Popula Herbs One at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

Petroselinum crispum Parsley (annual) Parsley is one of the half-dozen most popula herbs one herbs and one of the few that good cooks insist on using fresh. It is an essential component of a bouquet garni, and in traditional rustic gardens parsley was often used with alyssum as an edging plant. It attracts bees and is thought to repel greenfly, making it doubly useful.

Care and Storage. The tongue can tell whether a substance is sweet, sour, salt, or bitter. It cannot detect aroma, which comes to us through the sense of smell. The volatility that gives herbs and spices their distinctive taste and aroma also makes them perishable. Once volatility is lost through age or careless storage, the product has little, if anything, to offer. One should date the labels of new spices as they are purchased. They should be kept handy but should not be stored over oven heat or in direct sunlight. Containers should be closed immediately after use. At least once a year the shelf should be checked and all "fainthearted" herbs and spices discarded. Cooking time is too valuable to waste on tired spices. See also articles on individual herbs and spices.

An attractive and novel way of growing herbs is to construct an herb "wheel" using either brick, which tends to look rather formal, or stone, which is more natural in appearance. The individual compartments between the "spokes" help to confine the more invasive herbs. First, mark out a circle by hammering in a peg in the center of the site and marking the circumference with a stick and length of string.