The Herb Farm Newsletter
Artistry in the Garden ,by Lynn Kirkland
Herb of the Week November 21st 2008
Herb
of the Week for 28th November
By Lynn Kirkland
Artistry in the Garden
Late spring and the garden is full of colour, texture and fragrance.
Some herbs obligingly self sow and reappear each year with no input from
us at all.
One of these is the Vitamin C rich nasturtium. These colonise the banks
around our dam and are the most stunning colours.
When you look closely at them it looks like an artist could have applied
the colours with a paint brush.
So what can we do with these brightly coloured herbs apart from let them
grow at will over areas of the garden where you have space.
You can chop the leaves up into a salad or add to a sandwich as the leaves
taste quite spicey and are very nutritious.
All parts of the herb are edible including the flowers and seeds, which
are sometimes used as caper substitutes.
The flowers are wonderful stuffed with a cream cheese mix and served with
your platter of starters. Mix cream cheese with lemon juice and chopped
up lemon balm and gently fill the trumpet shaped flowers. This will be a
delicious and surprising serving with drinks.
They are known herbally to be useful in clearing mucus and to be conditioning
to skin and hair as well as having useful amounts of Vitamin C.
The nasturtiums in the photo are the traditional variety and nowadays you
can get seeds which give reds and bronze colours and are attractive growing
in a hanging pot as they are not such sprawling types.
The nasturtium is quite an old fashioned herb however you can put a new
twist on it by trying stuffed flowers the next time you do some entertaining.
