Best way to dry herbs?

What are some of the ways you dry herbs. I have lemon tyme, basil, chives and parsley plants that I want to dry but I can't afford a dehydrator right now. I also have about thirty bulbs of garlic. I was thinking about drying half of them to try and make my own garlic powder. Can that be done? Any suggestions to both of these?

The old fashioned way is to cut your herbs at the base, bunch them at the base with string,
and hang them upside down anywhere indoors out of the sun. Airflow helps the process,
but isn't absolutely necessary unless conditions are damp, such as a basement. Not optimal.
Some may argue that the roots still hold valuable nutrients that "filter" into the drying
leaves, so try some experimentation and see what works for you. They're messy, though!
Base-cut has always worked for my medicines, but I never tried it with garlic.

Thanks vinetwiner, I guess that's the cheapest way of doing it. It probably would not work the same with garlic. I thought about an oven but that would probably take a lot of hours. I wonder if garlic can be dried in a microwave on it's lowest setting.

Davdon, it would cook before it dried. You could try laying the garlic on paper towels and setting a lamp over it to help speed the drying process.

Good idea moon. Maybe I'll try that with a couple of cloves to see how long it takes.

If you use a food processor to slice the garlic, you could put the slices in your over at the lowest setting to dry the garlic. It will keep in your freezer for up to a year that way. Pound/grind when you're ready for it.

Whole dried cloves are hard to grind into powder. The best way iI have found is to slice and dry the slices then just gring it in a herb grinder or in the food processor.

I lay my basil leaves on window screening.

Warmth and good air circulation seem to be the keys to drying most any herb. Sounds like you have a wealth of info to work with, Davdon.

for my garlic I use to just braid the tops and make like a chain and hang them along with the other drying herbs...I could keep fresh garlic around all winter that way

Why not dry garlic like my dad dried onions, drop the cloves one at a time into an old stocking or pantyhose, tie a knot in it and drop another and so forth. Hang the stocking where the air can circulate around it and forget it. It'll work every time.

oh jim i never thought of that...that's how my grandad did it...he'd store beans in them too

As a different approach, I freeze thyme and parsley - I spread the leaves out on a cookie sheet, freeze for a day, then store in freezer bags. I've found the taste stays stronger and fresher. Also, I cook a lot of stews and other dishes with sauces. So I'll pack 2 tablespoons of thyme leaves into each square of an ice cube tray, cover with water, then freeze. I'll put the cubes in freezer bags, and they're ready to be tossed into the pot. Basil needs to be blanched before you can freeze the leaves, and I've never tried it with chives.

Freezing is much more convenient when you have a lot of herbs to put away.

and the freezer space!

Some gardening show said to leave the herbs in a vehicle, on a paper towel or newspaper, with the windows closed and preferably in full sun. They said this is the quick method to dry herbs (it leave's one vehicle smelling nice as well). For those that need dried herbs sooner rather then later.... good luck