Wecome to my Herb Garden

My encounter with Herb

"Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme." This is the famous verse I found in Scaborow fair by Simon & Garfunkel's. Back in 70's or maybe in 60's this song was very popular here in Japan. As a high school boy good at playing the guitar I would often sing this song with the accompanyment of my guitar with some friends. I was a little bit proud of myself when my friends admired my guitar technique.
But to tell the truth, I didn't know anything about these special plants. The only name I recognized was parsely. I just thought sage has something to do with a very clever man and Rose Mary is a girl friend's name the third one made me feel associated with time.

I feel a little bit ashamed of my ignorance now to confess that even after 23 years my knowledge about the plants hadn't been improved much. It so happened two years ago when I was on my way back home from a one-day drive to the Hamamatsu Zoo with my family. I found the notice saying "HAMANAKO GREEN FARM (Herb Garden)" and just out of curiosity I decided to drop in at this spot. It cost us 500 yen each which is not so cheap because it is twice as expensive as what I had paid for the Zoo on the morning of that day. As soon as I went inside, however, I felt I got my money's worth. I was so surprised and pleased to smell the scent all those herbs inside gave off. Never had I imagined the plants could give such a fragrance!

Since then I had been collecting and growing various herbs in my yard and became a very extensive and intensive reader of Herbal books. My life started to get so involved in herbs.
As you can see in this web site, I am a man of hobbies who forget everything else once my curiosity get caught .

I started to collect those herbs in that song. It took me only a few days. Then I got some others. In such a short term, I have collected more than 30 kinds in my garden. All these are entangled and mingled as if they were a jungle of the weed.
Right now my mission is how I should make the best of these herbs and make my herb garden neat.

The collection of my herbs

Lavender（left）Rosemary (middle) Lambs-ear（right）photo taken in November.

Basil,common sage, spear mint, pineapple mint, lemon glass dill, Borige, wild strawberry, black berry, raspberry, parsley, Italian Parsley, stevia, sweet majorum Lavendor,Mary Gold, chive, thyme, lamb's ear, yallow, tangee, german camomile, oregano, lemon geranium, curry plant jinger geranium, grape fruit geranium etc.

How to make use of your herb

So far I have only few ways to make use of my herbs Below are my recipes using herbs.

Let me start with my best favorite Basil. What else can I call the king of the herbs. Last summer I got a bunch of this plant. After choosing green fresh leaves, I put them into the mixer with olive oil and pine seeds. For about one minute mixer ground them and then you got flavory delicious paste. With this paste and green beans you can mingle spaghetti. That's my special. Yummy. I seldom cook but my children admire me for the best cook when it comes to this Basil Special.
With curry rice this plant goes well,too. I bet you get a special flavor in you curry and your appetite will be enhanced dramatically. You can also make salad with tomatoes, olive oil and Basil. I wonder why these three plants go so well together. 、、

Next plant is a spear mint. I got a hundred bunches of this plant last summer. They grow so fast. They are such strong plants. With tea it goes well, of course. But no other way I can use this in large amount except putting them into my bath tub. Putting them in the washing net and pouring the hot water. Mint bath will give you special scent and you will find yourself refreshed after the bath. I do recommend you to try this bath.

Third, tea with lemon glass is better than tea with lemon. I prefer lemon glass tea to tea with lemon. You can make tea only with lemmon glass leaves, too. But I recommend you to make usual tea and add some lemmon glass tea there. It doesn't taste sour unlike tea with lemon. I'm sure it suits to your taste. Lemmon glass also grow very fast and very big. But it is vulnerable to cold wind so I got them into my small green house after December. I cut all its leaves very short and keep them in the fridge for winter use. So I can drink lemmon glass tea during the winter time. What a lucky man I am!

Dill gives you the best fragrance. Nothing else can make buierbase more delicious and flavory than dill. Dill has a strong flavor which takes smell of the fish in the soup away. I spread seeds last autumn in my garden and this May found the jungle of Dill there. At night standing there with my eyes closed, can you imagine what a scent they gave off. So wonderful! But you should take care just one thing. Yellow swallow tails know the charm of this plants, too. They grow their children there. So sometimes when you harvest Dill, you are likely to harvest this nasty (or should I say pretty) children, too. I just let them grow big as they are just for my children's observation. You know that creature with yellow and black streak all around its body dotted orange. Both parents and children are beauties. I love them as much as Dill.

taken on March 21st 1997

Borage has flowers like Blue Stars（left）Nastatium grown up from seeds（middle）Basil from seeds(right）

Borage grew very well last year. This year they came back from their seeds. They happened to be spread here and there in my yard and give me a present of blue stars again. The one in the picture is located near compost. It might have been given much compost.
This is the first time I have grown Nastatium. Both its leaves and flowers are edible. It is said to taste like wasabi (green radish). I can't wait for the day I eat them with sandwich.
Last year I ate a lot of Basil spaghetti. I can't live without it.
I didn't preserve the seeds. So this year I bought the seeds on the market again. I started to grow them late February in the sunny room.

Link of my reccomendation

These are the herb sites I haunt.

1) All About Herbs

All About Herbs Herbology All About Herbs By Trudy Ornest Since the dawn of recorded history, plants have been the primary source of medicine for people of every culture ...

2) HerbaNet: Links

HerbaNet: Links Links Introduction This is the part of HerbaNet where you will find links to other homepages related to herbs and alternative medicine. Please note, these ...

3) Henriette's Herbal Homepage

Henriette's Herbal Homepage Henriette's Herbal Homepage Quiz: which are the plants on the plantline? Biig prize - if you can read my mind and guess them all I'll put your name on ...

4) A Handy Guide - Herbs

A Handy Guide - Herbs A Handy Guide - Herbs | Main | Yellow | White | Back | Search | Info | Add/Edit | Mail | What's New | Sponsored by A Handy Guide Aarex Magic Garden ...

Herb sites of Japan

1) ハーブ工房

- ハーブ研究家の夫婦が作成。質問集、使い方や効用、育て方のコツをはじめ、ハーブ・ティーやシーズニング（調味料）、アロマテラピーに使うハーブ・オイル等実に多くの情報を提供。

2) ハーブ・ガーデン

- ハーブ・ガーデン K-Farmの案内。

3) 「ハーブ」の部屋

- ハーブの栽培、ハーブ茶、ハーブガーデンや本の紹介など写真満載のホームページ。

4) ハーブガーデン

- ハーブの写真、ハーブ愛好家のリンクなど

5) 愛子の園芸コ−ナ−

- 花や園芸の情報を掲載。花の育て方、種のまき方、ハーブの育て方など。