I have two little patched of Chamomile, one of these I just planted new this year. As long as you keep the flowers harvested they will bloom all summer. I like this plant because it is so pretty, it blends in easily with bedding plants.
That little bushy thing is some coconut thyme. It really doesn’t taste like coconut, it just had a little white variegation on the leaves. I would have rather harvested “Mother of Thyme”, but for some reason those plants didn’t do well this year, so I decided to leave them alone. I love Thyme, there are so many different varieties (the creeping thyme is only used as an ornamental plant) and they are so beautiful in a landscape.
That is Sage. I like to harvest the top leaves that are small and tender. There are many different varieties of Sage also, they are beautiful as regular landscape plantings too.
Good old Parsley. I have gotten tons of this bush.
This is Basil. I don’t use Basil very much, I really should learn how. Basil is a very tender plant and doesn’t stand up to cold weather very well at all. A light frost will kill it dead. Needless to say, this is not a perennial in Utah.
This is a handful of Chamomile blossoms I just harvested. I drink a lot of Chamomile tea in the winter and I was hoping to get enough to support my habit, but I didn’t. Next year when the new plant is in full bloom I will do better. This winter I am going to crush them and add them to homemade soap along with some Lavender I got out of my yard this June.
I laid them all out on my back steps on top of a clean flour sack towel. I covered them with another towel and weighted the edges down with rocks. When the afternoon temps are in the high 90’s I can expect the herbs to take a day and a half to dry. Now that things are a tad cooler it is taking about 2 and a half days.
Here they are after they sat out all weekend. We had a busy weekend and they sat outside a little longer than I liked, so the color washed out a bit.
Usually the basil is still a bright green, but being in the sun so long bleached them. The sent and flavor is still good.
Parsley
Chamomile
I have been storing them in old jars that I have been collecting.
I think they look rather pretty
I have been putting the jars in my pantry where it is cool and dark to preserve color and flavor
It has been kind of fun collection and preserving my herbs, I plan to do more next year.
There are many different ways to dry and store herbs. You can use a dehydrator or tie them in a bunch and hang them upside down . Some people will freeze their fresh herbs in ice cube trays, or just freeze them in zip lock baggies. There are many different methods, and they all are very rewarding.