hi everyone, i have managed to grow some lovely chives and mint but there are far too many, can anyone help me, firstly can i dry the chives and if so how can i do that or will they survive the winter if i leave them alone and same for the mint will it survive the winter or should i be cutting it back for the winter? does it show i am useless at gardening??? :loopy: thanks in advance x

I am not sure about how to handle the plants through the winter, I would also be interested to find out the answer, however I can give you some ideas on preserving the herbs.

I have just cut a load of mine back, the rosemary, sage and thyme I cut off in large sprigs wash and dry on kitchen paper, tie a piece of string around the stem and then hand them in my kitchen off of the shelf to dry. You can then leave them as they are or I tend to strip the leaves and rub the sage and store it in jars.

For mint, chives and parsley I like to wash and pat dry the herbs and then chop them I then freeze them in normal food bags and just take a sprinkle out when I need them. if they are not too wet when you freeze them you dont have a problem doing this. I have also made a load of garlic, parsley and black pepper butter and frozen it and I just cut a chunk off and leave the rest in the freezer as I need it. Great for chicken / turkey kievs and for melting over steaks, a mint butter is good for putting on potatoes and lamb.

I assume you could dry chives and mint in a similar way but these are the methods I use for the way I like to use certain herbs. Hope this helps.

Both will die back in winter.

I've not dried mint but I have dried chives along with many other herbs. I either put them on a clean tray in a very low oven or just leave them in a brown paper bag (breathable, allows moisture to escape) in a warm and dry place (they sit on top of my combi boiler).

I freeze a lot more than I dry to be fair. I find colour and texture isn't usually as good as fresh but the taste is much more similar to fresh than dried.

thanks for both answers have tried hanging chives and it wasn't successful so will try freezing it. thanks very much wouldn't have thought about freezing.