Edible day lily flowers

More tough herbs that are easy to grow and will withstand both drought and heat. And they are useful too!

Aloe vera Aloe vera
Description: Fleshy leaves with spiked edges, sometimes spotted.
Growing notes: Perennial clumping plant. Grow by dividing off small side-plants in spring. Frost tender, needs excellent drainage.
Uses: Used medicinally for all sorts of skin complaints. Rub the fresh sap onto bites, burns, sunburn, fungal infections, eczema and other rashes, minor cuts and grazes.

Aloe vera

Garlic chives

Samphire Crithmum maritimum
Description: Pale green, succulent aromatic leaves and green flowers.
Growing notes: Perennial grown from seed sown in spring. Sprawling shrub grows well in coastal regions.
Uses: Leaves are high in mineral salts and vitamin C. Young leaves are cooked as a vegetable, or added fresh to salads, or used as a garnish.

Samphire

Garlic chives Allium tuberosum
Description: Strappy bright green leaves, strong garlic/onion flavour.
Growing notes: Perennial. Divide clumps or sow seed in spring or summer. Lift and divide every 2 yrs.
Uses: Add leaves to any dishes (both fresh and cooked) that would benefit from the garlic flavour. High in vitamins A and C and iron and calcium. Antiseptic and antibiotic. Insect repellent against aphid and thrip. Good edging plant. Grows well in a pot.

Tansy Tanacetum vulgare
Description:  Dark green, aromatic, fern-like foliage. Bright yellow flowers.
Growing notes:  Herbacious perennial. Grow from root division in spring or autumn. Very vigorous spreading clump.
Uses: Strongly pest-repellent, use against fleas, flies and mosquitoes. Plant near doorways, windows and eating areas to repel flys. Add to compost to increase potassium and other minerals, and to speed up decomposition. 

Day lily Hemerocallis species
Description:  Strappy leaves and bright yellow/orange flowers.
Growing notes:  Perennial. Grow from seed or by dividing clumps in spring.  Add compost in spring.
Uses: Flower buds are eaten fresh and dried, their musky flavour being essential to a range of Chinese and Japanese dishes. Add to salads, soups, stir-fries and meat and noodle dishes.

Tansy

Pelargonium Mabel Grey

Scented pelargonium Pelargonium species
Description:  Soft, rounded leaves vary in size and scent depending on the cultivar.
Growing notes:  Woody perennials generally grown from cuttings in spring. Add compost in spring. Sprawling bushes Cut back regularly.
Uses: Scented leaves are used in fruit salads and cakes. Also to make delightfully flavoured teas. The leaves dry well and hold their scent for scented sachets and pot pourri.

Perennial chamomile adds calcium and ‘sweetens’ the compost.

Just as the success of a meal depends on the quality of the ingredients, so too does the success of a compost heap. If you add only kitchen scraps you’re likely to end up with a slimy, black mess and if it’s all leaves and twigs then the chances are that is what will still be there months later. The fine detail of a compost recipe varies depending on the expert you are consulting, but all compost systems require free drainage, adequate moisture and a mixture of strawy, open material and green plant tissue. The purpose of composting is to break down garden and kitchen ‘waste’ into humus that can then be added to the garden to supply nutrients in a form that can be readily used by plants.

Compost can just ‘happen’. This one has kitchen scraps, straw and green waste.

Ingredients

Basic compost ingredients are kitchen scraps, manure (chook, cow, horse), soil, shredded paper, straw and green waste from the garden. This green waste can be made up of grass cuttings, leaves, weeds and leafy prunings. Sticks and branches are also fine as long as they are cut or mulched into small pieces.  These ingredients should added in layers in much the same way as you would make a moussaka, but instead of eggplant, meat and cheese sauce your layers would consist of kitchen scraps, manure, garden waste and straw or shredded paper. If you are like me and not organized enough to have all these ingredients ready at the same time, then you can just add them as they are available. In the words of the old Zen master, ‘compost happens’. It may take longer but it will get there in the end.

Healthy compost is full of worms

Don’t add diseased plants, or weeds such as couch, oxalis and onion weed, but conversely there are some plants, including some weeds, that will actually add specific nutrients and even help the compost to break down more quickly.

The herbs

My compost recipe requires regular additions of annual and perennial chamomile (Matricaria recutita and Chamaemelum nobile), comfrey (Russian comfrey, S. x uplandicum Bocking 14 is the best cultivar to use), dandelion (Taraxacum species), nettles (Urtica dioica), tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), valerian (Valeriana officinalis) and yarrow (Achillea millefolium).

Regular handfuls of chamomile, dandelion and yarrow leaves and flowers will all speed up decomposition of the compost with yarrow being the most effective. Yarrow also adds copper, nitrates, phosphates and potash while chamomile adds calcium and ‘sweetens’ the mixture. Dandelions contribute copper, iron and potash. Nettles are problem weeds but they actually improve the quality of the soil they are growing in and when added to the compost they contribute iron and nitrogen. Tansy adds potassium, which is very important for plant growth while valerian increases the phosphorous content so essential for good flowers and fruits. Probably the most useful compost plant is comfrey. The leaves are rich in potassium, nitrogen, calcium and phosphates. I keep a clump growing next to the compost and add a handful of leaves whenever I throw in kitchen scraps.

Dandelion leaves and flowers help to speed up decomposition.

Yarrow adds copper, nitrates, phosphate and potash to the compost.

We all know that adding herbs to food increases the flavour and enjoyment of the food. Adding herbs to compost doesn’t quite make it good enough to eat, but it speeds up and improves the composting process. It also ensures that the compost you add to your garden has a good balance of nutrients thus promoting the health and fertility of the soil, so essential for healthy plants.