Pennells Garden Centres

Here's some notes on some of the herbs we sell, but always ask if you need more help.

Basil

• This distinctive herb has a sweet clove like smell and has a natural affinity with tomato.
• Add to tomato salads, soups and ratatouille
• Its a main ingredient of pesto alla Geneveise - basil and pine nut pasta sauce

Chives

• With a flavour faintly redolant of onions, but finer and more delicate, chives are best chopped and added to egg, tomato and potato dishes
• Sprinkle over tomato soup, lettuce and potato salads to give a fresh appetising appearance

Sage

• Useful for lessening the impact of fat in meats. Add to roast pork, duck, pheasant, goose, pork pies and sausage rolls
• Use sparingly with liver and fish
• Try spinkling on cheese dips along with chives

Rosemary

• Traditionally used with lamb, this aromatic herb will lend its distinctive flavour to any meat
• Tuck springs into a roasting joint or barbequed veal, pork or rabbit
• Add to olive oil prior to frying onion or potatoes

Spearmint

• One of the most versatile of culinary herbs
• Add to vegatable soup, shellfish and meat dishes
• For a fresh tangy taste, mix with ice creams and sorbets. Try serving a refreshing mint tea after dinner accompanied by chocolate mints.

Coriander

• This classic ingredient is included in nearly all Asian, Chinese and Mexican dishes
• Add whole leaves to prawn and mutton curries. Chopped leaves give an essential flavour to pork kebabs, meatballs and lamb casseroles.

Oregano

• The warm spicy aroma of this herb adds a unique flavour to pizzas and pasta sauces.
• Add to soups, casseroles and mexican chilli con carne.
• Blended with olive oil and lemon it makes a perfect sauce for grilled red mullet.

Thyme

• A classic constituent of bouquet garni.
• The warm, clove like aroma enhances all the red wine dishes.
• Add to sweet peppers, courgettes, aubergines, carrots and mushrooms.
• Lemon thyme is superb in stuffings for pork and veal

Parsley

• A popular herb which will enhance any dish
• Sprinkle over vegetables and salads for a tasty and attractive garnish.
• Try parsley butter, spiked with garlic, grilled over fish or steak.
• Rich in vitamin C it makes a nutritous sandwich 

As we approach the colder autumn days the leaves on the trees change colour and soon start to fall. Collect the fallen leaves to make compost for next season. Its important to remove them from lawns as they will soon damage the grass, but in the borders unless they are unsightly they can be left as the worm population will soon pull them below the surface.

There is still time to be planting bulbs for next spring, and we continue to have a good range for sales.

This is an excellent time of year to be planting shrubs and perennials as the soil is still warm. This will encourage the plants to make new roots which will get them firmly established so that come next spring they will grow away well.

In the vegetable garden nows a good time to be lifting and dividing rhubarb. Try sowing herbs such as parsley, dill and coriander into small pots to harvest from the windowsill during the winter.

Nows the time to change over the summer bedding in your pots and containers to autumn and winter bedding. We have a large range of pansies and other winter flowering bedding plants which will keep your patio looking beautiful through the winter.

Buy your bulbs from the garden centre early in the season so you have the pick of the bunch when it comes to variety and colour. Some bulbs such as daffodils, chionodoxa, snowdrop, winter aconite, crocus and anemone blanda appreciate being planted in September. Early planting in pots of Bulb Planting Compost is a great way to encourage these bulbs to develop a huge root system before the onset of winter.  This ensures the plant can take up plenty of energy next spring so the bulb and its offsets produce flowers for many years to come.

When planting in pots or in soil borders try to get the spacing right allowing at least the width of a bulb between each one. Cover the bulbs to the recommended depth and enrich the surface with a slow release fertilizer such as Miracle-Gro Slow Release Feriliser. This will release nutrients while the soil is warm enough and plants are growing yet will stop completely during cold weather so nutrients are not wasted. Best of all, a slow release plant food like this will hold on to enough nutrients so that it is able to feed emerging bulbs in the spring when they need all the energy to form new flower buds for the subsequent year's blooms.

For winter display you can't rely on flowering plants to produce colour or interest throughout the year. That's why you need to introduce evergreen plants and variegated leaf forms to mix with your chosen flowers. There are several very useful herbs that are evergreen for most of the year, including Thyme and Sage. The common thyme is a hardy perennial with small yellowish leaves and small purple flowers whilst the variegated sage has cream and green splashed leaves with new foliage carrying attractive pink edges. Both herbs can be pinched out regularly to provide useful fresh flavourings to soups and casseroles.

The introduction of a silver leafed perennial such as Cineraria maritima ‘Silverdust' will supply attractive intricate leaves that will decorate your pot during all but the harshest winters.

Top off your pot with violas in an interesting colour. The small pansy-like plants are generally self-coloured although varieties with ‘faces' and ‘whiskers' are available. These will flower on and off throughout the year depending on temperature and sunshine. To break the sharp edges of the pot place a couple of variegated ivies or other trailing bedding plants so that the leaves trail over the pot. When put together the collection will provide interest and colour year round. Just remember to water when it is dry, even in winter.

Do visit your garden centre to see the wide variety of plants that they have available for winter containers. If you need ideas look for shrubs such as euonymus, viburnum, senecio and hebe. For winter flowers think about Universal pansies, polyanthus and Daisies (Bellis). Small bulbs such as crocus, anemone and dwarf narcissi such as ‘Minnow' and ‘Tete a Tete' can also be pushed below the surface of the compost to provide interesting flowers in spring.