Growing Herbs for Fresh Organic Salads

Gone are the days when a slab of iceberg lettuce with a dollop of Thousand Island dressing on top was called a "salad." Besides being entirely uninteresting to many a palate, it had little nutritional value. Today's healthy and nutritionally rich salads can now become explosions of exciting flavors to delight the taste buds, fuel the body and enhance your immune systems. How? Grow them from your organic garden!

In addition to deep, leafy greens, the preferred salads of today often feature flavorful herbs. Growing your own organic herbs in your garden or in pots on the patio or windowsill will ensure you always have delicious and nutritious salad ingredients at your fingertips. What is more, many double up with medicinal benefits, or can be added to soups and stews, if you wish. Using your herbs in vinegars and vinaigrettes will also capture and preserve their flavors.

Your Salad Herb Garden

Which herbs you choose to grow depends entirely on your personal tastes. It will also depend on the space you have available and conditions for planting and growing. For best results in your organic garden, use soil mixed with rich compost straight from your compost bin. Many can be freely grown indoors, adding beauty and fragrance to wherever you place them. Beside the kitchen window is often the natural place of choice, but there’s no need to restrict yourself to that. Following are some recommended herbs for their flavor, nutritional value and ease of growing.

Basil – An annual, (or perennial in warmer regions), there are over 40 known varieties. Sweet Basil is the most commonly grown for its rich, spicy, peppery flavor. Delicious on salads, a natural with tomatoes, it has many culinary and medicinal uses, particularly for easing digestive complaints.

Basil is best grown outdoors, and reaches up to 2-1/2 feet tall and wide. They can be grown in the garden or in large pots in a sunny (6-8 hours) location with rich, well-drained organic soil. Prune frequently, every 2-3 weeks, and pinch off the edible and delicious flower buds when they emerge to use on your salads as well as leaves. Try not to wash them, as you will remove some of their oils.

Chervil – This delicious salad herb has a delicate flavor reminiscent of anise and tarragon, and is often used as a flavorful substitute for parsley. It is difficult to find fresh in stores and it loses its flavor very quickly after harvesting. This makes it a natural to add to your organic herb garden!

It is very easy to grow indoors in small pots. Outdoors, chervil prefers shade to full sun. Harvest before it flowers for best flavor, though you may wish to allow one plant to flower to use the tasty blooms in salads and garnishes. Since drying Chervil causes it to lose its delicate flavor, a better way to preserve it for later use is to mix it with butter then freeze.

Chives – Both common chives with their mild, onion flavor and Chinese chives (or garlic chives) with their subtle garlic flavor are salad staples, easily grown in the garden or indoor pots. Use potting compost in terra cotta pots for best results growing indoors. Chives do equally well in full sun or partial shade outdoors and will tolerate mild drought conditions.

To harvest, snip the chive leaves with scissors beginning with the outside leaves, leaving at least 2 inches of the leaves at the base to grow back for the next harvest. The plant's purple flowers are also delicious as well as beautiful on salads or floating on soups.

Dill – Fresh dill weed is much superior in flavor to dried commercial dill. Since you'll find it popping up in a wide range of recipes, it is a worthy addition to any organic garden. It is also one of the easiest to grow, making it a great herb for beginning organic gardeners. The dwarf forms grow very well in indoor containers with plenty of sunlight. Outdoors, it enjoys full sun but does not thrive in heat, creating short dill seasons in warm climates when grown outdoors.

It's best to harvest dill only when you need it, cutting frequently. If you cut more than you need, dry it by spreading it on a paper towel and leaving it in a warm humidity-free area. Alternately one can get away with microwaving it for 3 minutes. After it's dried, remove and crumble the leaves to store in an airtight container.

Parsley – The most popular varieties of parsley are the familiar curly leaf variety and the stronger, sweeter Italian flat-leaf parsley, more used for cooking. What is now a pretty garnish on dinner plates was begun as a breath sweetener when it was intended to be eaten after the meal. It is also good for digestion. Whether fresh or dried, parsley is perhaps the most commonly used herb.

Parsley is easily grown indoors as long as it has full sunlight and adequate drainage. It can be germinated from seeds and transplanted into small pots or in the garden 10-12 inches apart. Harvest by cutting the stalks at their base, starting with outside stalks. This will encourage new growth. Dry by spreading the stalks on a screen or hanging them in bunches in an airy location out of direct light.

Sorrel – Young, tender sorrel leaves add a lemony tang to salads and other dishes, especially fish. An easily grown, self-seeding perennial, it is a wonderful addition to the outdoor garden and it can also be grown in pots indoors. It enjoys full sun but can tolerate some shade in moist, well-drained soil.

Sorrel can be harvested when the leaves are 4-6 inches high, cutting at the base. The flavor will be fuller later in the season but harvest young leaves continuously to prevent the sorrel from going to seed. Pureed sorrel freezes well and is an excellent addition to soups, vegetables and pesto.

Tarragon – This popular culinary herb is most often associated with French cuisine and is often used to flavor vinegars and herb butters. With a piquant flavor reminiscent of anise, it adds a depth of flavor to salads and other cooked dishes as well.

Tarragon is native to barren, rocky, dry environments and it well suited to being grown in full sun even in the poorest soil conditions. French tarragon cannot be grown from seed so plants need to be started from cuttings or root separations. It does well in indoor containers when placed on a sunny windowsill. Harvest as needed by snipping about a third of a branch.

This is just an overview of the many herbs you can easily grow in your outdoor organic garden or in pots indoors or on the patio for all of your culinary masterpieces. Add more flavor, interest and nutrition to your salads with herbs!

This is the second of a series of articles presented by this site's editor, Julian, and myself, Chris Molnar of Go Organic Gardening. The series will explore the value and encourage the home growing of simple organic herbs for health and culinary pleasures.

Read the Entire Series

• Organic Herb Gardens: From Garden to Kitchen to Medicine Cabinet
• Growing Herbs for Fresh Organic Salads
• Basil: Powerhouse of Flavor, Nutrition and Healing
• Catnip: The Humble Prize in Your Organic Garden
• Chamomile and Lavender: Fragrance and Health in Your Organic Herb Garden
• Spotlight on Cilantro - A Spice and Medicinal Remedy All In One