How to Harvest Herbs & Keep Them Growing

You may have heard that herbs thrive on neglect. While it's true that growing these flavorful plants is pretty easy, you definitely do not want to neglect your herb garden. Once they are in the ground and growing, most herbs are quickly ready for harvesting, unlike most other edibles that need time to ripen and mature,

The key to keeping them growing is to harvest often. Leaves are the parts of popular herbs most often used in cooking, and cutting them back a bit throughout the growing season will encourage healthy growth, an attractive shape, and keep most producing until frost.

When to Harvest Herbs

When it comes to herbs, harvesting equals pruning and is most often done to encourage growth, especially with fast-growing annual herbs like basil, dill, and cilantro. Snipping new growth causes these plants to branch and produce more foliage. The same holds true for slower growing perennial herbs like thyme, sage and rosemary. There are several good practices to consider when choosing the best time to harvest.

Annual vs. Perennial

Just because an herb is an annual plant doesn't mean you have to take the entire herb to harvest the leaves. In fact, you should never remove an entire healthy plant until the final harvest right before a killing frost. Pinching or snipping stems and leaves will stimulate the growth of more stems and leaves. So as soon as annual herbs are mature enough to withstand a bit of cutting back, it's time to begin pruning for shape and harvesting the foliage you've removed. Your first harvest may be small but if you keep consistent you will be filling a basket before the season ends.

Perennial herbs tend to develop woody stems as they mature. Your harvesting efforts during the growing season should focus on the new, tender green part of the plant, and avoid cutting into the woody parts. New shoots will not grow from wood and doing this will limit your harvest. You can begin harvesting taller stems as soon as they leaf out with 2 to 3 inches of foliage.

Most herbs are harvested from the top or outsides of the plant. Dill, cilantro and parsley leaves and stems can also can be harvested from the bottom of the central stem. Lower leaves on these plants tend to brown out as they age. Sometimes pinching out the the top of the central stem will delay bolting (going to flower and seed.) Keep in mind that some herbs, especially annuals that prefer cooler weather, will have a limited lifetime once hot weather sets in.

The perennial chive plant is harvested by cutting leaves at the base. This is one herb that won't branch out. The chive is a bulb that multiplies rapidly beneath the soil. Harvest chives by snipping leaves from the outside of the plant, leaving the center intact.

Before Getting Started

Regardless of whether the herb is annual or perennial, a tell-tale sign that they need a bit of cutting back is the appearance of buds and flowers. Visually inspect the garden. Are any of the annuals starting to look leggy and droopy? Are your perennials budding or flowering? Whenever the answer is "yes," it's time to harvest.