December at Jekka’s Herb Farm

It has been a very busy few weeks putting the herb farm to bed for December.

The weather forecast is apparently going to give us a bit of everything in an over blown way and today has been no exception. We have had hail, rain, gales and now sunshine. However the morning sunrises on many occasions this month have been inspiring, this was one of my favourites.

In the kitchen I have been making Xmas presents for friends and family.  My Mirto, that I started in late October,  is maturing well. The recipe was in our last  News Letter in case you missed it.

I am going to strain it in the next few days, then add the sugar. So it should just be ready to toast in  the New Year.

So may we wish you all a very happy, warm, safe Christmas and a wonderful, peaceful New Year and we look forward to seeing you at  Jekka’s Herb Farm in 2012, our Silver Jubilee year.

Picture of Dipsacus fullonum, Fullers Teasel 

Jekka’s Herb Farm Open Days – the ultimate end-of-season plant sale

This coming Friday, we fling open our gates and welcome everyone to Jekka’s ultimate Herb Farm Open Days of 2011 (2nd-4th September, 10am-4pm), featuring her spectacular end-of-season plant sale (roll up, roll up, perennial herb bargains a-plenty). If you’re tempted to buy at least four herbs, you’ll get the cheapest one FREE. So if you buy 12 herbs, you’ll be getting 3 free organic herb plants. And so on.

Jekka's Herb Farm Open Days - 650+ organic herb varieties

If you’re a rare plant/herb plant collector, don’t miss it. We have a superb selection  (over 650 varieties) of  organically grown, culinary, medicinal and aromatic plants in 8cm, 1 litre and 2 litre pots for you to browse and buy. Landscape gardeners and garden designers – bring a van: we’re selling off a choice selection of specimen herbs in larger pot sizes (up to 20 litres) at very reasonable prices. 

Specimen herb plants, organically grown, on sale at very reasonable prices.

Sale-aside, Jekka’s Open Days are simply a lovely day out for gardeners, cooks, or those with aspirations. Award winning Jekka gives a FREE farm tour (or talk, depending on numbers) at 10.30am and 2.30pm on each open day. Jekka will also be on hand to sign copies of her best selling books, chat about herb care and growing tips (and what to do with them once they’re grown), and her new range of organic herbal teas (which will also be on sale).

Jekka will be on hand to give expert herb tips, sign books, & chat about her new range of organic herbal teas

When the scents and aroma of Chocolate Peppermint, French Tarragon and Lemon Verbena conspire to get your tummy growling, you can nip over to the Berry Blue pop-up cafe, relax and feast upon ‘Home Grown Thai Red Curry Squash Soup, with fresh bread and Coriander Pesto’ or ‘Slow Cooked Beef in Guinness, with Herbed Potatoes & Wilted Spinach’. Prepare to be overwhelmed with temptation for ‘Home Grown Greengage Meringue Sundae’ and ‘Apple and Lavender Sorbet with Lavender Shortbread’. Then, wash it all down with Jekka’s fresh herb tea, or a jug of Pimms with Jekka’s fresh mint, or ‘Home grown greengage crush’, and you’ll be feeling all refreshed and ready to get back to the lovely business of handpicking your herb garden.

Refresh and revitalise with the finest fare in the Berry Blue cafe

Entry is FREE on Friday 2nd September, and £2 per person on Saturday 3rd &  Sunday 4th. But if you’ve already purchased a hard copy of our catalogue, then bring it along and wave it wildly (or sedately, as your character permits) at whoever is manning our gate, and you’ll have free entry for 2 people on Saturday and Sunday too!

Members of the Royal Horticultural Society, the Soil Association (timely, as Jekka’s open days fall right at the start of Soil Association initiative ‘Organic September’ including the Bristol based Organic Food Festival - so if you’re visiting us, why not visit them too?), the West of England Herb Group  (of which Jekka is president) and copy holders of the latest issue of Grow Your Own magazine also have free entry on all 3 days.

This will be Jekka’s biggest, best, end-of-season herb plant sale ever. More info’ required? Email sales@jekkasherbfarm.com or ring 01454 418878.  See you there!

30 organic rosemary varieties and a great big plant sale

It’s harvest time in the herb garden. August and September are months of abundance, with plentiful supplies to use fresh from the garden. It’s also the ideal time to prepare herbs for the winter months, not only to give a continuous supply of leaf, but also to give hardy perennials their very best chance of surviving the vagaries of winter.

Chocolate Peppermint

 Jekka has been busy sorting and cutting back our 30 different mint species (including Chocolate Peppermint with its ‘After Eight’ flavour, and variegated Pineapple mint, delicious and pretty in a fruit salad) to give a final winter crop. Mint cuttings can be put to excellent use in a fresh mint sauce, pea and mint soup, a jug of Pimms or a refreshing cup of mint tea.

Rosemary Sudbury Blue

Jekka has also been pruning and re-potting her rather large rosemary collection – now a staggering 30 different varieties. To Jekka’s keen eye, it isn’t difficult to distinguish R. Foxtail which has a bushy, prostrate habit (not unlike a fox’s tail) from a R. Prostrate, also, unsurprisingly, prostrate but minus the bushiness. Or R. ‘Lady in White’ from R. ‘White’ – naturally, both are notable for their white flowers, but the Lady is arching whilst the commoner is prostrate (draw your own conclusion). Cultivars such as R. Sissinghurst Blue and R. Sudbury Blue have significantly different minimum temperature requirements. Sissinghurst is frosthardy (down to -5⁰C) , whilst Sudbury is fully hardy (down to -15⁰C).Taste and flavour are important distinguishing factors too; for something completely different, try R. Green Ginger, which adds a mildly oriental taste to your roast lamb or barbequed fish. Other factors include the shade and shape of the rosemary’s thin needles: some are light green, some are dark, some are fatter whilst some are more pine-needle like in appearance.

Overridingly, Rosmarinus officinalis is amongst the most useful plants you can grow in the garden. It is evergreen, so can be harvested all year round; an appetite stimulant, the leaves have antibacterial and antioxidant properties; combine with meat, casseroles, soups and sauces, fish, rice, cordials vinegars etc; even the flower is edible, with a sweet taste, delicious with cooked vegetables; the leaves can be roasted at high temperatures without disintegrating; plant it companiably near carrots to help repel carrot fly; infuse it for an antiseptic tea/mouthwash/gargle – also, allegedly, an excellent cure for a hangover.

Come along, see for yourself and pick up some expert growing tips too at Jekka’s final Open Days of the season, from 2^nd – 4^th September, when she’ll be holding her end-of-season plant sale, including organically grown rosemary species; rare, tropical and wildflower herb varieties; essential herbs for foodies, such as Lemon Verbena, French Tarragon and Chilean Guava; dye plants Woad and Wormwood; medicinal powerhouses Arnica and Lemon Balm; aromatics like Balm of Gilead and Cat Thyme.  We’ll also have a super selection of our beautiful specimen herb plants on sale at very reasonable prices.

Jekka's Open Days - September 2nd to 4th - End-of-season plant sale

 The farm will be open to the public from 10am – 4pm. Entry is free on Friday 2^nd September and charged at £2.00 per person on Saturday and Sunday, although catalogue holders, members of the RHS, the West of England Herb Group and the Soil Association also receive free entry on all days for two people.  

Jekka's FREE herb talk, 10.30 & 2.30 on each open day

 

Jekka’s Herb Farm is usually closed to the public, so Open Days are a unique opportunity to browse and buy, breathe in and taste the scents and flavours of our 650+, organically grown herb varieties. Pick up some expert tips from award-winning, organic herb farmer, writer and broadcaster, Jekka, and partake of locally grown, seasonal refreshments in the ‘Berry Blue’ café. Herb workshops with Jekka (pre-booking is essential) take place on each Open Day at 12pm and tickets are £15 per person.

We very much look forward to welcoming you to the farm (and a bit of self indulgence,  sharing our knowledge and passion for herbs with you)!

June Open Days – nipping out for a sniff and a rub between downpours

Mostly, we’re very grateful for a drop of rain in summer: the herbs love the combination of wet and warmth,  and we love it because it reduces our daily task of quenching the thirst of 650+ herb varieties.

However, sunshiny days are infinitely preferable when opening up the farm and inviting people along for an enjoyable meander through the herbs.  The Friday and Saturday of our June Open Days were a bit wet for a lengthy amble amongst the aromas, but, happily, this didn’t deter our fabulous, die-hard, herb loving visitors and we were delighted to welcome back many regulars as well as many new visitors to the farm.

Ominous sky..but enough blue for a pair of sailor's trousers?

The weather forecast was pretty dreadful, but our visitors are made of sterner stuff

Nipping out for a sniff and a rub between downpours

Jekka’s farm tour became a herb talk in a warm, dry, aromatic polytunnel and our wonderful caterers, Berry Blue, had their busiest event at the farm ever – when the rain came down, everyone headed for the food marquee, where herby feasts and a hot mug of herb tea braced them for their next expedition outside.

Jekka's herb talk in the dry, aromatic polytunnel, and a very helpful young man

Jekka’s herb workshop was all about ‘How to take herb cuttings’, and she was delighted to make the acquaintance of her youngest pupil, Millie, who demonstrated great potential of becoming a future ‘Queen of Herbs’. Jekka’s next (pre-bookable) herb workshops (22nd – 24th July, 12pm) will tell you all you need to know about growing your own  salad herbs for autumn.

Millie (left) demonstrates her new skill - taking herb cuttings

Happily, Sunday dawned (and remained) much brighter, and visitors could take their time to enjoy the scents and arouse their senses. Jekka gave an outdoor herb talk to visitors, who learned that herbs in containers, such as Bay, won’t survive on love alone – they need a weekly feed at this time of year – we use liquid seaweed; that ‘Sir Basil‘ doesn’t like to be watered after midday; that Mediterranean herbs such as rosemary and thyme must have very good drainage to thrive, and that herbs in flower now, such as lavender and thyme, should be cut back after flowering to promote plant health and maintain good shape. It was actually warm enough for her audience to sit back and soak up some most welcome sunny rays.

Soaking up some herb learning

The rain rarely deters open day visitors, who are often as nuts about organically grown herb plants as we are. But we would appreciate (please, please, please?)  some warm, dry days from 5th – 10th July, when we’ll be at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, and 22nd-24th July – our next Open Days. Fingers and fronds crossed.

Herb Garden Cutbacks

June: you’re expecting the fragrant smell of freshly mown grass and the warmth of the sunshine on your back, the drone of busy bees, perhaps a dip in the English Channel if you’re really brave (or daft, or very well insulated). But it’s definitely chilly for June and there’s not much doing on the sunbathing front. Luckily, there is plenty to occupy you in the herb garden (so much more satisfying and beneficial than roasting your skin).

The farm is looking beautiful, and cooler weather at this time of year can help to prolong the flowering period, especially if you’re conscientious with your dead-heading.  We’ve had a drop of rain (at last) and a glimmer of sunshine, and the herbs are happy. There’s so much in flower right now that our next Open Day visitors are in for an absolute treat in a week’s time.

Jekka's Herb Farm in early June 2011

Wandering the hardstanding and polytunnels is an aromatic, sensory feast at this time of year but it doesn’t happen by chance alone. Jekka and the team are always constantly watering, weeding and feeding, propagating, potting and pruning. This is no time to rest on your laurus nobilis in the herb garden. For example, these Santolina, Cotton Lavenders ‘Primrose Gem‘ and ‘Small-Ness‘ look stunning right now…

Cotton Lavenders, 'Primrose Gem'...and 'Small-Ness'

..but once they’ve finished flowering, it’s essential to cut them back to maintain the attractive, bushy shape and good health of the plant. These elegant, aromatic evergreens,  a popular choice for Elizabethan knot gardens,  love a sunny spot and, preferably, a sandy soil.  If your soil is clay, then you’ll need to break it up with a good dose of horticultural grit and organic mulch – or plant in a pot.

The same goes for Lavandula, Lavender. Keep Lavender (and this goes for both the hardier varieties like Lavender Folgate…

Lavender Folgate, happy as can be

and the less hardy species such as Lavender Willow Vale) at its happiest, by planting in well drained soil in a sunny spot, and once it’s finished flowering, trim back (but NEVER into the old wood – this would be tantamount to murder). You may get a second flowering later on (and dry those flower trimmings for lavender sachets, sorbets, sugar flavouring, herb pillows and soothing scented baths).

Then there’s TLC for the summer salad herbs like ‘Sir Basil‘ as Jekka refers to this somewhat self important herb who must be watered in the morning but not in the evening please, as he hates going to bed with wet roots (understandable) – he also loves the summer sun, but protection from the midday sun (fussy).

Coriander also prefers an early tipple, and is happiest in a semi shady spot – if it’s left in full sunshine, the chances are it will bolt, flower and go to seed before you’ve even had the chance to make your Mexican Enchiladas (see Jekka’s Herb Cookbook), ditto Dill, ditto Salmon, Dill and Potato Soup.

Once these edible annual herbs finish flowering (and there are many – Amaranth, Golden Mustard , Salad Rocket, Mexican Tree Spinach – you’ll have to do a search on our website for the rest because life’s too short), if you let them, they’ll very often set seed and pop up again next spring when you least expect it – Red Orach, for example, is a prolific self seeder.

Red Orach - prolific self seeder

It does look  striking in the garden, and the young leaves can be used in salads (wilt the more mature ones like spinach), but if you don’t want a gardenful next year then either collect the flowerheads quickly or don’t plant it in the first place!

Anyway, must get back to cutting back. Come along to our next Open Days, 17th-19th June, when, if you’d like some more advice, we’ll happily chat all-things-herbs with you all day long!

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