Harvesting Herbs

Harvesting herbs is very similar to harvesting vegetables. Once your herb garden gets growing, you can harvest from it nearly everyday if you like.

After all, no dinner is complete without a few herbs to season it, so you may decide to visit your garden daily. One word of advice - make sure to take a bowl with you, because you never know what scent or flavor might inspire the perfect dinner.

Imagine tasting some homegrown tomatoes seasoned with fresh basil harvested from your own garden.

Obviously, the best time for harvesting herbs is when you need them, but if you're gathering herbs to dry or freeze for future use, you'll want to pick them when their flavors are at their peak.

Harvesting Herbs at Their Peak

If you want to get the fullest flavors and fragrances from your herbs, you need to harvest the young leaves before the plants bloom.

A good rule of thumb to ensure the best tasting herbs is to pick the leaves several times throughout the year instead of waiting until the whole plant matures.

Herb flowers need to be picked on the same day they first open their petals, or when they're not fully bloomed.

The oils that give herbs their aroma and flavor are strongest when the plants are cool. This is why morning is the best time to harvest your herbs, no matter if you're planning on using them in dried arrangements, preserving them, or using them in your evening meal. The flowers are also more likely to keep their shape and hold on to their petals if picked before they warm up.

Should You Rinse Your Herbs Or Not

One of the benefits of growing your own garden is you don't have to worry about washing what you grow. Since there are no chemical residues to wash off, the only reason to rinse your herbs is to remove any soil residue, or to wash off any insects that might be on the leaves.

Whether or not you choose to wash your herbs also depends on how soon you're going to eat them. If you're planning on using them that same day, then by all means wash them off, but if you plan on storing them for a few days, I would hold off.

That is of course unless you are picking parsley. Parsley is one herb that benefits from a dip into cool water soon after picking; it stays fresh longer and doesn't wilt.

Storing A Fresh Supply Of Herbs

It's a good idea to put aside a day or two's worth of your favorite herbs.

All you need to do is pop a few newly picked leaves or flowers into an open plastic bag and keep them in the fridge. Make sure you don't seal the bag; fresh air will help keep your herbs fresh. Perforated plastic vegetable bags are ideal for storing your fresh herbs.

Harvesting Herbs Seeds

As the herbs ripen, they will drop their seeds. You'll want to keep an eye out so you can catch the seeds before they fall. When you notice the seedpods plumping up, that means they'll soon be ripe and ready. When they are ripe, bend the stalk toward the ground and shake into a paper bag.

Harvesting Herbs Roots

You'll need to be very patient if you plan on harvesting herbs roots such as angelica or comfrey.

You need to wait until the plants are at least two years old before you dig their roots. Even two year old roots of fibrous-rooted plants such as valerian will seem spindly, but they're sufficiently potent.

The best time for harvesting herbs roots is in the fall after the herb's leaves have changed color or dropped. Next, scrub the roots, and then cut them into 2-inch-long pieces for drying.