Posted Sept 4, 2011
There’s just something about being able to reach down during a cookout and pick some fresh herbs to throw on the grill with your food that’s appealing. Making this a reality is relatively easy and aesthetically pleasing. And it can be fun too.
That’s the idea behind “Herbs! Creative Herb Garden Themes and Projects” by Judy Lowe (Cool Springs Press, $19.95). The comprehensive book combines more than 40 herb garden theme ideas with useful facts about herbs, including care tips, uses, nutritional facts and their histories.
Lowe, the author of 10 other gardening books, was initially hesitant when her publisher asked her to write an herb book.
“There were so many books already on herbs, so I didn’t imagine the world would need another one,” Lowe said. “So I thought about how I could make it different.”
She remembered how much her two sons loved her pizza themed garden when they were young, picking basil and oregano for their slices. So she decided to write about herb garden themes.
“You can be real simple with it or fairly elaborate with it,” Lowe said.
For example, the pizza garden can be a corner of the yard dedicated to herbs for pizza toppings and sauces or it can be a round gardening masterpiece divided into herb “slices” to resemble a pizza.
Herb gardens also can be specific to the type of cooking most often done at home, whether it’s Italian, French, Thai or Indian.
Gardens can be Shakespeare themed, including only those herbs mentioned in the Bard’s literary works. Specific herbs also can attract butterflies, bees or hummingbirds for a garden full of life. Lowe even proposes a “Harry Potter” themed garden, filled with herbs historically thought to have magical powers.
“Herbs are useful,” Lowe said. “They taste good. They smell good. They look good in most cases.”
They’re no longer just a garnish on restaurant plates, she said. “You can add such wonderful individual flavor to your food with herbs,” she said.
Those who aren’t familiar with herbs are sometimes hesitant to grow something they are not sure will taste good, so they don’t grow herbs at all, Lowe said. But the beauty of some herbs – like the “cute little purple blooms” of chives – makes growing them simply for their looks a good idea too, she said. Planting for beauty can be a backup plan in case an herb’s taste doesn’t go over well with the family.
Lowe also mentions some atypical uses for herbs, such as using them in baths and for jellies or adding rosemary to baby shampoo to naturally enhance hair.
“It sounds kind of weird, but it works,” Lowe said.
Herb gardens also are affordable, especially if grown from seeds, so Lowe says buying many different kinds and seeing which ones work is another solution for those who are uncertain about which herbs to grow.
Lowe also offers tips for those who have only recently discovered herb gardens, such as how to preserve herbs for year-round use and which herbs to pair with which foods. (Basil goes well with tomatoes, chicken and salads.)
And flavor doesn’t just have to come from placing the herbs directly on the food. Lowe said she likes to throw them on coals while she’s grilling, so the herbs’ scent can waft up to flavor the food on the grill.
Even people without green thumbs can feel safe growing herbs, Lowe said. “Herbs are among the easiest edible plants to care for,” she said.
Because Lowe has lived and gardened in many different places – from Massachusetts to Virginia to Europe – she advises readers on the best types of climates for specific herbs.
Lowe, who now lives in South Carolina, likes to experiment when she gardens, trying new approaches to growing plants.
“And sometimes I’m successful and sometimes I’m not,” Lowe said. “And in both cases, I learn. And that experience can help someone else.”
Author Judy Lowe often offers gardening tips and answers questions on her Twitter page, @JudyDigginit, which has more than 3,000 followers. But Twitter does have its limitations. “Someone asked me for my favorite herb recipe and you can’t do that in 140 characters,” she said.
She also manages the Christian Science Monitor’s gardening website, called “Diggin’ It,” and has her own gardening blog, herbthemegardens.com.
© 2011, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
