The Prairie Gardener's Go-To for Herbs

by Janet Melrose, Sheryl Normandeau

Overview

"Herbs offers highly local advice on how to grow herbs for your kitchen. . ." —Savour Calgary

In the ninth book in Guides for the Prairie Gardeners series seasoned gardeners Sheryl Normandeau and Janet Melrose take all your questions about growing and enjoying herbs.

If you’ve ever stood in the produce section of the grocery store trying to pick out the least wilty of those little plastic containers of herbs, you’ll understand the appeal of growing your own. In the ninth installment of their prairie gardening series, seasoned (ahem) gardeners Janet Melrose and Sheryl Normandeau answer all your questions about growing these culinary, medicinal, and spiritually beneficial plants, including their potential for use in pest management and as hardy lawn replacements.

Beginning with the where (containers, raised beds, spirals, and more), the pair then provide guidance on choosing healthy plants, how to nurture herb seedlings, soil needs, watering, dealing with aggressive spreaders (hello, mint!), pest prevention, overwintering—including how not to kill that potted rosemary you brought inside for its own darn good—and lots of ideas for storing and enjoying your herbal goodies, from drying and freezing to making tasty infused oils, vinegars, and butters.

The final chapter is a roundup of herbs for all occasions and locations, including the pair’s top choices for insect repellers, butterfly and hummingbird attractors, edible flowers, and ingredients for herbal tisanes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771514286
Publisher:	Heritage Group Distribution
Publication date:	04/09/2024
Series:	Guides for the Prairie Gardener , #9
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Janet Melrose is a garden educator and consultant, and an advocate for Calgary’s Sustainable Local Food System. She is a life-long gardener and holds a Prairie Horticulture Certificate and Home Farm Horticultural Therapy Certificate. She has a passion for Horticultural Therapy and facilitates numerous programs designed to integrate people marginalized by various disabilities into the larger community. She is a regular contributor to The Gardener for Canadian Climates magazine. She lives in Calgary where she runs her education and consulting company, Calgary’s Cottage Gardener.

Sheryl Normandeau is a life-long gardener, and holds a Prairie Horticulture Certificate and a Sustainable Urban Agriculture Certificate. She is a freelance writer specializing in gardening writing with hundreds of articles published. She is a regular contributor The Gardener for Canadian Climates, The Prairie Garden Annual, Herb Quarterly, and many more. She lives in Calgary.

Read an Excerpt

What is an herb?

It seems like such a straightforward question. We all know what an herb is, don’t we? But as soon as we start to reply, we pause. Its not as easy as those flakes of parsley or thyme that flavour our food so enticingly. What about all of those herbs that are used by herbalists to heal us (or, for that matter, can they harm us)? Or the ones we use to calm or invigorate ourselves? Or the ones that connect us to our spiritual side?

Going beyond the uses we have for herbs, we need to consider what sort of plants are herbs. Are they just annual ones that go from seed to seed in one season? Or are there also herbaceous perennial plants? What about trees and shrubs?

By the time we have thought about all the answers to those questions, we are in a right muddle. But it doesn’t need to be that way if we go right back to the roots of the matter: language, that is, not botanically speaking. Our English word “herb” is derived from the Latin herba, simply meaning grass or green crops.

The Oxford Dictionary gives us two meanings of the word “herb” that together are most useful as well as provides boundaries for the scope of this book. As a noun, an herb is any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavouring, food, medicine, or perfume. It is also any seed-bearing plant that does not have a woody stem and dies down to the ground after flowering. For the purposes of this book, we will generally stick with this definition, only occasionally straying to encompass a few roots considered herbs in common use, and perhaps stray into a few trees and shrubs that we use as herbals.

Herbs are not just used for culinary purposes, though certainly their role in making our cuisine both delightfully delicious to eat and culturally diverse cannot be overstated. Many are also high in nutrients, minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants necessary to maintain health.

We tend to forget in our modern world that medicine as we know it, began with ancient peoples gathering and experimenting with various plants as remedies to alleviate pain and other symptoms of illness and injury. Apothecaries were stocked with plants grown in botanical gardens. Herbalists were wise women and men, revered by their neighbours for their knowledge of plants and their abilities to preserve health as well as restore it. Today, herbalism is enjoying a renaissance around the world.

Herbs have been used for spiritual purposes since time immemorial. They form parts of rituals and ceremonies for people and cultures everywhere. Herbs, as well as spices, are the backbone of aromatherapy. Their sweet fragrances and pungent odors are used to relieve stress, energize, cleanse the spirit, and enhance one’s moods. Simply running one’s fingers through lavender or sniffing sage is enough to validate the effectiveness of herbs as aromatherapy.

Herbs have other roles, too. They are used in cosmetics as well as for dyeing, not to mention their ornamental value in our gardens. They are used in companion planting as well as in Integrated Pest Management.

Not only do herbs have multiple and overlapping roles, but they also convey singular benefits for the gardener and cook in us all. Growing our own herbs saves us money, we get to enjoy their superior taste and other properties, and we broaden our minds and knowledge. In the landscape, herbs can have multiple functions. They bring biodiversity to our gardens as well as

provide layers for a resilient garden, from ground covers to semi-shrubs, hedges, focal points, and more. They can even replace a lawn or at least a section of it, if you so choose. Many herbs suffer little to no damage from maundering insects, birds, and mammals, coming as they do with their own defences against the animal world. Even more importantly, most herbs are able to adapt to our ever warmer and drier climate on the prairies.

Lastly, and this is important, too—they are a delight to grow and care for. The world of herbs awaits! —JM & SN

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter One: Designing with Herbs

Chapter Two: Planting and Propagating Herbs

Chapter Three: Growing and Cultivating Herbs

Chapter Four: Harvesting and Storing Herbs

Chapter Five: The Things That Bug Our Herbs

Chapter Six: Herbs for All Reasons and Seasons

Acknowledgements

Notes

Sources

Index

About the Authors

About the Series

 

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Prairie Gardener’s Go-To for Herbs

"A great resource for gardeners everywhere." —Quill & Quire

"Herbs offers highly local advice on how to grow herbs for your kitchen in our climate." —Savour Calgary

"In a digital world full of general information, their books provide specific knowledge for gardening in climates like Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Plus, everything they write about is based on their own experience." —Helpful Gardeners Podcast

Praise for Janet Melrose and Sheryl Normandeau

Honorable Mention at the American Horticultural Society Book Awards

"The Prairie Gardener's Go-To series comes in mighty yet digestible volumes covering popular topics like seeds, vegetables, and soil. . . Although each guide touches on regionally specific information, the wisdom of these seasoned gardeners applies to any garden, wherever it may be." —Acadia Tucker, author of Growing Perennial Foods

"Whether you’re looking for information on that one tiny pest you just can’t control, or are talking a new gardener through their first planting season, these slim but mighty volumes make great companions at the height of summer in the garden trenches and during cold winter days planning the next season.” —Floral Acres Greenhouse & Garden Centre

"From planning to planting to harvesting vegetables such as onions, lettuce, carrots, celery, beets, corn, legumes, peppers, potatoes, squash and more, this Q & A– style guide covers common questions about cultivation practices, preventing damage from frost, flood, and drought, and harvest and storage." —Prairie Books NOW

"The books are a pleasure just to leaf through, but the accessible writing and level of expertise makes them essential to any gardener’s library... Well-indexed, to help you find solutions to elusive problems. Highly recommended!"—Diane Miessler, Certified Permaculture Designer and author of Grow Your Soil

"Reading the Prairie Gardener's Go-To series is like sitting down with your friendly local master gardener. Delivers practice guidance that will leave you feeling confident and inspired." —Andrea Bellamy, author of Small-Space Vegetable Gardens

“The Prairie Gardener’s Go-To series offers knowledgeable yet accessible answers to questions covering a broad range of topics to help you cultivate garden success. Get growing!” —Lorene Edwards Forkner, gardener, writer, author of Color In and Out of the Garden

"The Prairie Gardener guides offer tips on planning, planting and growing gardens, and troubleshooting pests and diseases." —Calgary Herald

"This book provides detailed cultivation, harvesting and storage tips for the vegetables grown in our region." —Western Producer

"Melrose and Normandeau answer all the questions that the two experts could think of when it came to horticulture on the prairies." —Edify Edmonton

"Helping gardeners across the prairies succeed in growing food, flowers and everything in between." —Medicine Hat News

"With advice on which native grasses to use—and why—the book gives gardeners both inspiration and knowledge." —Alberta Views

"This go-to paperback addresses many issues of perennial plants that will prove extremely useful to gardeners." —Calgary Horticultural Society

"Advice on container gardens, raised beds, small plots and postage-stamp sized yards, and how to try your hand at vertical gardening." —Garden Making

“Written with wit and charm, Janet and Sheryl have given us the comprehensive, gardener-friendly guide to soil science everyone who grows a garden needs to read.” —Daryl Beyers, gardening instructor and author of The New Gardener’s Handbook

From the Publisher