Herb Gardens At Westbury Community Garden

If you are new to WCG, let me tell you about one of the perks of joining our garden.  We have two herb beds grown for common use.  The herb beds are tended by members of The Herb Society of America- South Texas Unit together with a newly formed Herb Committee of WCG gardeners (which anyone can join). These two groups work hand in hand to keep the herb beds going.   

Workdays for the herb gardens are the second and fourth Saturdays @ 9 am. 

If you are interested in volunteering in the herb beds, just come on over.  We usually bring snacks and share a jug of herbal tea.  Joint workdays are a great time for informal education to happen and questions to be answered.  The time you spend working on the herb beds counts toward your 12 hours of volunteer service you need to maintain your WCG membership.

Purpose

Everyone who has a bed at WCG is welcome to harvest herbs for their personal use, not just members of the committee.  The two herb beds are planted with a wide variety of fresh herbs for WCG gardeners to use for cooking, tea making and other uses.  With herbs at your disposal, our gardeners can use all their personal bed space for vegetables etc. and use herbs from the common beds for cooking and making healthy, nutritious offerings. 

Harvesting Tips

First, you should know that herbs benefit from use.  Trimming the new growth promotes more new growth.  Herbs are meant to be used.    Here are some general rules for harvesting that will benefit both the plant and the gardener.

• Use tools, snippers, scissors etc. for anything more that plucking a leaf. Clean tools please.
• If the plant is flowering, the flowers are also edible.  Absolutely use those too.
• Take what you need, but don’t take more than 1/3 of the plant.  This will stunt future growth.
• You may also take cuttings or seeds to propagate plants for your house or garden.

Herbs to harvest now (Week of February 2)

• Mediterranean Herbs:  rosemary, oregano, thyme
• Calendula  (the orange and yellow flowers)
• Parsley and Cilantro
• Yarrow

Spotlight on Calendula

• Fresh calendula petals are edible and add a brilliant pop of color to salads, dips, butters and makes a wonderful addition to any tea, regular or herbal. 
• Put ½ cup finely chopped herbs (any combination) along with fresh calendula petals in softened butter or cream cheese.  Easy peasy and oh-so-good.

If you have suggestions for herbs to plant in the garden, questions, or anything else to say, contact Julie Fordes herbs@westburycommunitygarden.org.