Oodles of herbs - now dried and bottled

2017 is the year of our experimenting in our garden. Landscaping cloth – check, Garlic – check, Onions – check, square sturdy cages – check. Bunnies still eating all our green bean and sunflower plants – check and grrrr. Another idea was planting herbs in the garden. I read somewhere online, probably Pinterest, that growing your tomatoes near your herbs helps enhance the flavor of the tomatoes – and you get great herbs! This year, we are giving that a try. I planted my parsley and basil from seed so I had plenty of seedlings to try this out. While we haven’t harvested any tomatoes (as of this writing in early July) we have harvested plenty of herbs. What do you do with a giant bucket of fresh parsley and basil? Dry it and toss it in jars.
Our parsley really has taken off like crazy so about once a week I go out and trim the outside stalks, pinch off the leaves, lay them on a wire rack on top of a cookie sheet and bake them at the lowest setting on your oven (around 160-180). The time varies for how much you are doing – but feel to see if the herbs are dry and crunchy. When cool, I rub the herbs on the rack and let them crumble to beneath the rack, then pour them into a jar for use later.
I do the same thing with basil and other herbs. The color isn’t as pretty as parsley – but you still have freshly dried herbs for your winter cooking.