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The Grand Mistress of herbs
A Q&A with one of the country's foremost herb experts, Jekka McVicar, who grows herbs for their aesthetic, as well as their culinary and medicinal uses
Started 24 years ago at her Bristol home, her nursery now has the largest collection in the UK – upwards of 500 different herbs – and, in 1995, it was the first organic herb farm to win a Chelsea gold medal.
When and why did you first become interested in herbs?My grandmother, Ruth Lowinsky, wrote wonderful cookery books in the 1950s, and my own mother learned how to use fresh herbs in cooking from her.
One of my earliest memories is of the family kitchen garden, which had a lot of herbs – I’m a child of the Fifties and we were all very self-sufficient then, with a vegetable patch in every garden.
When I left home and worked in television, I kept up my own herb garden – and in between contracts at the BBC I had a job at Tumblers Bottom Herb Farm in Somerset, then owned by Gordon Taylor and Guy Cooper (now known as ‘The Curious Gardeners’).
I knew I was hooked when I met Good King Henry and immediately wanted to know how and why this herb got its name.
When and how did you set up Jekka’s Herb Farm?I was at home looking after two small children, when a girlfriend came round and said she needed French tarragon for an Elizabeth David recipe. On the way out to the garden to pick some for her, I thought: ‘Hmmm, she can’t get hold of that. Perhaps there is a business idea here.’
I converted our semi into a nursery, with every surface covered in plants and not an inch left uncultivated in the garden. There came a point when my husband, Mac (who was a satellite engineer in the space industry), said, ‘Either we have to stop or move and make this a proper business’.
So we left a perfectly comfortable house in Bristol and bought a derelict cottage, a mobile home and an acre of land which I extended with the royalties of my first book. Twenty years later, here we still are – and the house still isn’t finished!
Why herbs?The theme of my Chelsea stand this year says it all: ‘Herbs are our Past and our Future.’ Herbs were on the planet long before we arrived, and yet we are only now truly beginning to understand their incredible properties .
We are looking back to a time when people grew up with more respect for plants, but with all the scientific and medical knowledge we have built up in the intervening years.
Most people are unaware that over 80 per cent of our medicines are plant-derived. And the more you find out about herbs, the more fascinating uses you discover.
Have you any recommendations for using herbs at home?Borage is a good one – everyone knows about floating the flowers in Pimms, but did you know that the leaves make a refreshing summer drink? Pour hot water on to four or five leaves in a mug, and let them stand for five minutes as if making a tea. Strain, chill and serve with ice cubes made with borage flowers inside. The leaves are lovely to eat raw – the little hairs dissolve on the tongue and taste like cool cucumber. And the seeds have been found to contain even more GLA than evening primrose oil. In the vegetable garden, borage is a fantastic aid to pollination, as bees will visit blue flowers before red; and it also offers itself as a sacrificial lamb to blackfly.
Another unusual herb is an amazing all-rounder. Eriocephalus africanus is known as wild rosemary in its native South Africa and Snowbush or the kapok plant (kapokbus in Afrikaans because it resembles kapok). The leaves add a unique flavour to soups and stews, while a decoction (simmered in water) eases swollen legs when used as a footbath, and is also effective at controlling dandruff. It’s also a great plant for the garden – drought tolerant, so very appropriate this year, and extremely beautiful, with furry grey pinnate leaves and white daisy flowers with deep red centres. Cleve West so loved the huge fully-grown specimens he saw in my nursery that he designed the Chelsea Saga garden around them.
Lastly, for a great all-purpose cleaner that is 100 per cent safe for children and asthmatics, put a couple of handfuls of thyme, rosemary or sage in half a pint of water, simmer for 20 minutes and cool, then strain and add 2 tbsp baking powder and 8 drops of lemon juice. I decant it into a spray bottle and it keeps in the fridge for a week.
What about herbs in beauty preparations?Rosemary is great as a rinse for my dark hair – I simmer a handful of leaves in a small pan of water for 10 to 15 minutes, strain, and pour the liquid over my hair. It leaves it lovely and shiny, prevents dandruff and smells wonderful.
I also love using herbs in the bath – mint leaves are particularly good if I’m tired and need a bit of a lift, and lavender is very relaxing – a handful of flowers tied up in a muslin bag under the hot tap is as effective as any essential oil. And a great cure for gardener’s back is a decoction of thyme, made in exactly the same way as the rosemary rinse, and added to the bath water.
Is the business developing into new areas? The first large herb garden I did was for Jamie Oliver in Essex. I then designed him a vegetable garden, and we have just created an orchard underplanted with wild herbs and a herb border.
I wouldn’t have had the confidence to deal with this sort of work when I was younger, but after all this time, I know a lot about how my plants grow, which is pretty important when designing gardens.
Jekka’s Herb Farm, Rose Cottage, Shellards Lane, Alveston, Bristol BS35 3SY (01454 418878/ www. jekkasherbfarm.com). Send 4 x first class stamps for a mail order catalogue, or order online at www.jekkasherbfarm.com
This article was created: 1 March 2007.
This article was last edited: 25 April 2007.
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