THE GROWING MEDIUM

Remember that a good potting soil for herbs (or any container-grown plant) should be light in texture and porous enough to insure good drainage and an adequate oxygen supply. It should hold a lot of water and nutrients without becoming compacted around tender roots, but shouldn’t retain moisture so long that root rot can develop. The pH and nutrient content should be balanced and the mix must be disease-free to insure healthy plants. If you’re really getting into this and want to get your plants off to a healthy start, the following recipe will yield an excellent potting soil:

Super-Charged Potting Soil*

15 parts (shovels, buckets, or any container
measured by volume) topsoil
5 parts horticultural grade vermiculite or peat moss

To “charge” 10 cubic feet of the soil, add:

6.5 cups cottonseed meal
6.5 cups compost or dairy manure
1 teaspoon seawood meal

SELECTING THE PLANTS

Herbal BeautyLike all plants, herbs are classified according to their life cycle in the natural state. For example, annuals must be planted every year, unless their growing conditions are such that they seed themselves. Biennials should be planted every year, too. Biennials put forth only leaves their first year. You have to wait for the second year for flowers. By planting biennials every year, you’ll always have a supply of flowers to harvest.

Perennials are those obliging plants that last for many years with a minimum of care. Perennials are quite often arranged in the center of a garden and left to fend for themselves, while the annuals and biennials are grouped around the outside perimeter, making it easier to reset them every year.

If you are planning a small trial-planting of herbs, consider selecting from among the premiere medicinal herbs: calendula, chamomile, dandelion, echinacea, horsetail, mallow, mullein, sage, and St. John’s wort. A Selection of Natural Medicinals, where you will find a brief description of the healing plant, including how tall it grows and its favorite habitat. For some reason, this vital information is often missing in published material on herbal medicine. Although the information on growth patterns is not complete, the general guidelines given for each plant will help you decide what herbs will do well given the climate and space in your garden.

If you decide to start from scratch, the seed packets you purchase will give you detailed growing instructions. For the most part, seeds are started indoors in a flat container. All you need to do is keep the soil moist by misting it daily, baby the tiny sprouts along, and move them to their permanent home when they have achieved a suitable size.

Getting started is even easier if you buy young, potted herbs in a nursery. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. A knowledgeable staff member will certainly be happy to pass on his enthusiasm and will tell you how to care for your new botanicals.

Once the herbs are growing, you’ll need to know when and how to gather them for your medicine closet.

HARVESTING

Whether you are harvesting herbs for immediate use in their fresh state or for drying, they should be gathered at the time in their growing cycle when they are most potent. If you are harvesting the whole plant, it should be gathered early in the growing cycle when it is just coming into bloom. Fruits and berries should be harvested only when they become fully ripe. Flowers should be gathered when they are in full bloom but are still quite young and fresh. Flowers are most potent during the beginning of flowering. Leaves should, be taken when they are still quite young, but they must be fully developed. Leaves are most vigorous just before the buds open, but also may be taken during flowering. Collect only roots that are strong and fully developed, not stringy or fragile. Roots should be dug out only when the plant is dormant, either early spring or late fall.

It’s best to gather the medicinal plants no earlier than midmorning on a sunny day. There are two reasons for this. First, you want to give the sun time to dry the moisture that has accumulated overnight in the form of dew. Second, plants that have been warmed by the sun are in their most potent state. The volatile oils are free-flowing and strongest when the plants are warm. As a general rule of thumb, it’s best to schedule your harvest time from around 10 o’clock in the morning to around 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

You will, of course, select only clean, healthy plants that show no insect infestation: no chewed leaves, mites on the underside of leaves, or ragged blossoms. If you are gathering in the field, and not your own garden, bypass roadsides and highways where the plants have been polluted by passing traffic. Herbs growing near railway embankments, dirty streams, or industrial plants are obviously unsuitable for harvesting. Fields, meadows, woodlands, and pastures are usually excellent sources of healing tea ingredients. Watch out for grazing land that may have been chemically fertilized by a farmer anxious to provide good grasses for his stock.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
The ABCs of Herb Cultivation Part 2