Post by Susan Audrey
With herbs, youâre pretty much guaranteed two things: the plant is an heirloom (as herbs, for the most part, have not been crossed, selected or hybridized) and theyâre âgoing to pay the rent.â In other words, theyâll give you something back for the space theyâre taking up in your garden.
If youâd like to know more about herbs, you can discover almost everything from one sourceâmaster herb grower, herb columnist, author, and creator of all-things-herbal, Jim Long of Blue Eye, Missouri.
A back injury and a series of serendipitous events helped transform this former landscape architect into Mister Herb, a walking-Wikipedia of herb lore, herb growing and gardening tips, herb recipes, and herbal remedies, which include everything from an herbal dream pillow that encourages sweet dreams to an herbal nail fungus soak thatâs recommended by medical professionals.
Jim grows 250 to 350 culinary and native medicinal herbs in his herb garden located between Branson, Missouri and Eureka Springs, Arkansas in the heart of the Ozarks.He has been a columnist for The Herb Companion magazine since 1990, has a regular column in The Heirloom Gardener(http://rareseeds.com/magazine) and The Ozarks Mountaineer magazines. His syndicated âOzarks Gardeningâ column runs in newspapers across the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks, and heâs authored 25 books on herbs, gardening and cooking. He also travels extensively throughout the year lecturing to groups and at national conferences and travels abroad in search of new culinary plants to grow, photograph, and write about. Jim will be a featured speaker at the National Heirloom Exposition (http://www.theheirloomexpo.com/) coming up Sept. 11-13, 2012 in Sonoma County, California.
In a recent phone interview on a 75-degree February day in Missouri with roosters sounding off in the background, Jim shared all kinds of interesting and inspiring tidbits about herbs.
Eight Important Herbs You Should Grow
If youâre new to herb gardeningâand even it youâre notâJim recommends growing this staple garden of culinary herbs: basil, chives, mint, thyme, parsley, marjoram/oregano, fennel, and cilantro. Thereâs nothing like fresh herbs for cooking.
Conducting nationwide surveys of retail nurseries, wholesale plant and seed companies, Jim found that the most popular and most used herb today is basil. The secret to keeping this popular culinary herb sweet, he shares, is to keep the plant clipped. If you donât keep basil harvested, the leaf flavor changes from sweet to somewhat bitter, he stresses. And donât be shy, he adds. Think of the plant as you would a hedge, donât just pick a leaf here and there. The more you harvest basil, the faster it puts out new leaves with the best flavor. Harvest sprigs, even limbs, he says, it wonât hurt the plant.
There are, of course, all kinds of basils to enjoy. In his garden blog: http://www.jimlongsgarden.blogspot.com, Jim mentions growing Genovese, sweet, Thai, lemon, lime, boxwood, spicy globe, clove (also known as Indian sacred), green pepper, and Greek columnar. Imagine a slightly different flavor for your homemade pesto sauce this year.
Meet the âHardiesâ: The Most Adaptable Herbs
Wherever you live in the country, these herbs, for the most part, will adapt fairly easily: basil, parsley, chives, sage, rosemary, thyme and oregano. They donât require much pampering, according to Jim, and can stand moderate drought.
Do visit Jimâs Website (http://www.longcreekherbs.com/virtual-tour.php) for a virtual tour of his herb gardenâyouâll be inspired to try growing some less common varieties, too. (In-person visits are by appointment only.)
The âHerb of the Yearâ
To celebrate âThe Herb of the Yearâ as designated by the International Herb Association, Jimâs Website currently features recipes for this yearâs lucky winnerâthe rose. Yes, the rose is an herb and a very tasty one at that.
All roses are edible, says Jim. They are a relative of the apple. You want to be careful, however, he warns, and stay away from roses from floral shops and grocery stores, as they have often been treated with chemicals to aid in maintaining their perfect, bite-free appearance and to extend their longevity. Itâs best to dine only on roses you know have been grown organically. The most fragrant, usually the older heritage roses, which are bred for their fragrance, are the most flavorful, he adds.
A quick and easy way to embark on this perhaps new-to-you culinary experience is to pluck some rose petals from a bush in your garden after the morning dew has gone and the heat of the day has not yet come and toss them into a green salad, Jim recommends. Or, chop up some rose petals, mix into cream cheese and spread on toast. Jimâs blog also includes information and videos on how to create rose petal syrups and butters as well as a delicious-looking rose petal cake. Munching on rose petals also provides you with a little Vitamin C.
Medicinal Herbs from Civil War Days
Medicinal herbs from this era had a big impact in providing improved healing remedies, Jim shares, for everything from quickly stopping a soldierâs bleeding to hormonal balancing in women.
One quick and easy Civil War era remedy is thyme tea, good for gargling with to soothe a sore throat and rinsing your mouth with to help heal bleeding gums. Thyme is actually the primary active ingredient in Listerine, Jim reveals. The recipe for an herbal mouthwash: Simply pour 3 cups of boiling water over 2 heaping tablespoons of dry or 4 tablespoons of fresh thyme; cover with a plate or plastic wrap and let steep for about ten minutes. Strain and let cool to your comfort level before using to gargle with.
From Early Newsletter to Perpetual Blog to Books
When Jim was healing from the back injury he sustained working on an architectural landscape job so many years ago, he entered contests to pass the time. He won a few, including a ski trip to Colorado, which, of course he couldnât use. But he flew to Colorado anyway and visited a friend who he discovered had a new MAC computer. Jim had already toyed with the idea of writing a newsletter featuring information about herbs, but a âtest driveâ of the new computer cinched the idea for him and is what launched his decades-long herb and garden writing career. You wonât find his newsletter any longer, but you can find scads of information on growing herbs, cooking with herbsâeverything herbâon his blog, which he updates frequently, as well as in his over two-dozen herb growing and cooking books.
If youâve always wanted to learn more about growing and cooking with herbsâand even if you havenâtâJimâs writings will inspire you. I canât wait to pluck some rose petals from my backyard bush and toss them in a salad!
Susan Audrey is a Northern California writer, editor and photographer. She can be reached at tosusanaudrey@gmail.com
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I order some seeds from your company last year to prepare for my spring garden. The tomatoes are doing great the seed sprouted nicely. But the Culantro or Vietnamenes Coriander did not sprout, I tryed 2 different batches and nothing, the sees were super small varelly visible. I started them indoors under growing lights. I live in San Diego Ca. the Lot # is 111EEE. I dont have any more seed to try again but I would like to try to grow this herb. What info can you share with me about growing this herb?
Thank You
Finally moved to the country getting ready to retire and want to start gardening. My friend Sue suggested I contact you when I was telling her of my plans and then I saw this article from Jim. Jim was a wonderful customers when I was in the restaurant business many years ago. Perfect timing I ordered a catalog today and am so ready for the 2012 growing season.
Very good article. I was considering planting a narrow herb garden between my white picket fence and the street, abou t40 feet long and 10 feet wide with a path of natural stepping stones down the middle. After reading this article I’m no longer considering it…I’m going to do it. What an inspiration this was and at just the right time.
How inspiring, thankyou so much.
Namaste!