My scheduled talk, “How to Grow a Summer Herb Garden” for the United Way of Great Mercer County (UWGMC) has been moved to the garden!
Originally
planned to be held in the pretty pink room of the Victorian home that is now
Laurie House (at Chauncey Hotel & Conference Center), the crackerjack
professional of United Way of Mercer County, Jodi Inverso, Vice President Brand
Management & Communications, told me the event was sold out.
Wonderful
news for a spring afternoon tea, herb talk, and potting-up demo.
Shortly
thereafter, Jodi wrote that in order to accommodate more guests and the
burgeoning demand, they moved the event to a beautiful tent near the lake, in
the gardens.
It doesn’t
get much better, does it?
Except
to learn the invite read, “Back by Popular Demand.”
Reading
that I couldn’t help feel Sally Field channeling her “You like me. You really
like me!” speech exclamation.
In
fact, everything about this invitation is screams lovely: Butterflies, herbs,
scones, afternoon tea, and gardens.
And
the honor of autographing my book, The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown
Cookbook for the garden guests…
It’s all about
Building Bridges
While the afternoon
tea’s garden guests find their way down the garden path to build a bridge to a healthy,
tasty, herb lifestyle, this is a benefit, after all, with the ticket price and
10% of my book sales going to the Mercer County United Way’s Summer Bridge
program.
Jodi wrote me to
explain. “The money raised at this event is going toward a Summer Bridge
program. This is a summer reading and literacy program with students (Age5- 6)
who are English Language Learners (ELL) and entering 1st grade in September.
The purpose of the program is to avoid the growing disparity and gaps in
literacy that occurs between ELL children when compared with their counterparts
especially during the summer months when there is no exposure to structured
learning. This program will help children maintain and/or strengthen their
school year academic learning, specifically reading skills
How to Grow a Summer Herb Garden
I am
thrilled to have the opportunity to talk about one of the plant world’s most
fascinating topics.
Herbs
possess a compelling and sometimes mysterious history.
From
potions to elixirs to hallucinogens to religious ceremonies, herbs play a
leading role.
Their
use in culinary, medical and spiritual applications is widespread but more
often misunderstood and in my humble opinion, herbs are not used frequently
enough.
Crops in Pots
I will
talk about how herbs can be used in grilling, cooking and cocktails.
I will
share how it is that herb plants are easily grown and add subtle flavor,
nutrition and visual punch to most every dish.
I will
show how to pot up herbs, and to create a Summer Herbal Composition utilizing
the “Thriller, Filler, and Spiller” guide to creating beguiling container and
windowsill plantings that are beautiful to look at, while adding pizzazz to the
menu.
I will
also talk about growing and nurturing an herb garden.
The
homegrown team at UWGMC secured the following herbs to sell at the afternoon Tea
and Herb talk:
Nufar Basil
Triple Curled Parsley
Greek Oregano
Garlic Chive
Peppermint
Summer Thyme
Santo Cilantro
Fernleaf Dill
Their
thoughtful herb selection was in part determined by the timing of the Herb
talk. Jodi told me the team figured that
guests might have already planted their more commonly used herbs so they looked
to get ones to sell that might not be as well known.
For
example, most summer herb gardens include the “King of Herbs:” Basil, most frequently, Genovese Basil
or Common Basil Ocimum basilicum
‘Genovese.’
 |
| Genovese Basil, photo courtesy of Sweet Valley Herbs |
The
Nufar Basil, Ocimum basilicum ‘Nufar F1
Hybrid’ for sale at the UWGMC Herb event is a wilt resistant variety of
Sweet Basil.
It is
said to have a bit more anise or licorice, peppery, minty flavor. The Nufar grows to two feet and the leaves
are correspondingly, very big.
 |
| Nufar Basil, photo courtesy of Sweet Valley Herbs |
Both
types are wonderful for pesto.
Parsley is a
must-have herb in the garden. It’s a
culinary draft workhorse used in a plethora of recipes.
Most recognize it as a garnish.
While it’s true that a sprig placed just so on the plate
like a flower behind the ear adds romance and drama, remember that the herb is
also nutritious, flavorful and aromatic – adding taste to stews, sauces, soups,
cocktails, egg dishes, and pesto, too.
Face it; everything tastes better with cheese and blended!
There are three types of parsley and the two most common
ones are:
Curled Leaf (Petroselinum crispum)
 |
| Curled Leaf Parsley, photo courtesy Eden Brother |
and Flat Leaf (Petroselinum crispum neapolitanum).
 |
| Flat Leaf Parsely, photo courtesy Garden Shop Telegraph, Co.UK |
Flat Leaf or Italian parsley is considered more robust.
 |
| See the difference: Flat Leaf Parsely (L) & Curled Leaf Parsely (R) |
Parsley is related to carrots, parsnips, celery fennel and
dill.
The Triple Curled Parsley
that is to be featured at the Summer Herb Garden Tea Party is heat tolerant
with a pleasant flavor, and sporting a croptop that would make Shirley Temple
blush, it is the prettiest of the parsleys.
The featured Santo
Cilantro is a popular, versatile, “global” fresh herb grown for the leaves
(cilantro) and the edible seeds (Coriander).
The raw, fresh, flowers of Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) are also edible and
add to the plating of a favorite dish.
Fernleaf Dill is
a rather diminutive herb that like a good wine – goes with just about
everything, including pickling.
Because its feathery leaves are so attractive and lush it is
also a container garden favorite marking it as a composition ornamental.
 |
| Fernleaf Dill, photo courtesy Pantry Garden Herbs.com |
We Love it in our
herb garden not only for its culinary grace but also because it is a “butterfly
hotel.”
The glamorous Swallowtail butterfly take up summer residence
in dill.
Plant enough for both of you.
 |
| Butterfly Hotel, photo courtesy PantryGarden Herbs.com |
Shopping
An herb-shopping tip: Get there early, select and purchase.
No deliberating.
From my experience - whether it was at the BBG Annual Plant
Sale or last week’s trip to a Garden State nursery for garden clients Peter
& B, and Maria, there was almost a clash of the “Herbies!” A food fight of sorts.
Here, it was a smack-down with local Master Gardeners who
were grabbing – er – scouring - the nursery for their own plant sale. Like locusts, they wrested the last of the
basil and rosemary. I had to post "Sold" signs
to keep their thymey-fingers off!
Looking forward to a lovely afternoon talking about how to
plant a summer herb garden.
