5 December 2023
News from the herb field
News from the herb field: December 2023
The latest news from our Herb Field Manager Sarah
It’s been a funny old season in the herb field, which is what I find myself saying more and more these days! The cooler summer made our working conditions much more pleasant compared to the heat of the last two summers. Yet, the wet weather made harvesting difficult — the herbs need to be dry when they are harvested as they’re either being sent out fresh or being chopped and put in the herb dryer. Our Marigolds grew in abundance this year, producing a bumper crop that we wrapped up harvesting in October. These were dried and then made into macerated oil over in our Liquids Department.
We are now finally in autumn and the root harvest has begun. Our window of opportunity for harvesting roots is getting narrower as autumn now seems to be much warmer, and the herbs are still growing. Each year, we must wait for all of the aerial parts of the plants to die back before we can uproot them for harvest, so that all of the goodness is locked up in the roots. Root harvest will continue throughout the winter until February.
As well as getting on with the root harvesting, the herb field is being put to bed for the winter. Annual crops have been taken out and the beds covered, waiting for the spring when they will be prepared for the seeds and seedlings to be sown and planted into. I leave the cutting back in the herb field until February/March as the dead tops of the herbs provide a fantastic overwintering shelter spot for beneficial insects like ladybirds, and there’s something very lovely about frosty Echinacea seed heads in the winter.
Our current root availability from the herb field is as follows:
Fresh roots:
Elecampane
Marshmallow
Burdock
Angelica
Rheum
Dried roots:
Elecampane
Burdock
Angelica
If you’d like to know more about our root products or talk to us about any other herb field requirements, do get in touch by calling +44 (0)1823 401205 or email info@organicherbtrading.com.