Spring is coming! �Spring is coming! �This page contains information on my own personal herb gardens and how I�care for them. �This is my musings on last years' season, I will be updating this page as the new season progresses and we all begin to�get into Gardening Mode again!


How Does Your Garden Grow?


My main herb garden...yes I said main herb garden as I have other herbs scattered about the yard...is a small hexagon shaped garden which has a large rock and birdbath in the middle of it. It's about two feet wide on all sides and gets between 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight each day. Believe it or not in that rather small garden grows twenty different varities of herbs.

I have, Spanish Broom, Garden Rue, Wild Chickory, Valerian, Oregano, Thyme, Lemon Thyme, Lemon Balm, Hyssop, Chamomiles, Lavenders, Mulleins, Lobelias, Catnip, Soapwort, Vervain, Blessed Thistle, Elecampagne, Comfrey, Motherwort, Pennyroyal, Horehound, Common Mallow, Marshmallow and Saint John's Wort. With Mints, Mustards, Celendine, Foxgloves, Cowslip, Bloodroot and others scattered around the yard. I also grow Aloe Vera, Yellow Flowering Jasmine, Rosemary and Jojoba in containers. Basil and Garlic grow in the veggie garden.

When I first started this I pulled absolutely every plant that resembled a "weed". My mistake...big mistake. The best investment I ever made was a book by Reader's Digest entitled "The Magic and Medicine of Plants". Lo and Behold! Those "weeds" were actually very useful herbs! Now the rule is if there's something growing wild that is 1) not in the way of anything and 2) I don't know what it is then let it grow. It was this method that allowed me to discover many of the herbs that are cultivated in my gardens. Once I make the determination that it is a useful plant and not a "weed" I harvest the seeds from the plant and then scatter them where I would like the plant to grow next season. This method works quite well.

Sun or Shade

I'd like to take a moment to talk about the sun or shade issues. While it is true that MOST herbs are sun lovers, it is not true of all of them. Take my Foxgloves, all the directions said full sun so I planted my first batch in full sun. They grew to about a foot high and then they died. I was very upset and disappointed, I mean I had followed all the directions so why did it die? It died because the directions lied. Foxglove actually grows best in part shade or dappled shade. I know that because one day I was out in my wildflower garden and there before my eyes was a Foxglove, I still have no idea where it came from but I'm ever so glad to see it return year after year. It was growing beneath a medium sized maple tree where it received mostly shade during the day. Not only was it growing it was a good two and half feet tall at the time I first noticed it growing. The same goes for Bloodroot and Cowslips. The Bloodroot especially loves shade, the deeper the better. No one told me that when I purchased the plant so I made the same mistake I did with the Foxglove. Luckily the Bloodroot didn't outright die, I got to it before that and planted it in a cinder block in the wildflower garden. What I'm trying to say here is that if something isn't growing well for you no matter what you're doing then try moving it to a shadier spot in the yard and see what happens. Always remember to do your best to transplant on an overcast day that's a little on the cool side, this way you avoid (as best you can) having the plant suffer from root shock.


To Water or Not to Water...

Personally I find that the majority of herbs like it a little bit on the dry side...they also grow great in soil that you wouldn't even think of planting anything in at all...for some of them the poorer the soil the better. (We'll come back to that issue). It's usually best to let your herbs dry out almost completely before giving them a good healthy drink, especially if you have a ground garden. Water either early in the morning, before 8 or so or later in the evening when the sun has gone down. This prevents the heat from evaporating the water before it can be used by your plants.

If you're growing in containers you'll want to water a little more frequently than that, keeping a good eye on them if they're in clay pots. Clay pots, while beautiful, dry out faster than plastic pots do. By all means leave your containers outside during the growing season, don't take them in at night unless you have some type of pest or animal problem where you live. Allow Mother to care for them outside. For the containers, if you have a lot of rain you will want to bring them inside them. We've had almost a week of rain here this past week and I brought the containers inside after the second day of rain. They were soaked. They couldn't possibly take any more water.

As you go along you will find that inbetween waterings some plants...most of them...like to be lightly florally fed. That means spraying a light mist of water on the leaves and stems not giving it to the dirty where the roots will suck it up. You can florally feed with a mister bottle if you have containers. If you have a ground garden you might want to pick up a larger pump sprayer at your local hardware store, they can be purchased for anywhere between 10 and 20 dollars depending on how large you want it and how fancy you're getting with it.

The Dirt Under Your Feet

My main herb garden at one time held a rock garden that my mother planted before I was born. It was a very pretty rock garden but went by the by after a while due to neglect. When my husband and I put the addition on the house the back hoe dug up where the rock garden had been and up came all of this clay and yucky soil. I didn't think about it at the time because I didn't know I was going to put an herb garden there then and tell the truth the fact totally escaped me when I did put the garden in. As I said on the first page, I'm a trial and error person when it comes to this not really a by the book person. No one told me I shouldn't plant there. Good thing too or I would have let that nice spot go to waste. As I said the dirt is poor and I don't do much to amend it except to toss out some cow manure in the beginning of each season and let the rain work it in. The dirt in the wildflower garden is better...sort of...but it's full of roots from the trees and pricker bushes that were once there. It's totally impossible to actually dig there so I scatter odd seeds throughout the year down there and they work themselves into the soil. This actually works quite well. The point here is don't worry if your soil isn't that rich black dirt that we all see people like Roger Swain working in. When it comes to herbs they like fairly poor soil and they almost thrive on neglect.

What's Doin' In the Garden

Each night my husband and I take our after dinner coffee outside and walk the yard. It's the best time of the day. We stroll around holding hands and looking at the plants. This is also very important as you will be able to notice signs of pests and distress if you inspect your plants daily. Also you get to really enjoy the fruits of your labor this way.

Our Valerian has past it's bloom, I always adore that plant when it's in full bloom. The flowers are so pretty and they smell so sweet. I always pick some and put them in the bedroom, just the scent is enough to relax me and make me drift peacefully to sleep. The Rue is blooming nicely right now, little yellow flowers on a green/blue stalk. The Spanish Broom...which I'll have to move at the end of this season...it is just starting it's bloom. The yellow, banana shaped flowers are just starting to open. No one told me the plant was going to reach between 6 and 10 feet eventually. Our thymes have just begun to bloom, little purple flowers. Very pretty. The lavender is coming in now. I confess I've already snipped most of the flowers to use in oils. The Foxgloves still in the main herb garden are just passing their bloom now, they're no where near as tall as their cousins in the wildflower garden and I've been considering moving them as well. The Chamomiles are coming in nicely, one is in full bloom right now and the other should burst forth any day now. The Black Mustard is in and the Celandine has past it's bloom and is ready for harvest. If I find out to effectively milk that plant I'll let you all know. We're still waiting on everyone else out there to get ready for their respective shows of the season.

Its October now and everything has gone past. I dug out the coneflower, elecampagne, broom, a few mulleins and my broom and placed them around a rock in the yard...I'm hoping it will take a faery garden. Not to mention it provides a lot of needed room and sunlight in the main herb garden now.

Herb Projects

A few weeks ago I began the first of my oils projects for the season. I made some mint oil which came out very well. Oregano cooking oil and lemon thyme cooking oils aren't quite done yet but I expect they'll be done in a day or two. I made some rue oil for my kids ear aches. I also put up a mullein tincture for the winter for those chest colds and hard racking winter coughs. Trying my hand at lavender oil again, never give up on that one, I'll let you all know how it comes out. I used the cold infusion method for all of the oils I've made so far this year. That recipie can be found on my Oils, Incense and Craft Tools page.

The oils came out very well and are all used up now! I didn't save any for Yule gifts. I used my broom plant to make a ritual broom for my Circle using a cedar handle. It came out well, I'm happy with the results.

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