Lemon Verbena, Aloysia citriodora

Now that the clocks have changed and the weather has transformed from winter to high spring over night,  it is the ideal time to prune your Lemon Verbena.

Be brave, cut back hard to just above a leaf bud or to where they will eventually form; they are easily visible on the stem.

By doing this now you will be rewarded with masses of new growth in the summer.

This will then give you masses of leaves too make  the wonderful tisane which is called ‘Verveine’ in France.

Alternatively you can make one my families favourites

Lemon Verbena Crème Brulee

My mother made the best crème brulee. Alistair, my son,  has inherited her passion for them and always rates restaurants and cooks on how well they make them. This is a wonderful recipe; the flavour with its hint of lemon sherbet makes this brulee very special.

Serves 4, Preheat Oven to 140°C/275F/gas mark 1

225ml milk

1 handful of lemon verbena leaves finely chopped, ( reserve 4 whole leaves for use as garnish)

7 egg yolks

100g caster sugar

60ml double cream

50g demerara sugar

Put the milk in a pan with the chopped lemon verbena leaves, bring to simmering point, remove from the heat and then leave to cool and infuse. Place the egg yolks in a bowl with the caster sugar and whisk until pale and thick. Add the cooled infused milk and cream, whisk well. Pass through a fine meshed sieve.  Ladle the mixture into 4 ramekin dishes and set them in a roasting pan. Pour in enough water to come three quarters the way up the side of the ramekins, pop into the pre heated oven and  cook for 1 hour or until set. Leave to cool and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Just before serving, sprinkle the demerara sugar over the top and caramelise with either a blow torch or by putting them under a hot grill. Decorate with some fresh lemon verbena leaves.

Recipe taken from Jekka’s Herb Cook Book

Bon Appetite

All photographs and text are  © Jekka McVicar 2012.  Please do not use without permission.

Summertime, and the picking is easy…

We recently enjoyed our penultimate Open Days of the season, and happily, the weather turned warm in the nick of time. Of our 650+ varieties, the most popular herbs were  Sweet Cicely (a natural sweetener), French Tarragon (no chicken dish is complete without it) and Lemon Verbena (makes the best tea in the world).

During her (twice daily and free) herb talks, Jekka asked ‘How many of you are growing Bay in a pot?’ and then ‘How many of you are feeding them? Because they won’t survive on water and love alone.’

Jekka's Open Day talk "Feed on Fridays"

Especially container grown herbs. Give them a foliar feed – being organic, we use liquid seaweed, which is available from most garden centres. And remember, “Feed on Fridays”.

Jekka’s workshop, ‘How to grow salad herbs for autumn’ included some special, seed sowing tips and tricks of the trade.  Student herb-growers were very pleased to take their samples home afterwards; they’ll see their efforts grow into a luscious, tasty autumn crop.

August is harvest time -  a month of abundance in the herb garden. There’s a vast choice of fresh, verdant herbs to harvest: Chives, Lemon Verbena, Mint, Sage, Wild Rocket,…to name but a very few.

Chive abundance

Evergreens like Rosemary and Thyme can be harvested all year round, but if you’ve recently cut them back, you might have an excess that you’re wondering what to do with. If you have a glut of a particular herb (and no wish to be gluttonous), then preserve them for winter use. Parsley, for example, freezes beautifully, and Lemon Verbena is easy to dry and store for use until this deciduous herb produces leaves again next (late) spring/(early) summer. Or try your hand at making a herb butter, or vinegar. Sage butter, for example, is fantastic for basting a roast, or tossing, melted with fresh cooked pasta. Vietnamese coriander vinegar is great for sauces and stir-fry. Jekka’s Herb Cookbook has a section at the end of each chapter on what to do with a glut of herbs (don’t miss Fennel and cucumber pickle – very, very mmm).

Melted herb butter - what could be better?

 August is also, really, your last chance to safely cut back those herb plants which have rewarded you with beautiful flowers and now need a darn good haircut to preserve the health and shape of the plant, before the season of mists and potential frosts. But the mellow fruitfulness of the herb garden goes on right throughout autumn, with the ripening of deep, dark blue berries on Myrtle (dry them, grind them and use them like Juniper) and the sweet, red fruit of Chilean Guava (allegedly Queen Victoria’s favourite fruit).

Myrtle - summer flowers & autumn berries. Use the leaves like Bay for a touch of spice

But enough of this chilly talk – it’s holiday time. Don’t forget to keep your herbs well watered on hot days (the best time is early morning before the sun gets up), and don’t forget these dates: 2nd, 3rd and 4th September. They’re our last Open Days of the season, and our end-of-season plant sale. It is the very best time of all to get a perennial bargain – plant it then, and it will have two whole seasons to get established for next spring. A most sensible plan. Happy herb harvesting.

All hands to the herbs!

Our gates will be wide open from 10am tomorrow morning, for our June Open Days – 17th, 18th & 19th June, 10 – 4.

There’s a wonderful atmosphere here today: Jekka, her husband Mac, and all the team, plus the guys putting up the catering tent, working towards a common goal – that is, to give our visitors the best possible experience of the farm over the next 3 days.

Berry-Blue food marquee in the making

We’re shifting quite a bit of stock about, so visitors can find the rare herb they’ve come especially to find, amongst our 650+ varieties. Shifting stock is akin to a good workout, but instead of sweaty gym odours, the herb aromas fill up your nostrils as you brush against them – it’s good, honest work with the added bonus of sense-ational smells!

Stock shifting

There are gaps to be filled with basils, lemon verbena, variegated myrtle, creeping lemon thyme and lavender Folgate. We’ve even got our very own herb farm BOGOFF corner – buy 3 and the cheapest is free (if Tesco’s can do it…!) – and a mouth watering selection of salad pots in the polytunnel (you’ll never want to buy a bag of leaves again).

Filling the gaps

Jekka’s preparing for her midday workshop on ‘how to take herb cuttings‘ (almost fully booked, but you can book up for the next workshop in July). And sussing out the route for her (free) herb farm tour, which may become a talk instead if lots of people turn up – it’s quite hard to make yourself heard amongst a long trail of people!

Meanwhile, someone’s just loving the activity, and the buzz, and making the most of the sunshine..

In doggy heaven

See you tomorrow at 10?