Expanded range of organic herbs

In recent years, Holderhof has become a specialist in the cultivation and processing of herbs. The company claim «From the field to the bottle» is particularly true here. Most of the herbs in our iced teas come from our own fields on the farm in Ufhofen. But before mint, nettle or thyme & co. really worked in large-scale organic cultivation, years of development work were necessary. But resting on your laurels is not an option at Holderhof. That’s why the team led by farm manager Remo Knöpfel added eight new herb varieties to the range this spring: lemon thyme, golden balm, camomile, organ mint, lady’s mantle, yarrow, mallow and marigolds. As there is hardly any experience or information on professional cultivation for these varieties, it will initially take place on a somewhat smaller scale. There are 2,000 square metres (0.5 acres) available for each variety. The young plants come from the region: they are grown by the specialised organic nursery Neubauer in Erlen.

Wet weather makes it difficult

However, the start with the new herb varieties in the fields was anything but ideal in this wet spring. Planting the seedlings was delayed in the rain-soaked soil. The weeds proliferated and could only rarely be controlled mechanically. This was another reason why not all crops developed optimally. Nevertheless, since the beginning of July, the mallows have been flowering in purple and the yarrows are developing more umbels with the typical white flowers every day. And of course we are eagerly waiting for the marigolds’ pretty orange flowers to open.

Compositae relieves labiates

All herbs are known to have special properties and flavours, which is why we grow them. Lady’s mantle is effective against gastrointestinal complaints, camomile smells good and is anti-inflammatory or yarrow helps to regulate blood pressure. But from a cultivation perspective, the expansion of the range has another advantage for Holderhof: it allows for more diversity in our crop rotation, which currently consists a little too often of species from the labiate family, such as mint or lemon balm. With marigolds and yarrow, among others, we will now see the addition of two composite plants. Lady’s mantle belongs to the rose family, mallow to the mallow family. But why do we need crop rotation at all?

Complex organisation of crop rotation

As much biodiversity as possible in cultivation or a wide crop rotation avoids the transfer of diseases and pests to the following crop. This is particularly important in organic farming. Pathogens can become established in a crop if plants from the same family are grown too often in succession. The same applies to weed seeds. Now, for example, there are established crop rotations for “normal” agricultural crops such as cereals, maize or sugar beet. This does not apply to herb cultivation. It took years for Holderhof to find suitable solutions, but of course development continues. Planning is complex and various criteria are taken into account: plant family, annual or perennial, a variety of nutrient requirements or even different soil requirements. Just one more example: last year, Holderhof was still growing lovage. As an umbellifer, it would have fitted perfectly into the crop rotation. Nevertheless, Remo Knöpfel removed it: «When drying, the flavour was so intense that it was no longer possible to dry any other types of herbs at the same time.» All this shows: putting together a crop rotation in herb cultivation is anything but easy.

These gold melissas have only recently been planted.

The lemon thyme with its intense citrus flavour only flowers sporadically.