Harvesting Herbals.... please share your ideas!

We have spent our summer nurturing our herbs. Now, summer is winding down and it is time to reap the rewards. I have let some of the herbs bloom and produce seeds. Last night, I was harvesting seed and wondered what you have planned.

So far I have saved seed from mints, catnip and oregano. I have picked some of the Bay leaves to dry and store in a canning jar. A real treat this summer was making a Lemon Verbena jelly. It has a wonderful taste. I gave some away and ate some so need to harvest more L. Verbena leaves I guess.

Please share your plans and ideas to save, use and enjoy your herbs for the winter months ahead.

I want to save my Coneflower seeds, so I can plant them a bit more spread out, but generally I'm going to let things self-seed this year.

I only save seeds from my perennial herbs now if someone wants them. Everything is just left to self seed. I am collecting the annual basil seeds and summer savory. I will start drying this weekend: basil, oregano, italian flat leaf parsley, summer savory, chives, thymes, mints, lavender. I'm going to hang, dry in the oven, make icecubes and freeze in oil (thanks critter). I will make some blends for gifts from the dried herbs. The rest for me to use in my 'handful' receipes LOL. No lovage this year. I let it go to flower to see what it would look like and now its too bitter. o well next year. I put in a french tarragon division last weekend and its looking pretty sad so I don't think I'll harvest anything from that this year. I won't harvest feverfew cuz I'm not sure what I'd use it for. I find it pretty bitter.

I think this is a great thread for this time of year http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/714309/

Today, I harvested elderberries and am making jelly and syrup. The syrup is a great medicine for coughs and colds. I'm also pickling cukes, green beans and cauliflower. Cider/sage jelly will be made soon as well. I'm drying all sorts of herbs: spearmint, peppermint, lemon balm, thymes, marshmallow, calendula, meadowsweet, passionflower, skullcap, feverfew, etc. I'll make more tarragon vinegar and tarragon mustard. Several more pestos should be made as well: chickweed, sage, tarragon and of course traditional basil. More vinegars (lemon dill is delicious as is raspberry/thyme).

Podster, lemon verbena jelly is one kind I haven't made and it sounds good. Guess I'll try that next week.

I like lemon anything and this jelly has a delightful light taste. Elderberry jelly was a topic of discussion around here earlier but I only think about them when they are blooming and forget to harvest when ripe. I don't have any here at the house, only see them on the roadsides. BTW, your lemon catnip has been rejected by the resident felines. I was repelled by the smell when it was newly growing but as it gets older, it smells wonderful. I haven't made tea yet. I am drying regular catnip for the catters though.

Dahlianut ~ I like the info in that thread and had saved it to my journal for future reference.

This is the LV recipe I used ~ minus the food coloring it still had a golden yellow glow.

I should have checked here earlier!
I want to make tea from bee balm, coneflower, applemint.
I have quite a few other herbs also. What I need to know is when to harvest which part.
I did harvest some chamomile and make tea and dry some. VERY happy with how that went. I made the mistake of growing it right in the vegetable garden though and now there is a blanket of baby chamomile around the nearly dead parent plant. (it feels like fall here right now- night is high 40s- a bit early)

I'm never sure about what you should pick before it flowers and what you can pick after it flowers. Until just recently I just grew most of them for looks. (how silly of me)

Looks and touch and feel ~ lol.

Most of the edible herbs are best before blooming. When blooming, they become bitter. It is generally recommended to let them go to seed near the summers end for next years seeds/seedlings. I felt bad as I haven't harvested much seed and wanted to have some for trades so allowed some to seed. I had let the lemon balm bloom freely last year and have found a number of volunteer lemon balm plantlets which I love.

Perhaps others can offer more specific info for you... pod

With German chamomile,only the fully opened flowers should be used.By picking these and leaving all the little buds,you can harvest all summer.
I usually pick the top 3 leaves off the mint when it is about 6"-8" tall.Then it branches out & you can harvest the double sprigs as summer goes along.I like to dry it until it just starts to get crumbly,then bag it in Ziplock bags.

I tried the ice cube method with some basil yesterday and I had a hoot of a time getting them out of the trays. I finally had to soak the bottom in warm water. Did I not use enough oil?

Dahlia, I add maybe a tablespoon of olive oil per cup of fresh basil leaves (I eyeball it), and I freeze it in those blue plastic ice cube trays from the dollar store. The cubes pretty much pop right out when I flex the tray. I'm sorry you had a hard time with yours; not sure what the problem could be.. the warm water sounds like a good tip!

I've been freezing herbs, making herb vinegar, and using basil in pesto and bruschetta. There are tips and recipes in two of my first DG articles about getting the most from your herbs: "Eat what you pinch" and "Save some for later."

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/manage/viewstory.php?rid=110

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/111/

oops I don't think I used enough oil critter. Thanks. I will now commence the basilcube assembly line. ps What a coinkidink, I use the loonie/dollar trays too.