Magical autumn home herb garden

The autumn is here, the time of soups and delicious roasts.

At times like this, I like using homegrown herbs to spice up the dishes. However, this takes some special care! Some herbs grow throughout the winter, allowing you to continuously harvest them. These include woody plants such as thyme, rosemary and sage. However, oregano, marjoram and lemongrass don't like cold weather.

Basil, chives or lemongrass grown outdoors are also sensitive to cold, so it's better to grow them in a box in a colder part of the kitchen.

You can also try separating rooted shoots of mint. Plant them in a pot to have a lovely winter guest in your flat and use its leaves in soups, roasts and desserts. Chives and celery can also be grown indoors.

Nature hibernates over the autumn and winter period, yet there are still some herbs which should be planted in this period: for example, you can scatter some dill seed in the garden or a grow box. Chamomiles yield the most flowers when planted in September: the seed sprouts thanks to the autumn rains, surviving the winter and bloom in May. Lavender seeds can be germinated in the cold, so make sure you sparsely plant the seeds outdoors in the autumn.

Now let's see a few tips on how to store your homegrown herbs for long months:

Freeze fresh herbs in an ice cube tray. Mix the chopped leaves or flowers with a little water and put them in the tray and simply add the frozen cubes to the pot whenever needed.

You can also store herbs mixed with salt and natural sweeteners. An added bonus is that the salt and sweeteners will lend an amazing taste to your autumn dishes! You can mix lavender, lemon balm or rosemary with erythritol and add basil to salt. For this type of preserves, sprinkle the right amount of spices into a glass jar and then fill with salt or erythritol.