Caption: Basil growing in a module tray
Caption: Basil microleaves
Caption: Green coriander seeds
Caption: Green shiso looks a bit like stinging nettles but is a delcious herb
Caption: Stephanie Hafferty
In the first of a new series, award-winning writer and grower Stephanie Hafferty explains the many benefits of herbs in the garden:
This year, I shall be writing about growing and using herbs - not just culinary uses, but also other ways of using these most versatile of plants.
Out of all the edibles that I grow, herbs most easily lend themselves to the smallest of spaces. They are as happy grown in pots on a sunny windowsill as they are growing in an allotment or community garden.
Herbs have the power to transform the humblest of meals into a delicious feast. Just think about how freshly chopped rosemary elevates roast potato wedges, or how just some fresh basil and olive oil makes a simple spaghetti dish into something extraordinarily fresh and flavourful.
Every three months I’ll be looking at what is in season, and what can be sown or planted now. Join me on a journey into the fragrant world of herbs.
Herbs to start from seed now: February to the end of April
Growing herbs from seed is the most affordable way of creating your herb garden. It also allows for the widest possible choice, with many seed companies now offering not just the more familiar chives, parsley or dill, but also more unusual varieties from across the world, including an extraordinary choice of basil colours and flavours. Definitely not your supermarket basil!
Speaking of basil, this is a warmth and light loving herb, and so I don’t start sowing the bulk of my basil until April. There’s just not enough daylight in February and March for it to really thrive, unless you have grow lights. To get an earlier hit of that wonderful basil flavour, grow it as a micro leaf. This method works for many other kinds of herb, including coriander, chervil and fennel.
Fill a pot with compost such as Dalefoot Composts Wool Compost for Seeds, water and sprinkle basil seeds lightly across the surface. Cover with a fine layer of compost, water and put in a warm, light place. Speed germination by popping a little cloche on top of the pot. A cleaned transparent plastic hummus-type pot is ideal. When the seedlings are a few centimetres tall, snip with scissors as used. You should be able to get two or three cuttings from these microleaves.
Start parsley, dill, coriander, chervil, and chives for growing on in the garden, or transplanting into pots, now. I start all of these except chives in module trays, with cells about 2x2cm. Put two or three seeds in each module. Once the seedlings are about 5-6cm tall, transplant to their final growing place. If you’re growing them in pots, use a potting compost such as the red bag Dalefoot Composts Wool Compost for Potting. I find the green bag Wool Compost for Vegetables & Salads works well here too.
Plant undercover in polytunnels, or outside. Cover outside planted herbs with horticultural fleece, or protect with a cloche, whilst they are getting established if the weather is cold and wet.
For chives, I sprinkle the seeds in a small pot and then plant that out as a larger clump when they are big enough (10cm or so tall.)
Later in April I’ll sow basil, and also the Japanese herb Shiso, in the same way as the parsley, dill, etc. These herbs are not frost hardy and must be kept warm until the last frost date has passed.
I grow some basil in pots, and the rest is planted alongside tomatoes in the polytunnel, or in large pots or grow bags.
Coriander easily bolts at this time of year - ie: it goes to flower - so choose slow bolting varieties of coriander in the spring such as “Calypso” or “Slow Bolt”. Chervil too will go to flower towards the end of April. I don’t know of any slow bolting chervil varieties (if you do, please let me know!)
When they do bolt, it is well worth letting them continue growing. The flowers of both chervil and coriander are edible and delicious sprinkled on salads. They also provide food for pollinators and attract beneficial predators such as hoverflies to the garden.
After flowering, they’ll produce edible seeds. Green coriander seeds are a flavour sensation, with a citrus zing. They are delicious sprinkled on top of hummus and pates made from broad beans or peas. Once the seeds go brown and dry, either save and use as seed for sowing, or keep in the kitchen to use as a spice. When it is time to pull out the coriander plant, use the roots in Thai and other Asian recipes.
Chervil seeds are also edible fresh and dried.
Perennial herbs in season now
Many of the perennial herbs that have overwintered dormant in the garden are putting on growth as the days get warmer and longer, including mint, lemon balm, chives (sown last year) and sweet cicely.
Sweet cicely have a sweet aniseed flavour and all of the plant is edible: leaves, stem, root, flowers and seeds. It likes to grow in a shadier spot: mine is under an apple tree. Sweet cicely has the remarkable property of sweetening (or rather appearing to) tart fruits. This means you can use a lot less sugar in pies and other recipes for tart fruit such as rhubarb or gooseberries, saving money as well as being better for our teeth. It also brings out the flavour of other ingredients, and doesn’t overpower dishes with its mild aniseed flavour.
The flowers attract many beneficial insects. The green seeds taste fantastic, like a liquorice sweet. I am often to be found in the spring nibbling on sweet cicely seeds.
From late May, once it has finished flowering, the plant starts to die back, but it emerges again. Sweet cicely is happy growing in a pot filled with potting compost, as long as the pot is able to drain freely. You can start sweet cicely from seed, or buy in a small potted plant.
Thyme, sage, rosemary and bay have been cropping outside all winter. They too are putting on plenty of growth in the spring sunshine. Every day nature is becoming brighter, more alive, noisier as the birds start nesting and then feeding their young. This energising feeling can often give us the urge to spring clean our homes. These powerful, fragrant herbs make a superb eco-friendly and non-toxic cleaner for windows, kitchen surfaces, bathrooms etc.
Spring Herbal Cleaning Vinegar
This household cleaner is cheap, smells gorgeous, and has anti-fungal, anti-viral and antiseptic properties too.
You’ll need:
a large jar with a lid
white vinegar
a bunch of herbs: choose from bay, rosemary, thyme, sage, mint, lemon balm
Shake the herbs to dislodge any dirt or insects and place in the jar.
Fill the jar with white vinegar and replace the lid.
Leave to infuse for two weeks (or longer, for a stronger fragrance).
When it is ready, sieve the herbal vinegar into a clean jar. Label the jar.
Put the herbs in the compost.
To use:
Either use neat to clean toilets, sinks etc, or mix 50/50 with water in a spray bottle for a multipurpose spray.
Never use vinegar sprays on soft furnishings, natural stone, marble or granite. As with all cleaning products, keep out of reach of children and avoid spraying in the eyes.
About Stephanie:
Stephanie Hafferty is an award-winning garden and food writer, expert no dig gardener, homesteader, edible garden designer and inspirational public speaker. Stephanie is creating a no dig homestead on half an acre in West Wales, where she runs gardening and homesteading courses, at the homestead and online.
Her garden was featured on BBC Gardeners’ World in 2022. Her books include: The Productive Garden (pub March 2026), No Dig Organic Home and Garden and The Creative Kitchen: seasonal plant based recipes using ingredients you can grow on an allotment.
Follow her journey on her blog, Instagram and You Tube
Website and blog : www.NoDigHome.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephaniehafferty/
You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/StephanieHaffertyNoDigHomesteading