I have become aware over the past few years that there is a growing lack in confidence about how to grow and how to use the herbs in the garden. This is matched in equal parts by an increasing demand for information. It is because of both of these factors that myself, Mac and the family decided that it was time to change the way we ran the herb farm so that we could concentrated on passing on the knowledge and inspiring people to both grow and use herbs with confidence.  We are very proud of our collection of specimen herbs that we have accumulated over the last three decades and feel it is time to build a garden to show them off to their best advantage so that others can be inspired to grow them too. Hence transforming the farm into a Herboretum. The word Herboretum has been created, it literally means collection of herbs as, for example, an arboretum is a collection of trees.

Over the next 12 months we will be creating raised beds into which we will plant our herb collection. This collection will become the foundation from which the school will be formed. The current potting and dispatch shed will be turned into a teaching area, and the potting and propagation area will move into our large glasshouse.  This is a lot of work but should be done within the next two years.  During the interim period we will not only continue to grow plants for visitors to buy from the farm, like any reputable garden, we will also have our online shop selling seeds, books and herbal teas. We will be choosing three months next year to host ‘Herb days’ on selected Fridays when visitors will be able to visit the farm to buy our herbs and to see the Herboretum as it progresses. Our Herboretum will be a visionary sight with all our species in rows for our customers to see the diversity and outstanding beauty of our herbs.

In late spring 2013, our new school will open and we will be running day courses on propagation, maintenance, planning a herb garden and how to use herbs in the kitchen and in the home. These courses will not only be for gardeners, we will also be running courses for chefs and cooks, sharing our passion for cooking with herbs. The Herboretum will give Chefs, cooks, food stylists, and recipe creators a chance to sample our range of herbs, for example 36 different mints or 26 different rosemarys, just as they would sample wine or cheese.
 

Full details of our 'Herb Fridays' and a full list of our day courses will be available on our website in the new year.
 

We do look forward to seeing you in 2013 it is going to be a very exciting year in the development of Jekka's Herb Farm.