Herbs Grow Well In Poor Soils

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 287, 4 December 1941, Page 19

Herbs Grow Well In Poor Soils

HERB gardens are rare in Auckland. Many people who think that a herb garden, consists of a few roots of parsley, mint, sage, thyme and perhaps marjoram, are entirely unaware of the vast field that the term embraces. Broadly speaking herbs, as distinguished from "herbaceous plants, can be classed as culinary and medicinal, but scent-giving plants for toilet or pot-pourri can fairly be included. , Herbs will grow on poor soil, but do not object to rich; only in the latter case they will grow too luxuriantly and need thinning out more frequently. But most of them are easy to control except mint, which

is a greedy feeder and should be rigorously excluded. Many herbs are used dry as well as green, and the bestr state in which to gather them is when they first burst into flower. Dry all herbs quickly on open trays in a warm room, and as soon as they are crisp, rub or grate them into powder and store them away in corked bottles. Kept thus, the flavour can be retained for years. Most herbs can be easily propagated from cuttings and division of clumps. f"ests and diseases, for the most part, keep clear of them. Among the better known types of herbs are:—Angelica, anise, balm, basil, borage, burnet, camomile, caraway, clary, dill, chives, horehound, hyssop, lavender, pot marigold, marjoram, rosemary, rue, sage, savoury,] tarragon, lemon and common thyme and wormwood. The majority of these can be grown from seed.