The Medicinal Herb Grower: A Guide for Cultivating Plants That Heal: 1

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So, this is one of the live coaching calls that I am going into with Maddie, who is a member of the Pioneering Today Academy and we have a full herbal course inside the academy on using herbs for cold and flu, as well as lesson on how to grow herbs and how to plan out your herb garden that really go into this step by step and much deeper. Then, we can go into in just the scope of one single podcast episode here in our time together. We are opening the doors to new members, and you can get on that wait list so that you get first option when we open those doors by going to melissaknorris.com/pta. I’ve grown vegetables, flowers, fruit trees, berries, and ornamentals, but my favorite thing across the board is growing medicinal herbs. They are so satisfying—once you have them established they will generously give you medicine year after year after year. When you are able to fill your own apothecary, you’ll feel a sense of sovereignty that can’t be bought. Take this opportunity to get your own medicine growing now as the harvest doesn’t happen overnight! You will also be able to better apply the in-depth knowledge found in Juliet’s forthcoming book, The Healing Garden: Cultivating & Handcrafting Herbal Remedies . With a little planning, you can pair tall plants that like to soak up the sun with short plants that prefer a little shade. For instance, a giant parsley plant can provide shade for low-growing sweet woodruff. There are exceptions to everything, of course, and in this case some medicinal herbs are fairly easy to start from seed, including calendula, holy basil ( Ocimum sanctum), fennel, California poppy ( Eschscholzia californica), and borage* ( Borago officinalis). Once you have a garden bed or container prepped, direct sow the seeds after the last frost date. Poppies will germinate even better if you sow them in fall, as they like to go through the cold of winter. Scott-James, Anne; Osbert Lancaster (2004). The Pleasure Garden: An Illustrated History of British Gardening. Frances Lincoln Publishers. p.80. ISBN 978-0-7112-2360-8.

Now, you know me and I am an advocate for raising as much of the things that you use as possible, and that includes growing your own herbs, which we're going to be talking about in today's episode. However, we're not always able to grow every single thing ourselves, not when it comes to our food. There are climate limitations and also just hours and a day limitations. And the same thing is with our herbs. There are some herbs that you're not going to be able to grow based upon climate, but they are still wonderful herbs to have in your arsenal.

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While herbs aren’t any more challenging to grow than the tomato plants in your vegetable garden or the rose bushes in your front yard, the trouble is that many people tend to plant different herbs together and treat them as one and the same. That’s why it’s so important to determine what your plants prefer before putting them in the ground together. Who doesn’t love an easy herb to grow? Motherwort fits in that category, plus its a highly versatile medicinal herb. You can use it for a variety of ailments, such as: Below are three points I highly recommend reflecting upon before beginning your herb garden. This is an exercise that takes some turning over of the soil of your mind, but the fruits are worth it—you can tread the new territory with better footing once you know that you’ve laid a solid foundation. It’s easy to want to jump right in but look at the space you have and how your sun rises and sets. You don’t want to plant tall herbs on the east side of your garden the might cast a shade over sun-needing herbs. Tall herbs need to be planted on the west side of your garden. Many of us already use herbs to flavor our culinary triumphs, but many of these herbs have curative powers too. For instance, basil has uses that extend beyond delicious pesto.

Residential gardening takes place near the home, in a space referred to as the garden. Although a garden typically is located on the land near a residence, it may also be located on a roof, in an atrium, on a balcony, in a window box, on a patio or vivarium. Melissa: Yeah, that's a great question. And when COVID-19 first really, when we first all found out about it, right? Elderberry, that was a concern that a lot of people had and expressed about not being sure if you could use elderberry because of possible cytokine storms. But we have a lot of herbalist who went in research and cases and found that it's really not a concern. It was one of those things where one person posted possible to be aware of, and then everybody just ran with it. Gardens in Renaissance were adorned with sculptures, topiary and fountains. In the 17th century, knot gardens became popular along with the hedge mazes. By this time, Europeans started planting new flowers such as tulips, marigolds and sunflowers. The best wildflowers for bees". icanlawn.com Blog. 16 November 2022. Archived from the original on 15 January 2023 . Retrieved 22 December 2022.

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Chamomile is best known for its calming properties when taken as a tea. This herb is also credited in aiding headaches, stomach ailments, flatulence, colic, insomnia, cold and flu symptoms, and inflammatory issues such as sore throat, hemorrhoids, acne, ulcers, and some eye ailments. Melissa: Okay. It's so funny because I'm technically gardening 7a too, but I always have to ask, because it doesn't really tell you a whole lot other than just the average lowest cold winter temperature is, but there's so many other variances in there that I feel like I have to ask for a further description to really get a feel for it. So, my next question on that is rainfall. And I know you had mentioned to me earlier that you guys have clay soil. So, I'm wondering does your soil stay soggy? Do you get a lot of rain? Do you get a lot of wet or is it more dealing with a lot of dryness and compactness in the summer months? Yves-Marie Allain and Janine Christiany, L'Art des jardins en Europe, Citadelles and Mazenod, Paris, 2006. Anyhow, so it was really funny though, because she took the tincture and she's like, "Oh, Mom, it just tastes so awful. Don't you have any tinctures that don't taste bad, any other herbs that don't taste bad?" And I'm like, "Honey, it's not the herbs that taste bad. It's the alcohol." And she's like, "Oh, you gave me alcohol?" I'm like, "Maddie," her name is Maddie too, which is really funny. I'm like, "It's 15 ml. I'm not actually giving, I mean, technically yes, it's alcohol, but I'm like, I'm not really giving you, I'm not going to allow you to drink alcohol." Gardening for beauty is likely [ original research?] nearly as old as farming for food, however for most of history for the majority of people there was no real distinction since the need for food and other useful products trumped other concerns. Small-scale, subsistence agriculture (called hoe-farming) is largely indistinguishable from gardening. A patch of potatoes grown by a Peruvian peasant or an Irish smallholder for personal use could be described as either a garden or a farm. Gardening for average people evolved as a separate discipline, more concerned with aesthetics, recreation and leisure, [35] under the influence of the pleasure gardens of the wealthy. [36] Meanwhile, farming has evolved (in developed countries) in the direction of commercialization, economics of scale, and monocropping.

I can’t let this article end without mentioning that the mints—although beloved medicinal herbs—can easily take over your garden, so plant them in containers before you regret having given them free range. Same goes for stinging nettles ( Urtica dioca), who can get out of control. In one year, one plant spread in our garden to roughly a 70 square foot area, as well as jumped the creek. Wild bergamot is an herbaceous perennial that reaches heights of 3 to 4-feet tall and as wide as you’ll let it spread. It requires full sun and well-draining soil and thrives in USDA zones 3-8. Final Thoughts Because gardeners may have different goals, organisms considered "garden pests" vary from gardener to gardener. Tropaeolum speciosum, for example, may be considered a desirable and ornamental garden plant, or it may be considered a pest if it seeds and starts to grow where it is not wanted. As another example, in lawns, moss can become dominant and be impossible to eradicate. In some lawns, lichens, especially very damp lawn lichens such as Peltigera lactucfolia and P.membranacea, can become difficult to control and are considered pests. Thinking about herbs that grow well in your climate should be a given. If you try to grow any plant that isn’t suited for the environment and temperatures in your region, you won’t end up with a successful harvest. What is Your Hardiness Zone?

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Valerian– Valerian will grow very tall, and you want to get it established so you can harvest the roots and rhizomes. “Historically, valerian was used to treat insomnia, migraine, fatigue, and stomach cramps. Today, valerian is promoted for insomnia, anxiety, depression, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), menopause symptoms, and headaches.” ( Source) Thyme– Just one plant will do! Once established, you’ll likely have enough for culinary and herbal purposes. Used for coughs and has anti-bacterial properties. Get a start from a plant whose leaves you’ve tasted and are full of flavor! Dry, sun lover. Culinary herb extraordinaire. Ally for viral and fungal protection. Can live for generations.