Herb Awareness Weekend - Brisbane

The Queensland Herb Society will be holding its annual Herb Awareness Weekend at Mt Coot-Tha Botanic Gardens on 8th - 9th May from 9am - 4pm.

You can expect:

• Information on a large range of medicinal and culinary herbs.
• Large variety of stalls featuring preserves, coffee, teas, spices, skincare, bush foods, and plants for sale.
• Café Sage will be open, serving home baked herb inspired food and beverages.
• Colin Campbell will be a guest speaker and signing copies of his book on Saturday morning.
• Free demonstrations and talks on herbal medicine, workshops on growing your own herbs, cooking with herbs, demonstrations and gardening tips.

Tickets are $4 for adults and $3 for concession card holders. Maps and directions are available here.

Herb of the Month: Parsley

The two main varieties of parsley (continental flat leaf and curly) are widely used in the culinary world. What would a seafood buffet or the butcher shop window be without sprigs of parsley scattered everywhere? The plant will generally live for two years, although the second year is mainly concentrated on flowering and seed production. Leaving a few of the flower heads go to seed will mean a self-perpetuating parsley garden, and no more buying seeds annually! Parsley is perfect to use as a garden border or planting in pots for your organic container herb garden. Don't bother with dried parsley or the dead and dying bunches from the supermarket - in a few weeks you'll have your own fresh parsley to pick as you need.

Sowing: Sow thickly direct in garden, or several seeds in each cell of a seedling tray. Plant from mid-Spring to early Autumn in rich, freely draining soil in a warm sunny place.

Germination: Can be sporadic and slow (up to 3 or 4 weeks), but watering in gently with boiling water or soaking seeds overnight before sowing ensures faster and more consistent results. Covering with a thin layer (about 1cm) of very fine organic seed raising mix will also help new plants push through to the surface. Keep soil moist but not wet - a seed raising container with a clear lid is great for holding moisture and warmth.

Growing: When seedlings are well established, thin out, leaving only the strongest plants 10-20cm apart. Water well with an organic seaweed solution or compost tea to promote strong root growth and minimise stress on remaining plants. Top dress with organic compost and mulch.

Harvesting: Nip out selected leaves with fingers or sharp scissors, being careful not to disturb the roots. The best part is the more you pick, the denser the plants will become.

Uses: Most commonly seen scattered haphazardly over food as a garnish, parsley is useful for so much more. Use in sauces, salads, stews, egg dishes, tomato dishes, herb crumbs for meat, risottos etc etc. Chewing on a sprig of parsley will freshen breath and remove heavy odours like garlic and curry. It is known to be a diuretic, an anti-cancer agent and for aiding kidney and heart function. It is high in potassium, vitamin c and available calcium.

The best time to sow parsley throughout most of Australia is now, so grab some seeds at the store, or order online and get planting!

Small Spaces: Container Herb Gardens

Officeoriginair for Royal VKB

Starting a container garden is an ideal way to maximise growing space in a small backyard or balcony. Even if you can only fit in a few herbs, you'll avoid being subjected to buying the prepackaged bunches of lifeless slops at the supermarket. And it's SO easy! You just buy the plants, buy the pot, buy some potting mix, plant the herbs, water them in. Done! Anyone can do it! Instant gratification at it's peak.

Buuuut, if you would like your herbs to survive, and you even have the audacity to expect them to thrive, read on. There's a whole lot more to guaranteeing the survival of your newest edible garden members.

Your personal situation: If you travel a lot, or are lacking in the memory department (aren't we all?), or any other reason why your plant might be neglected of water and attention, you might be better off choosing either a self watering pot, a really B I G pot, or a herb that will thrive on neglect like Rosemary.

Location: Choose where you would like to have your pot, and choose plants accordingly. If you have a dark, cool spot, then you'll be quickly met with disappointment if you planted something like basil. If you're looking to fill a large container, make sure all the plants you choose share the same interests, lest they get bored with each other and jump ship. You wouldn't want the rosemary drowning while the mint's lusting for more liquids.

Watering: Again, you need to be aware of the individual plants you're growing. On the most part, herbs don't like to be sitting in wet soil. Plants like parsley will rot off at the base in no time at all. You'll see the leaves yellowing, leaves dropping and some erectile dysfunction. And that's sad for everyone. At the same time, as we all know, dry soil is a killer for the non-hardy herbs.

Feeding: If you expect to be feeding from your plants, you'll need to feed them too. Potting mixes are mostly horrible like that. Mixing an organic slow release fertiliser and some well rotted compost in with the potting mix is a good start. Container gardens also lose a lot of nutrients because of watering - all the goodies end up spilling out onto the ground. Regular watering with a liquid fertiliser or worm 'tea' will keep them going.

Design: The fun part! Mess around with textures, colours and height. Groups of three, five, seven etc are more attractive to the eye. Try variegated and coloured varieties or edible flowers like nasturtiums. Think about the herbs you actually use the most, and some new ones to experiment with. If they'll be near a doorway, try ones that will smell yummy when it's brushed against. Chocolate mint comes to mind...