Culinary Herbs Course

Master the art of growing and using herbs.! Learn how to identify and successfully grow dozens of common and uncommon edible herbs. Develop your skills and experience the delights of cooking adventurous new recipes with herbs. Learn drying and other methods of preserving the flavour (eg. herb oils, salts, vinegars). Eight lessons as follows cover common and less common herbs used for cooking.

Lesson Structure: Culinary Herbs VHT242

There are 8 lessons:

1. Introduction
   • Scope and Nature of Culinary Herbs
   • Herbs and Horticulture
   • Accurately Identifying Herbs
   • Plant Classification, binomial system
   • Finding the group a herb fits into -Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons, Plant Families
   • Pronouncing Plant Name
   • Resources - information contacts (ie. nurseries, seed, clubs etc.
2. Culture
   • Overview
   • Soils
   • pH Requirements
   • Improving soild
   • Potting mixes
   • Plant Nutrition and Fertilizers
   • Water Management for Herbs
   • Diagnosing Plant Health Problems
   • Pests, Disease and Environmental Problems
   • Planting, staking, and establishing herb plants, etc.
3. Growing Herbs
   • Propagation of herbs
   • Seed Propagation
   • Cutting Propagation
   • Potting Media
   • Division, Separation, Layering
   • Rejuvenation of Perennials
   • Designing a Culinary Herb Garden
   • Creating a Kitchen Garden
   • Planning a Fragrant Herb Garden
   • Companion Planting in Your Design
4. Cooking With Herbs
   • General Guidelines for Using Herbs in Cooking
   • Harvesting Herbs; roots, leaves, seed, fruits
   • Handling after Harvest
   • Drying Herbs
   • Hints for Using a Range of Selected Herbs in Cooking
   • Herbs For Garnish
   • Herbal Teas: What & how to use different herbs
   • Herb Vinegars, oils, butters, cheeses, salts, sugars, honey,, etc
   • Herb Confectionary, Cakes, etc.
   • Selected Herb Recipes
   • Using Herbs with Fruit
5. Most Commonly Grown Varieties.
   • Review of many Common Culinary herbs, including their culture and culinary use
   • Over 20 herbs reviewed in detail, incl. Alliums
   • Many additional herbs summarized
6. Other Important Groups.
   • Lamiaceae (mint family) herbs
   • Lemon Scented Herbs and their uses
   • Hyssop
   • Mints
   • Bergamot
   • The Basils
   • Origanum species
   • Rosemary
   • Salvias
   • Thymes
   • Lavenders
7. The Lesser Grown Varieties
   • Agastache
   • Agrimony
   • Visnaga
   • Apium
   • Arctium lappa
   • Bundium
   • Capparis; and many more
   • Using Australian Native Plants as Flavourings
8. Special Assignment
   • A PBL Project on a selected genus of culinary herbs

This course is taught by:

Katie Freeth
BSc. (Hons) Horticulture, (University of Bath); RHS General Examination; FI Hort; MIfpra.

An experienced and professional horticulturist with extensive management skills gained internationally; experienced in landscape management, staff supervision and management, written and oral communication, horticultural knowledge and application, supported by organisational and administrative skills and attention to detail.

Katie brings 20 years experience in Horticulture and is an accomplished lecturer, horticulture consultant and freelance writer. Katie is a judge for the International Awards for Liveable Communities in the Whole City Category.
Katie also worked for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in France for approx 5 years first as a Sector Manager and then as an Area Manager; management of the cemeteries, peripatetic teams of gardeners (UK & French nationality) for the constructed cemeteries and memorials and static French nationality gardeners for small town/village plots.

Susan Stephenson
BSc in Applied Plant Biology (Botany) Univ. London 1983.
City and guilds: Garden Centre Management, Management and Interior Decor (1984)
Management qualifications in training with retail store. Diploma in Hort level 2 (RHS General) Distinction.

Susan Stephenson is a passionate and experienced horticulturist and garden designer. She has authored three books, lectures at 2 Further and Higher Education Colleges, teaching people of all ages and backgrounds about the wonders of plants and garden design, and tutors many students by correspondence from all over the world.

Susan studied botany at Royal Holloway College (Univ of London) and worked in the trading industry before returning to her first love plants and garden design. She is therefore, well placed to combine business knowledge with horticulture and design skills. Her experience is wide and varied and she has designed gardens for families and individuals. Susan is a mentor for garden designers who are just starting out, offering her support and advice and she also writes, delivers and assesses courses for colleges, introducing and encouraging people into horticulture and garden design.

Susan is a Professional Associate and exam moderator and holds the RHS General with Distinction. She continues to actively learn about horticulture and plants and (as her students will tell you) remains passionate and interested in design and horticulture.

She also supervised the Area Arboriculture Team and was Exhumations Officer€“ in charge of collecting discovered remains and arranging identification (if poss) and interment of same.

Learning Goals: Culinary Herbs VHT242

• Describe the plant naming system, the major family groups that herbs fall into and the resources available to the culinary herb grower.
• Describe how to manage the cultural requirements of culinary herbs.
• Describe the various methods of propagation, both sexual and asexual, the treatments generally used for seed storage and the handling of cutting material.
• Explain the way in which herbs are used in cooking and which herbs best suit various dishes.
• Discuss the most common herb varieties used in cooking.
• Compare a range of culinary herbs in a single plant family.
• Discuss a range of lesser grown culinary herb varieties.
• Explain the uses of a range of culinary herbs within a specific group of herb plants.

Market Gardeners.

Restaurateurs.

Chefs.

None.

Chef.

Market Gardening.