For those of you that are new to The Little Herb Cottage Newsletter: Each month we strive to bring you an issue filled with great herb information! Sometimes we may focus on a particular herb and discuss all its properties and applications and at other times we may look at a specific topic and discuss all things herbal that is related to it. Mostly we’ll mix and match various herb topics in one issue to delight you with. We aim to have something for everyone: herb gardening and plant information, herb uses in the kitchen, herbal remedies, daily household uses of herbs, how to use herbs in crafts etcetera. We are also aiming to focus on the wealth of indigenous herbs Africa has to offer. The publication of this newsletter is for you and we need your help to make it into an edition that you cannot wait to receive, so please send us comments and suggestions at info@thelittleherbcottage.co.za. I apologize for not getting a September newsletter out to you. Between the Spring Festival that was running from 15 September to 1 October and me being back at the shop and nursery (with my baby girl) after my maternity leave, time just slipped away and I did not get a chance to put something worth while together. I hope the October issue makes up for it! October is Herb Salad Month at The Little Herb Cottage and in the October edition of The Little Herb Cottage Newsletter, we bring you: Gardening: Salad Herbs Plant Profile: Salad Herb tidbits Recipes: Super Summer Salads News and Happenings	Yvette's Gardening Talk Spring is the best time to sow and plant. Seeds are inexpensive and easily available. Try sowing some of your own salad herbs this month. It is incredibly rewarding to see those little green heads popping up in your seedling trays. Be careful not to sow too many seeds of any one herb at a time, rather sow again when you transplant the first crop into the garden. Besides our usual salad herbs namely rocket, parsley, chives, celery and cress, try and include some of the following more unusual herbs in your salads: mustard leaves, chickweed, purslane, sorrel, good king Henry and salad burnet. These herbs all have a specific taste; play around with the different combinations. The young leaves are always the tastiest and should be picked just before they are used. For excellent colour and aroma, add a couple of dark opal basil leaves.    Don’t forget the flowers! Not only do they look great in a salad, but they actually really taste nice and are packed with minerals and vitamins. The following flowers can all be used in salads: garden pansies (enjoy the last of your crop now!), calendula petals, bergamot, borage flowers, sweet violet, rose petals, nasturtium, corn flower, chive flowers, dianthus and lawn daisy (Bellis perennis). Care of your salad herbs: don’t allow your salad herbs to wilt, make sure they are crisp and strong by watering regularly. Remember to cut the flower stalks as soon as they appear to prolong the use of your leafy salad herbs. It is advisable to have two plants of each herb, so you can let one go to seed to provide you with new plants. Salad dressings or dips can be prepared by using any one of your favourite herbs, chopping it finely and adding to natural yoghurt. Of course this is the best time to take out those herbal vinegars and herb-infused olive oils to dress your salads. Adding fruit to your green salad can compliment the different herb flavours. Especially apple combine well with most salad herbs. The occasional strawberry can be a pleasant surprise in a salad. There are no rules!! Try something new and let us know if you find a winning combination.	Lettuce The Queen of the Mixed Salad! And with so many varieties available these days, lettuce alone can make for a very interesting salad. While some lettuces are sweet and crisp, others may have an interesting and slightly bitter taste. It is commonly believed that the darker the leaf of the lettuce, the higher its fiber content, flavour and nutritional value. In general, lettuces all provide small amounts of dietary fiber, some carbohydrates, a little protein and a trace of fat. The most important nutrients found in lettuce are vitamin A and potassium, but most lettuces are also moderately good sources of vitamin C, calcium, iron and copper. Mixed lettuce Head of Iceberg lettuce Salad Rocket - Eruca sativa (E vesicaria var sativa) Rocket is an annual herb that grows in full sun or light shade (the shadier position will increase leaf yield and the full sun position that of the flowers). The piquant, peppery and rather nutty flavour of rocket makes it a great favourite in salads, particularly Italian salads. Whole young leaves are tossed with different lettuces and the chopped leaves mix very well with chives. Although it is the leaves that are mostly added to salads, the flowers can add interest, especially if the whole flower is used (with the swelling behind the flower head where the seeds are formed to provide a crunch). The flowers have a taste similar to that of the leaves and range in colour from white to yellowish with dark purple veins. Rocket Sorrel Sorrel The jade-green, arrow-shaped leaves of this perennial herb were a regular feature of European vegetable gardens from the Middle Ages until the 1700’s and was introduced to the New World as a salad green. The sharp taste of sorrel is due to its oxalic acid and vitamin C content. The plant is very high in vitamins C and A (1/2 a cup fresh sorrel leaves can provide as much as 54% of the RDA of vitamin C and between 55% and 65% of the RDA of vitamin A for a healthy adult). This is not a herb to add to your salads in