Herb Plants

Growing herbs have gained popularity over recent years as eating habits have changed and they have been featured on television cookery programs.

A herb garden is a favorite way of assembling herbs plants and examples can be seen in many Botanical gardens and at Historical houses throughout the British Isles.

Mostly, the average gardener only grows the herb varieties he or she likes for their own consumption or decoration.

Herbs fall mostly into two distinctive groups, culinary and aromatic, although as in most things there are the exceptions to the rule, one that comes to mind is the Lavender, this is usually used for its perfume but can be used to flavor scones, cakes etc.

The foliage of herbs are used both in the 'green' state and dried, incorporated into food or just sprinkled over dished.
Some of the more popular types of herbs are Sage, Thyme, Rosemary, Garlic, Mint, Coriander, Balm, Oregano, Feverfew and of course Lavender.

Lavendula Stoechas

Herbs plug plants can be planted from spring through to autumn, and are mostly sold in containers or as herb plugs, for potting on into pots or herb bowls for, display or use in the kitchen as fresh herbs, or planted out into the garden.

Insect Control

Some common herbs show promise as an environmentally-friendly alternative to conventional pesticides.
Research work has been carried out on the insecticidal properties of rosemary, thyme, clove and mint.
These varieties and others could become a key weapon against insect pests in organic agriculture.

Many plants essential oils have a broad range of action against bugs; some will kill them outright others act as a repellent.
The oils from these plants are generally a mixture of small quantities of several different herbs diluted in water.

Conventional pesticides need approval before they can be used; these only need more limited approval from regulatory bodies and are readily available.

Another advantage is that insects are less likely to become resistance and safer to use.

These oils tend to evaporate quickly and degrade rapidly in sunlight, growers and gardeners will need to apply them more frequently than conventional pesticides.

Being less potent than conventional pesticides, applications at a higher concentration will be necessary to achieve acceptable levels of pest control.

Research is now under way to make these new pesticides longer-lasting and more potent.

Oregano Acorn Bank

At the moment conventional pesticides are still the most effective way to control many pests although we have found that since we started using ‘Compost Tea’ we have reduced our need to use pesticides by three quarters, as the plants become more resistant to many pests.

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Photos kindly supplied by Jelitto Staudensamen GmbH3, Thompson & Morgan, Kings Seeds and Moles Seeds
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