grow them of course:)

Trudy said...

Hoi Trudi
ein sehr interessanter Post!
Ich meine, ich könne die trockenen Karäuter grad riechen :)
Interessant, deine Mischung.
Originell, die Trockenanlage :)

Herzliche Grüsse, nach down under
Trudy

Gloria day liebe ich auch, sie duftet auch so herrlich! Meine ist aber leider gestorben :(

Babara said...

Da gibt es bei dir ja eine abwechslungsreiche und grosse Kräutersammlung. Mit Ausnahme der verschiedenen Pfefferminzen, trockne ich keine Kräuter....nur noch Blütenblätter. Apropos Blüten, du trocknest Kapuzinerlis? Was gibt es dann daraus? Behalten sie die Farbe? Ich verwende sie als Beilage im Salat, aber frisch.
Liebe Grüsse,
Barbara

Kanak said...

What a beautiful herb garden! And how nice to see the process/the stand for drying them. There's much to learn whenever I stop by your lovely garden!

HaBseligkeiten said...

Liebe Trudi, da bekomm ich richtig Lust auf frische Kräuter!!
Ich trockne im Sommer auch Kräuter, für Kräutersalz und für Seifen. Kapuziener hab ich auch noch nie getrocknet,sie wandern frisch in die Kapuzienerbutter, aber im Salz sehen so orangene Sprenkel bestimmt schön aus......und das Auge ist ja bekanntlich mit :)

Ich wünsche Dir auch ein frohes und glückliches neues Jahr,
liebe Grüße schick Dir, Heidi

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