Some of the faster growing herbs are just the ticket for adding flavour to summer salads and veggie dishes. Here are a few of our favourites that are easy to grow and quick to produce enough leaves for you to pick within a week or two of planting.
Chervil
We find this herb is often overlooked, but it is SUCH a useful one for cutting a handful of feathery leaves and chopping them into salads to add a subtle aniseed flavour. It can really lift a plate of lettuce leaves! You’ll be able to cut regularly from our plants, and it’ll do well in pots or beds, in sun or light shade.
Basil
British basil (pictured), Greek Basil (great for window pots) and African Blue Basil (a lovely, bee-friendly perennial) are the ones we grow here at the farm. All three offer great flavour and will grow nice and quickly at this time of year.You can keep British Basil leafy and bushy for longer by cutting it back to a small pair of baby leaves. Great for making homemade pestos or sprinkling into pasta.
Parsley
Both curly parsley and flat leaf parsley will grow fairly quickly. You can grow them well in pots, or in beds, and they’ll do well in light shade too (which will help to stop them from bolting early)
Our plugs are quite densely sown, which means you can cut regularly and get plenty more fresh growth within a few days.
Chives
Choose from traditional chives and garlic chives – they both produce plenty of leaves for you to cut frequently through the summer (wait until they are the thickness of dried spaghetti before you start to cut), and when the flowers come (great for bees!) you can pick those and sprinkle them into salads for a mild onion flavour as well. Keep them well watered and they’ll do well. Cut them back at the end of autumn, and you’ll get a new flurry the following spring.
Mint
We have various types of mint to choose from, including the classic garden mint, chocolate mine, apple mint and a few others too. Grow it in pots as it has a tendency to spread and take over in beds. Water it well and you’ll be able to cut a few sprigs fairly soon after planting and then keep on harvesting right through summer. When it flowers, you can either leave it for the bees, or cut back for a second flurry before the end of autumn.
Quick Growing Herbs
Here are some of the essentials...!
