There is something immensely satisfying about drying your own herbs. Over the last few years, I have focused more on herbs in my garden rather than vegetables because for me, the rewards are so much greater. I have limited space in my raised bed so I’m very choosy about what gets to come back year after year in that space.
The beauty of growing herbs is that they can also be planted right alongside my flowers and shrubs and be perfectly happy. Rosemary and lavender thrive in my borders and make up the hedge between the sidewalk and my property. Chives have pretty purple blooms in the spring, golden creeping oregano is a fantastic ground cover (almost too good since it spreads like crazy), sweet woodruff covers the feet of my roses, and thyme growing next to the front path smells lovely when stepped on.
Herbs for tea
There are a few herbs that get prime real estate in the raised bed– lemon verbena, stevia, and chamomile. Combined with lemon grass, I harvest these plants more than any other in the garden. I use them for the tea that I drink gallons of every summer. I gave the recipe in an earlier post. Lemon grass, lemon verbena, and stevia have to be grown as annuals since they don’t survive the winter most of the time. I dry as much of the plants as I can knowing that I won’t be able to make any more tea until April.
How to dry herbs
I have found an easy method–tie bunches with twine and suspend them somewhere with decent circulation and in my case, somewhere the cats won’t be tempted to investigate. Some plants like chamomile can be very messy and drop quite a bit of petals and such so I use a cookie sheet with a raised wire rack instead and that contains the mess and captures any wayward bits that want to float away. Different herbs take varying amounts of time to dry–some take a few days and others take much longer. It’s important to make sure they are completely dry before putting them in containers otherwise they can rot or grow mold.
Herbs for cooking
I grow several kinds of herbs for their culinary potential including basil, thyme, oregano, rosemary, sage, chives, and parsley. I usually only bother drying basil and occasionally some oregano. My rosemary is gigantic and evergreen so I never need to worry about not snipping some fresh rosemary even in winter. I love that rosemary blooms in early spring and continues to bloom off and on throughout the summer and is even still blooming now in October. Bees love it!
Other Herbs & Plants
I have a few other plants I like to dry for various purposes. I use lavender, rose petals, and geranium leaves in sachets and potpourri bowls. And I am going to try drying sweet woodruff and borage for the first time this year. We’ll see how they turn out.
There’s something that feels just a bit Little House on the Prairie when I grow, dry, and use plants from my garden for things like cooking, calming a sore throat, and making my sock drawer smell nice.
