Essential oil--as you will recall--was mentioned in the post about Basil, and it will most likely come up in subsequent posts. As such, I think it's essential that I say a little bit more about these compounds found in all herbs for those who may not be familiar with them. A little chemistry will be discussed, but nothing too complicated, for I do not claim to be an expert in this field. The information I'm about to relay about essential oils can all be credited to The Big Book of Herbs.
Essential oils are highly volatile and readily-evaporated compounds. Unlike the fixed oils also found in plants, they are not extracted easily from the plant: a distillation process or application of organic solvents is required in order for essential oils to be removed. An herb's fragrance depends on the presence and concentration of certain fragrance chemicals found in essential oils. Therefore, essential oils also affect the taste of the herb, as we all know that smell and taste are interdependent senses.
The plant's production of essential oils is contingent upon environmental conditions. Basic variables like lighting (length and intensity), temperature, nutrients in the soil, and water availability all exert influence on the productions of essential oils. Interestingly, the composition of essential oils undergoes minor daily fluctuations--or diurnal fluctuations--that are triggered by the same aforementioned variables in addition to air pressure. When I read about this fact, it reminded me of humans and how our internal milieu is also subjected to fluctuations throughout the day, dictated by our established ultradian rhythms, or also influenced by external, environmental factors (i.e. a stressful encounter causes a spike of cortisol and adrenaline, disrupting the baseline level of glucocorticoids and epinephrines in our bloodstream). We are more alike than we know!
I'd like to transition now to talking a little bit about how this knowledge of essential oils will affect--or really rather legitimize--my herb growing plans and approach. I had mentioned a few posts back that I was going to wait until Mid-May to start growing, partly due to seedling availability and partly due to an impending trip. However, some might be wondering: "She's growing indoors; why does this matter? Why doesn't she just hunt some seedlings down and start now?" Even though I am growing indoors, I think it will be best if I grow as if I'm growing outdoors. For those of you who may not know, in the Fall and Winter months, sunlight is a rarity in Pittsburgh (second only to Seattle in least amount of sunlight during the Winter). And I'm not ready at this stage to set up a lighting mechanism to compensate for the lack of natural light. Hence, I want to make sure that my plants are established during the months where the days are longest and sunlight plentiful. I'd like to be able to harvest something this year, and then maybe I will experiment and see how they do throughout the Winter of 2012, risking that they bite the dust. If they do indeed succumb to the winter gray, I don't think I'd feel as disappointed and demoralized after already having successfully grown during the previous summer.
And here I will stop because I'm getting into territory for the subject of another post: facing the possibility of failure.
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