Unraveling the Tapestry of the Medieval Garden
by Natalie Zaman
Can you find the frog? He’s hidden in the flowers and easy to miss. Most folks who visit the Unicorn Tapestry room in the Cloisters museum and gardens in New York and gaze at The Unicorn in Captivity have their eyes on the unicorn. He sits in a garden under a pomegranate tree, the juice from the overripe fruit dripping down his back. The surrounding landscape is lush and filled with a thousand flowers (millefleur) as well as a few insects and, of course, the frog. Each of the seven tapestries is ripe with symbolism (as was much of the medieval world). But look closely at the scenes before you: amid the hidden references is a picture of life in the Middle Ages, much of which was centered around gardening.
The garden plots of the Middle Ages were places where practicality, pleasure, superstition, science, and spirituality all existed comfortably side by side. Plants that fed and healed the body also brought comfort to the soul through religious symbolism or protection—real and imagined—through old wives’ tales and folklore. Elements such as fishponds, dovecotes, and beehives were incorporated into their schemes for their produce as well as sufficiency; fishponds were water sources, the denizens of dovecotes provided fertilizer as well as feathers for pillows and bedding, and bees were a means of pollination.
The Middle Ages encompassed the period from about 500 to 1400 CE—that’s nine hundred years of horticultural evolution. According to Marilyn Stokstad and Jerry Stannard, curators of the Gardens of the Middle Ages exhibit at the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence, Kansas, and Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC, five types of gardens could be found in medieval Europe: the cloistered gardens of religious orders; the kitchen gardens tended by all households, large and small; herbariums, devoted to medicinal and other practical herbs; and the patrician and pleasure gardens of the upper classes. Each one has its own unique wisdom to share with us.
The Hortus Conclusus
Executed in the eleventh century, the plan for the cathedral, abbey, and gardens of the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland (never fully completed) is the only large-scale architectural drawing to survive the Middle Ages. In addition to an herbarium and kitchen garden, a block of space just to the right of the cathedral was set aside for a hortus conclusus—an enclosed contemplative garden.
For folks who followed the Christian faith, paradise was the ultimate garden from which man was expelled. In one sense the contemplative garden (sometimes called a cloister garden because it is surrounded by covered walkways or a wall of some kind) was an attempt to recapture paradise as a man-made “heaven on earth.”
Meant to be an expression of the divine order, the contemplative garden was a place of prayer, meditation, and solitude, and it was instantly recognizable because of its symmetry. Divided into quadrants by intersecting paths, this space was planted simply, sometimes just with patches of turf or lawn with trees for shade and benches to sit. Life sustaining and spiritually cleansing, a water source sat at its center in the form of a fountain or wellhead, at the foot of which at least three symbolic (and fragrant) flowers could usually be found.
A rosary was literally a rose garden, but in the thirteenth century the word evolved to mean the “garden of prayers” devoted to the Virgin Mary, whose array of floral symbols included the rose. The Venerable Bede, medieval historian, linked the lily to Mary: the white petals symbolized the purity of her body, the golden center was the light of her soul, and its heavenly scent represented her divinity. Low to the ground, the violet can survive in a variety of climates. It has a lovely fragrance, though not a showy blossom. These “humble” traits earned it a place as yet another symbol of Mary, whose humility and gentle power were a comfort and inspiration to humankind.
Obviously, the Virgin Mary was an important figure in the lives of medieval European and British peoples, but not everyone had the resources to create a contemplative garden. A tradition that began in monasteries and convents and then spread to lay folk was the creation of the Mary Garden. These small plots were no more than simple collections of plants and herbs, both cultivated and wild, which were connected to Mary and different admirable aspects of her character. Columbine was Our Lady’s shoes: this flower with its doveshaped petals sprang up under Mary’s feet when she walked to the house of her cousin Elizabeth to share the news of her pregnancy. Foxglove was Our Lady’s gloves, and interestingly, these flowers were also known as fairy gloves or elf’s gloves. Forget-me-not was Mary’s eyes; Lily of the valley, Our Lady’s tears. Marigold literally means Mary’s gold—calendula, or pot marigold, was the first flower to be named for Mary. Parsley was Our Lady’s little vine, and St. John’s wort was Mary’s glory.
No matter what faith you follow, you can create a devotional garden that is medieval in spirit. Set aside a space indoors or out; like the contemplative gardens of the monasteries, this will be a place of respite, so try to clear it of any clutter so you will not be distracted by outside thoughts when you visit. Choose up to four plants that appeal to you or instill a sense of peace and calm when you see or smell them. Install the plants in a quadrant-shaped plot, or, if yours is an indoor garden, use four small pots. Devotional gardens are highly personal; if you wish, incorporate statuary, stones, or other objects or images that hold meaning for you.
Pottage for Castle and Cottage
The most common medieval plots, kitchen gardens (also called cottage gardens) were dedicated to growing food. They could be as simple as a few rows of root and leafy vegetables and cooking herbs or they might be vast fields that yielded produce for a manor or religious house and all its occupants. The gardens of plain folk had no formal plan but were plots of “toft and croft.” As villages were organized, land was given to peasants to tend and live upon. The toft was nearer to the road and usually where houses were built, while the croft behind was a small enclosed pasture—here, gardens were tended.
A variety of fruits, herbs and vegetables were grown in kitchen gardens, and people, especially commoners, depended on this produce for survival and not just for adding to a meal. In the Middle Ages, they were also multipurpose.
A cabbage was the common base for pottage, but the leaves were also used to dress wounds. Onions added flavor and substance to the stew and doubled as a digestive aid. Onion skins were boiled to make dye. Not to be eaten raw as they could “corrupt the blood,” leeks were often substituted for garlic in other dishes but were a staple of pottage. Mixed with vinegar, frankincense, and rose oil, they were ingredients in ear drops. “Rosemary for remembrance,” wrote Shakespeare, but this herb was a remedy for toothache, among other things, and a favorite flavoring for meats and vegetables.
The basic ingredients of pottage—a vegetable stew cooked in a pot that was eaten by most people of all classes throughout the British Isles and the Continent—are vegetables and herbs that are readily available and easy to grow today. Ingredients varied by region, and other foodstuffs could be added to the stew: oats to thicken, herbs to flavor, and meat to add heartiness. To make a basic pottage, chop up one head of cabbage, one large onion, and one large leek. Put the vegetables in a pot along with the rosemary and add between four and six cups of chicken or vegetable stock. Bring the mixture to a simmer and stir occasionally until the vegetables are soft.
The Many Hues of the Herbarium
Early in the ninth century a boy named Walafrid Strabo was sent to the Benedictine monastery of Reichenau in Germany, where he grew up, and eventually became abbot. In his poem Hortolus (“the little garden” in Latin), he described the monastery garden as it changed throughout the seasons and the plants—thirty of them—he tended there. Walafrid also kept a notebook on the meanings of plants and their uses based on folklore and his own experience growing, processing, and using them. The primary purpose of the herbarium was to grow and process medicinal plants, but, as with those found in the kitchen garden, many of these had multiple uses, including the making of inks and dyes.
Woad was used for lowering fevers and curing infectious disease, but it was better known for making blue dye and body paint. Creating blue dye with woad was a two step process: after the leaves were steeped, the acidity of the water had to be adjusted for the blue color to activate. In the Middle Ages, urine was added to the bath to ensure a vibrant blue hue. Lady’s bedstraw yielded a bright yellow dye, but it was also incorporated into salves to heal burns. Other plants that produced yellow dye include betony, agrimony, southern wood, and chaste tree (also known as monk’s pepper), the seeds of which were taken to suppress the libido, thus insuring chastity. Red dye was made by simmering madder roots. A brew of the leaves was a cure for jaundice.
Shaping the Patrician Garden
In orchard or garden, trees played an important role in medieval sustainability. Like most plants, trees—their bark, wood, leaves, and fruit—had multiple uses. For those who had the resources, a garden with trees could be more than just a means of cultivating necessary plants. Patrician plots were gardens of mixed use; practical herbs, vegetables and fruit trees were elevated to ornamental status. Space was often a commodity in the patrician garden, so trees were trained to grow against walls or form natural arbors and trellises under which visitors could find a bit of shade or privacy. Espaliering—pruning and training trees to grow in a specific shape—was employed to make the most of every square foot of space.
Symbolic of knowledge and the Garden of Eden, apples were enjoyed right off the tree, baked into fragrant desserts, and, of course, pressed into cider. Pears were the second most popular fruit after apples—and were often paired with apples in recipes as well as in the orchard. A treat with dual symbolism, you will find pears incorporated into medieval artworks depicting Mary and the infant Jesus as well as bawdy lines from poems and plays that tout the pear as a phallic symbol. Of the medlar tree’s fruit, Chaucer wrote, “Til we be roten, ken we not be rype” (Until we’re rotten, we’re not ripe). Effective as an antidiarrheal, medlars can only be eaten when their flesh is as soft as paste from a process called “bletting.” As unappetizing as it may look, a ripe medlar can taste like rich apple butter with hints of vanilla and cinnamon. One of the trees found in the orchard cemetery at St. Gall, the quince’s golden, apple-like fruit ripen late in the autumn. (They’re said to be the golden apples of Hesperides come to earth.) Usually eaten cooked rather than straight off the tree, quinces were also used to staunch bleeding in small wounds.
The Essence of the Pleasure Garden
Pleasure gardens were planted, obviously, for pleasure, incorporating nooks to sit and read in, tables to play games on, and private places for friends and lovers to meet. While most people had keen religious sensibilities, the pleasure garden was a monument to human nature and a place where love reigned. Pleasure gardens titillated the senses by design and so were filled with trees, plants, and flowers that had both sensual and symbolic value.
Fragrance was of just as much import as visual delight and innuendo. An ingredient in love charms, lemon balm’s leaves are heavily fragrant with citrus. Its small white flowers are favorites of bees—servants of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, as expressed in the hexagonal shape of a honeycomb cell. A natural insecticide, mint’s strong fragrance ensured its place in the pleasure garden. Also associated with Venus, it’s no surprise that it was used as a tooth whitener and breath freshener. Sweet scented and beautiful, roses were and are the flowers of love. Their essence was distilled into rosewater for cooking as well as cosmetic use. Chamomile’s pretty, daisy-like flowers brightened up the borders of the pleasure garden and give off a sweet, apple-like scent. A draft of chamomile calms a nervous stomach, but folklore tells us that it also has the qualities of an aphrodisiac.
Stepping into the Tapestry
Changing times and building and land improvements have ensured that no medieval garden has survived intact. However, thanks to these re-creations, it is possible to step back in time and stop and smell the flowers.
- • The Cloisters of the Ancient Spanish Monastery: www.spanishmonastery.com
- • The Penn State Medieval Garden: www.psumedievalgarden.org
- • St. Clare’s Garden at Santa Clara University: http://www.scu.edu/stclaregarden/
- • The Cloisters museum and gardens: http://www.metmuseum.org/visit/visit-the-cloisters
When you visit the Cloisters, match the plants in the gardens to the plants in the tapestry—and find the frog in the lower right hand corner of The Unicorn in Captivity.
Resources
Cavallo, Adolfo Salvatore. The Unicorn Tapestries in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.
Cosman, Madeleine Pelner. Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony. New York: George Braziller, 1989.
Eberley, S. E. S. “Designing a Medieval Garden.” Wyrtig, 2011. http://wyrtig.com/Resources/Online/DesigningTheMedievalHerbGarden.htm.
Larkin, Deidre. “Rotten-ripe: The Meddlar Goes Soft.” The Medieval Garden Enclosed (blog), November 14, 2008. http://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2008/11/14/rotten-ripe-the-medlar-goes-soft/.
———. “The Golden Quince.” The Medieval Garden Enclosed, October 27, 2008. http://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2008/10/27/the-golden-quince/.
“Mary Gardens.” Fish Eaters. Accessed September 10, 2015. http://www.fisheaters.com/marygardens.html.
Osborne, Cindy. “Mary Gardens.” The Marian Library of the International Marian Research Institute. Last modified March 27, 2012. http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/m_garden/AB-MG.html.
“Plants.” The Penn State Medieval Garden. Accessed September 10, 2015. http://www.psumedievalgarden.com/search.html.
Stokstad, Marilyn, and Jerry Stannard. Gardens of the Middle Ages. Lawrence: The Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas Press, 1983.
“The Plan of St. Gall.” Carolingian Culture at Reichenau and St. Gall. UCLA Digital Library, 2012. http://www.stgallplan.org/en/index_plan.html.
Natalie Zaman is a regular contributor to various Llewellyn annual publications. She is the coauthor of the Graven Images Oracle deck (Galde Press) and writes the recurring feature Wandering Witch for Witches & Pagans Magazine. Her work has also appeared in FATE, Sage Woman, and newWitch magazines. When she’s not on the road, she’s chasing free-range hens in her self-sufficient and Pagan-friendly back garden. Find Natalie online at www.nataliezaman.blogspot.com or at www.broomstix.blogspot.com, a collection of crafts, stories, ritual, and art she curates for Pagan families.
Most gardeners grow herbs for their savory flavors and healing properties, but with a little extra planning, the herb garden can become a powerful insectary that attracts thousands of butterflies, beneficial insects, and pollinators right where gardeners need and can appreciate them the most.
What Is an Insectary?
Simply put, an insectary is a place to rear and keep live insects. As a gardener, I can’t think of a better place to rear and keep live insects than in the garden, especially when those insects can help produce more fruit and vegetables by pollinating crops and feasting on truly destructive insects like cabbage worms, aphids, and bean beetles. Bene-
ficial insects allow the gardener to reduce or eliminate their dependence on hard-core chemical and even organic insecticides by wreaking havoc on “bad bugs” that chew holes in leaves, spread viral diseases, disfigure fruits, and weaken or kill plants. Thankfully, the herbs and flowers that surround your garden can become a natural insectary that supports the life cycles of beneficial insects by providing them with food, shelter, and water.
You can probably find a few beneficials flitting about your herb garden on any given day, but if you really want to reap the benefits of these powerful natural insecticides, you’ll want to learn a little more about them: what they like to eat, where they like to sleep and overwinter, and how they reproduce.
The first thing anyone thinking of encouraging the presence of beneficials needs to know is that one size does not fit all. You may have a few wasps, a handful of ladybugs, and a couple of praying mantises lurking in your garden, but that’s just not enough to affect the bad bugs in any appreciable way. What you really need is an entire army of good bugs—one that is diversified, well fed, protected, and supported year-round. And if you want your army at the ready from the first signs of spring to the first frost in fall, you must be prepared to support your beneficials with everything they’ll need to survive. In return, your army of good bugs will decimate the bad bugs year after year.
It’s Dinnertime
The first and most important thing you’ll need to do to attract adult beneficials is to provide them with a quality food source. For that, you’ll need to know what they like to eat. For example, praying mantises and spiders feed primarily on other insects, while braconid wasps and hover flies eat only pollen and nectar. Beneficials such as ladybugs are true omnivores that feast on pollen and nectar when their insect prey is in short supply. The most important thing to remember is that if you provide adult beneficials with the right kinds of food, they will eventually produce hundreds of larvae, which are voracious eaters of other insects.
When it comes to providing food for your beneficials, herbs just can’t be beat. Not only are they relatively care-free, but many herbs produce small clusters of flowers that beneficials find irresistible. The beneficials that don’t eat pollen or nectar will prey on other insects attracted to the flowers. Of particular interest are herbs, vegetables, and flowering plants in the following plant families:
Carrot Family: Apiaceae (formerly Umbelliferae)
Angelica (Angelica archangelica)
Anise (Pimpinella anisum)
Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)
Caraway (Carum carvi)
Carrot (Daucus carota ssp. sativus)
Celery (Apium graveolens var. dulce)
Chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium)
Cilantro/Coriander (Coriandrum sativum)
Culantro/Mexican cilantro (Eryngium foetidum)
Cumin (Cuminum cyminum)
Dill (Anethum graveolens)
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum)
Gotu kola/Centella (Centella asiatica)
Lovage (Levisticum officinale)
Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)
Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)
Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota var. carota)
Sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata)
Mint Family: Lamiaceae (formerly Labiatae)
Basil (Ocimum basilicum)
Bee balm (Monarda didyma)
Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Catnip/Catmint (Nepeta spp.)
Horehound (Marrubium vulgare)
Horsemint (Monarda punctata)
Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis)
Korean Mint (Agastache rugosa)
Lavender (Lavandula spp.)
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)
Marjoram (Origanum majorana)
Mint (Mentha spp.)
Monarda (Monarda spp.)
Mountain mints (Pycnanthemum spp.)
Oregano (Origanum vulgare)
Penstemon (Penstemon spp.)
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
Sage (Salvia officinalis)
Salvia (Salvia spp.)
Savory (Satureja spp.)
Thyme (Thymus spp.)
Aster Family: Asteraceae (formerly Compositae)
Calendula (Calendula spp.)
Coneflowers (Echinacea spp.)
Feverfew (Chrysanthemum parthenium)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Yellow coneflower (Ratibida pinnata)
Onion Family: Amaryllidaceae (formerly Lilliaceae)
Bunching onions, scallions (Allium fistulosum)
Common cooking onions (Allium cepa)
Garlic (Allium sativum)
Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum)
Leeks and elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum)
Onion chives (Allium schoenoprasum)
Potato or multiplier onions, shallots (Allium cepa var.
aggregatum)
Walking onions (Allium cepa var. proliferum)
One look at this partial list of plants attractive to beneficial insects will tell you that many of the herbs that you already have in your herb garden are excellent candidates for the herbal insectary. Most culinary herbs are perennial in nature, which is why they are often grown in permanent beds outside of the vegetable garden. But annual herbs like dill and basil, grown primarily for their leaves and seeds, are often sown in the garden right alongside the carrots and the beans. I don’t know any gardener who doesn’t want to protect their annual herbs from hungry caterpillars and chewing insects, but some of the pests of annual herbs are beneficials in their own right. For example, many of the herbs in the carrot family are host plants for the larval stages of several species of swallowtail butterfly, which can quickly defoliate even large, healthy plants. The best way around this problem is to plant a plethora of annual herbs in the insectary—separate from those grown in the garden. Let the caterpillars eat the dill and fennel in the insectary, and if you don’t want to kill them, move those found in the vegetable garden to the same plants in the insectary, where they can live out their lives as beneficials. And remember, if you plant extra annuals for the beneficial pollinators, you will also see an increase in beneficial, insect-eating adults like spiders and praying mantises.
The Perennial Insectary
Most gardeners grow herbs for the same reason they grow a vegetable garden—to reap a valuable harvest for the kitchen and herbal medicine chest. But when you grow herbs or any edible flowering plant specifically for beneficials, you will need to let them flower for an extended period of time. This can be a conundrum for herb gardeners because we have been taught that in order to obtain the highest quality product we must cut our herbs just before or just as they are beginning to bloom. However, this timing doesn’t work out so well for beneficial insects, which rely on the early availability of the pollen and nectar that flowering herbs provide. If you have an established herb garden and don’t have the space for a dedicated insectary, try harvesting some of your perennial herbs a few weeks before the plants begin to set flower buds. By harvesting earlier than normal, you will still get plenty of flavorful herbs for the kitchen, and in a few weeks the insects will have all the flowers they’ll need to get them through the season.
On the other hand, if you have space in your yard near the vegetable garden, you might consider planting a mixture of herbs and flowers in a separate insectary bed. Better yet, plant an entire hedgerow of herbs and nectary plants and include a few early and late-flowering shrubs and trees such as crape myrtle, lilac, and fruit trees, too. As a perennial bed, the hedgerow can be mulched deeply to reduce weeding and watering chores. Use natural mulch such as bark, wood chips, or deciduous leaves, which provides many beneficials with the perfect shelter for hiding and resting during the heat of the day and for hibernating sites in the winter. In addition, the relatively undisturbed soil in the perennial insectary is crucial for many beneficials that spend some portion of their life underground, either to hibernate or to metamorphose into their adult forms.
With so many herbs that fill the requirements of beneficials in terms of food and shelter, you might be tempted to stop there. But wherever time and space allow, go ahead and add in as many flowering plants, shrubs, and trees as possible—the more the merrier! And don’t overlook native species, which increase the overall biodiversity of your insectary. Indeed, one of the most important things you can do to support beneficials is to have a variety of plant species flowering throughout the growing season, particularly early in the spring and late into fall when beneficials need the nectar and pollen most.
One final consideration for the perennial insectary is water, which is crucial for good plant development and the survival of the beneficials living there. Insects don’t need a lot of water, but they do need to have access to it in a form they can use. The easiest way to ensure that insects have available water is to shower or spray plants daily. The tiny droplets that catch on leaves and stems make excellent “watering holes” for your tiny guests. This works especially well if your sprinklers are set on a daily timer. You can even plant herbs and flowers with leaves that catch water and hold it for several hours. Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ is a perfect example of a water-catching plant, and it doubles as a powerful fall nectary plant as well. If you don’t water daily, consider adding a few “butterfly waterers,” which all of the beneficials can use, around the garden. Start by burying several ceramic or glass pie plates to the bottom of their rims. Next, fill the pans with coarse sand and gravel. Fill the pans with just enough water to be level with the surface of the sand. Beneficials simply stand on the sand and suck up the water below. Be sure to fill the waterer several times a week, especially during the hot, dry summer months. Simply adding a little drinking water to your insectary can make a dramatic difference in the number of beneficials that will call it home.
Protect Your Assets
An insectary is a place for beneficials to find food, shelter and water, but they also need your protection—both inside the insectary and throughout your vegetable garden and orchard. Almost all pesticides used in season will kill good bugs and bad bugs without discretion. And don’t think that just because you only use organic insecticides that your beneficials are safe from harm. After all, beneficials are insects, too.
If you feel that you absolutely must use some type of insecticide to control a pest in the garden, focus on those that do not have an immediate “knock-down” effect. Pyrethrum, pyrethrin (along with the synthetic pyrethroids), nicotine, and rotenone are all examples of extremely powerful organic insecticides that kill or permanently paralyze insects, including beneficials, on contact. The same is true for seemingly innocuous products like insecticidal soaps or lightweight horticultural oils meant to suffocate eggs, larvae, and scale-type insects. Use these products with caution and apply them only to the target pests early in the morning or late in the evening to avoid injuring beneficials, which are more active during the warmer daytime hours.
A few relatively safe insecticidal options are available to the organic gardener wanting to protect as many beneficials as possible. Pure neem oil used as directed (see product label) and applied with precision to foliage only (avoiding flowers whenever possible) is an excellent option because it only affects insects that eat the treated vegetation. Microbial insecticides are another organic option for treating insect pests while protecting beneficials. According to the Clemson University Cooperative Extension, microbial insecticides “comprised of a single species of microorganism may be active against a wide variety of insects or group of related insects (such as caterpillars) or they may be effective against only one or a few species. Most are very specific. Since there is such a narrow range of insects killed, they spare the beneficial insects almost entirely.”
As a gardener, I know how difficult it is to resist the temptation to address pest issues in the garden with any one “magicbullet.” Yet, in the twenty-five years I’ve been an organic gardener, I have had little difficulty handling pests without the use of any insecticides at all. Handpicking pesky hornworms, using spunbond polyester fabrics and screens to keep pests off target crops, using pheromone traps and scent deterrents, and interplanting vegetable and fruit crops with fragrant deterrent plants and herbs have always done the job well enough. And once my garden was free of indiscriminate insecticides, the beneficials arrived in droves and are now a permanent part of the landscape.
The Three Ps
Beneficial insects are generally recognized as being predators, parasites, or pollinators, but the truth is that many beneficials fill more than one role in the garden. Predators prey on bad bugs for food, while parasites lay their eggs in or on bad bugs, which the young larvae consume à la carte. Of course, pollinators can be any insect that moves pollen from flower to flower as it feeds or hunts, helping gardeners produce more fruits and vegetables.
And while each beneficial specializes in one of the three Ps, many fill multiple roles as they morph from larvae to adult. And since adults and larvae often look nothing like one another until their metamorphosis is complete, it is important to learn how to identify beneficials in all their forms. Remember that larvae are powerful predators, often consuming many more pests than the adults, and you don’t want to accidentally kill them because you didn’t recognize them. In fact, some beneficial insects actually look a lot like their pesky counterparts. For example, the spined soldier bug (Podisus maculiventris) looks an awful lot like a destructive stink bug because the two are related to one another. Yet, where the stink bug (and there are many) is a hard-to-control pest, the spined soldier bug is a beneficial eater of Colorado potato beetle and Mexican bean beetle larvae.
Use this short list of some of the more important beneficial insects to search for images of adult insects and their larvae that you may find in your garden and herbal insectary:
Braconid and ichneumonid wasps (Hymenoptera)
Damsel bugs (Heteroptera)
Earwigs (Dermaptera)
Ground beetles (Coleoptera)
Lacewings (Neuroptera)
Ladybugs (Coleoptera)
Mantids (Mantidae)
Mealybug destroyers (Coleoptera)
Minute pirate bugs (Heteroptera)
Soldier beetles (Coleoptera)
Spiders (Araneae)
Syrphid and hover flies (Diptera)
Tachinid flies (Diptera)
Trichogramma wasps (Hymenoptera)
Call It a Wrap
At the end of the season when your beneficials are calling it a wrap, ensure they hang around for next summer by providing them with the right environment for hibernation. Whenever possible, avoid removing spent vegetation in the insectary, and leave as many large clumps of dried ornamental grasses as you can. Sow cover crops in or near the insectary for added protection from harsh winter weather. And when pruning shrubs or trees, be sure to keep an eye out for the foam-like egg cases of praying mantises, which contain next year’s brood. Also, when mowing the lawn for the last time, consider setting the blade just a little higher than normal. Long grass provides ample hiding places and allows beneficial weeds such as dandelion a chance to regenerate faster in early spring. Fall leaves make excellent mulch for garden beds as well as hidey-holes for ground-dwelling beneficials and their larvae. If you want to keep the yard tidy, pile up leaves of deciduous trees (but not fruit tree leaves, which should be removed and burned to prevent future leaf diseases), sticks, and cut grass into a pile near the insectary but hidden from view. These piles make great hibernation sites that will double as compost in the future.
Beneficial insects are a boon to gardeners and food producers everywhere. With the rising incidence of insecticide-resistant species and the decline of pollinators and other beneficial insects due to overuse of potent chemical insecticides, the herbal insectary may be one of the best investments you will ever make in the garden and, perhaps, the world.
Resource
Russ, Karen and Joey Williamson. “Less Toxic Insecticides.” Clemson University Cooperative Extension. Last modified September 2015. http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/pests/pesticide/hgic2770.html.
Jill Henderson is a self-taught herbalist and long-time contributor to Llewellyn’s Herbal Almanac and writes for Acres USA magazine. Jill has written three books: The Healing Power of Kitchen Herbs, A Journey of Seasons: A Year in the Ozarks High Country, and The Garden Seed Saving Guide: Seed Saving for Everyone. She also writes and edits Show Me Oz (ShowMeOz
.wordpress.com), a weekly blog filled with in-depth articles on gardening, seed saving, homesteading, wildcrafting, edible and medicinal plants, herbs, nature, and more. Jill and her husband, Dean, live in the Missouri Ozarks.
You may have heard of square-foot gardening. It was pioneered by Mel Bartholomew several years ago, and it is based on the idea that huge plots of gardens can overwhelm many would-be gardeners. Square-foot gardening incorporates gardening with the seasons, companion planting, using trellising, and more to make the most of every inch of space possible. Now, the square-foot gardening method can be found taught in some schools and communities and even in international outreach programs as a means of teaching people how to become more self-sufficient, eat more healthily, and make the most of whatever space is available. Gardening doesn’t have to be full of rows and weeds. Square-foot gardening teaches that gardening can be enjoyable and bountiful without requiring a lot of time or hard work.
This method of gardening is adaptable for those who may have physical limitations that keep them from traditional gardening. The square-foot method can be employed in raised beds so that those in wheelchairs or those who cannot stoop to garden might enjoy the simple beauty of fresh produce. Because the plots are so manageable, watering and pest control are easier than in large beds too.
Very little equipment is required for this type of gar-dening. Once your soil is prepared, you’ll need a spade, a trowel, and a watering can. That’s it! No heavy duty tools, no tillers or cultivators or sprinklers (though you may want a wheelbarrow from time to time). The only exception to this is if you’re breaking ground for a brand new plot; you’ll likely want someone to rototill it for you, just to save you the backache of digging. However, consider this carefully because tilling exposes dormant weed seeds to the elements so that they can germinate, and it can also dig the grass back into your planting area. My husband and I learned that the hard way and ended up combining the square-foot method with lasagna gardening, adding layers of organic material.
Row by Row—No!
The square-foot method of gardening allows you to grow for your family needs without the size of your property dictating how much you can grow. You just have to be a bit diligent, plan a little bit, and learn a bit about the process to make it work. Once you start getting the hang of this, you should find that it’s an easy method and that it can grow a lot of food in a little area. This method is called square-foot gardening because it’s based on segments that are a mere twelve square inches in size. In theory, every square holds a different plant, but obviously some plants require more room than others. The basic plot consists of sixteen of these squares in a four-by-four grid, making a forty-eight-inch square. For some people, one plot will be enough; others may want a series of plots. It may be best to start with one or two and plant more once you’ve decided that you like it.
If you already have a garden bed tilled and ready to plant, it is easy to map out the forty-eight-inch plots and then, using string, break them down into twelve-inch squares. Try not to walk on the soil that you’re going to plant. If you do, you’ll compact it and make it harder for the growing plants to get the water and the air that they need. We have overcome this in the past by putting paving stones around the perimeter of the forty-eight-inch plots to separate them. Not only were we able to walk through the beds, but it looked very appealing too.
Going Up?
Many vining crops such as melons, squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes can be grown using the square-foot method. Ob-viously these plants can take up a lot of room. Zucchini, for example, will take up one full plot, so careful planning is needed to ensure you have enough room for the plants you want to grow. The other plants that sprawl and climb, like green beans and peas, can be grown up trellises in order to save space. This also eliminates bending the plants and keeps the harvest off the ground nicely. We’ve actually put up trellises for tomatoes on the south side of some of our forty-eight-inch plots, and as the tomatoes grow, they shade the kale and the brussels sprouts, helping prevent them from wilting under the hot summer sun.
In one area of the garden, we experimented with digging a trench just for a trellis. We used a sixteen-foot cattle panel cut in half and tied it to two steel fence posts. We made the trench eight feet long and one foot wide and placed the trellis along the north side of it. Last year we planted tomatoes there, and this year the cucumbers did very well there. While this is not proper square-foot gardening, it did work, and you might want to consider making a backdrop with your climbing vines.
We’ve also grown muskmelons in this way. As the fruit hung and started to get heavy, I put each melon in a muslin cradle tied to the cattle panel. The fabric was lightweight enough to allow the sun and the rain to reach the fruit, stretchy enough to allow the fruit to grow and expand, and strong enough to hold the fruit until it was ready for picking. I don’t know that I’d want to try to grow a huge pumpkin or watermelon using this method, but the muskmelons did very well, and I would imagine small watermelons and pie pumpkins would do well also.
Companion Planting
Square-foot gardening lends itself to companion planting very easily. Companion planting is a way of combining and taking advantage of certain plants’ unique qualities to benefit the entire garden. For example, pest-deterrent marigolds can be added for color as well as to protect the vegetables growing near them. Garlic, chives, and other members of the onion family will help deter deer, and nasturtiums will deter aphids. Because the forty-eight-inch plots are usually placed fairly close to each other, strategically placed garden companions on one plot will actually help the surrounding ones—not all plots have to be planted identically. In fact, it’s probably best that they are not, for the sake of variety.
Rotation
Another reason to plant the plots differently is that it makes it easier to rotate the crops, which helps keep the soil healthy. When the same crops are planted in the same place, they deplete the soil of the same nutrients; rotating the crops helps give the soil a chance to reestablish itself and replaces other nutrients. Because different plants are often susceptible to different diseases, rotation decreases the disease-causing organisms’ chance to thrive.
Rotation is easy with the square-foot method. As soon as one crop is finished, another one can be planted. Spring spinach can be followed by autumn cabbage, and then perhaps peas can be planted the following spring. Because you’re only working with forty-eight inches at a time, you’re far less likely to get overwhelmed by what goes where. The most important thing is to look after the soil, which should come easily as long as repetitive planting is avoided and the plants are well mulched. This feeds the soil in addition to helping keep the weeds away.
It’s also possible to plant things at different times yet still keep the main crop in the twelve-inch square. For example, a flat Dutch cabbage will take up one square foot. However, the seedlings look very lost in there because they’re tiny and will stay quite small for a few weeks. This gives you time to plant some spinach, chives, or radishes, which can then be harvested before the cabbage crowds them out.
Positioning
My dad grew his vegetable garden at the back of our property, out of plain sight and hidden by my mum’s flower beds. I just assumed that was how it was done, but once I had a garden of my own, I did some rethinking. It never made sense to me to have the vegetable gardens away from the house, so I started companion planting things along the drive and just outside the door, where it was easier to keep control of them. The plants were in full view, and with them growing so close to the house, it seemed easier to keep them looking nice or to nip out of the kitchen door and grab a few leeks for supper. I still have my main garden right outside my kitchen door so that I don’t have to go far to get the fresh produce when I’m preparing a meal. Both attractive and functional, the herbs are grown right in with the plots, tucked in where there is space.
We’re lucky that the bulk of our property is sunny and faces south, so positioning the beds wasn’t difficult. In order for your forty-eight-inch plots to be successful, you’ll want to take into consideration the amount of sunlight versus shade the plot receives. You don’t have to put your plots side by side, either. Some with plants that need heat to flourish, like tomatoes and cucumbers, could catch the warmth of the sun, while others, housing leafy greens like kale, could rest in more shaded areas. Remember, you have some control over the soil condition and the water, but you’ll have little control over the sunlight. The morning and afternoon sun are more intense than the late afternoon and evening sun, so plan accordingly.
If you have trees in your garden, remember that they grow! This may seem obvious, but what is a sunny position now may be a shady one in five years’ time. You can always have the trees trimmed, of course, but you may want to think about this when planning your plots, or consider eventually converting these plots for shade-loving plants in years to come.
What and Where Do I Plant?
The first answer to this is plant what you want to eat. There’s little point stocking up on home-grown tomatoes if you can’t stand them! Look for plants that are fairly easy to grow or that you like to eat or look at. Flowers are an agreeable addition to this method of gardening. A good start—particularly if you’re just going to try this method with one plot as an experiment—is to look at what you regularly buy from the supermarket, what you’ve successfully grown in the past (if indeed you have), and what is local. For example, everyone around here seems to grow sweet corn. We’re not particularly keen on it, so there’s no point in growing it; we can barter with friends for it if we feel we want some.
You’re also going to have to decide how much time you want to invest in your garden. This is a simple and low-maintenance method, sure, but it’s not maintenance free. It is logical that the more plots you have, the more time you’re going to spend in your garden. If you’re fairly new to gardening, it makes sense to try things that are easy and in season. Those who are more experienced may want to rise to the challenge of growing things a bit more atypical.
Now it’s time to consider just how much room each plant is going to take. Remember, you’re not planting in rows: if you’ve been used to sprinkling the seeds in rows, leaving a gap between the rows, and then thinning out the seedlings as they become established, you’re going to have to alter your thinking. Contemplate the space-to-plant ratio carefully. Earlier I touched on putting smaller plants around the larger plants when they’re young, but there are other ways of utilizing space. For example,onions can be planted with only three inches between each plant, so you can get sixteen onions in one twelve-inch square. Cabbage, on the other hand, will take up that whole area, so you will only have room for one mature cabbage per each foot. Is it starting make sense, yet?
Some plants are going to need more than a square foot in which to grow. Particular varieties of cabbage, bush beans, or aubergines might need extra space, so you’d measure out an eighteen-inch square for them. This means you could get four of them in your forty-eight-inch plot and have room along two sides for some smaller companions. One zucchini, with its huge leaves, needs a plot all to itself! While it’s absolutely fine to grow these plants in the square-foot garden, keep in mind that bigger doesn’t always mean better. There are other varieties of summer squash that vine and can be trained up a trellis so that you’ve got the best of both worlds: compact space and fresh produce. If the sunlight doesn’t reach the soil, the undesirable plants are less likely to germinate and grow underneath the canopy of leaves. You may find (as we did) that the smaller plants, placed closer together, not only yield well but also help to keep down the weeds.
Ready, Set, Grow!
Of course, what you grow is entirely up to you, and everyone’s going to have their favorites. I’ve listed some of my easy success stories below, along with their basic requirements for space and planting season. While these provide a general rule of thumb, read the seed packets and plant according to your own climate zone.
Aubergine: (Eggplant—we planted ‘Rosa Bianca’.) 1 plant per 12-inch square. Plant in spring.
Beets: (We planted ‘Bull’s Blood’.) 16 beets per 12-inch square. Plant in spring, summer or fall.
Broccoli: (We planted purple sprouting broccoli.) 1 plant per 12-inch square. Plant in spring or fall.
Brussels Sprouts: (We planted ‘Nautic’.) Allow 18 inches per plant.
Cabbage: (We planted ‘Early Flat Dutch’.) 1 plant per 12-inch square. Plant in spring or the fall.
Cauliflower: (We planted ‘Veronica’.) 1 plant per 12-inch square. Plant in spring or fall.
Kohlrabi: (We planted ‘Delicacy White’ and ‘Delicacy Purple’.) 4 plants per 12-inch square. Plant in spring or fall.
Peppers: (We’ve planted all colors with success all around, from the ‘California Wonder’ green pepper to the highly amusing red Peter pepper—Capsicum annuum var. annuum.) 1 plant per 12-inch square. Plant in spring.
Tomatoes, cucumber, squash, and melons are best grown up trellises, as mentioned above. If you would rather cage your tomatoes, allow 4 cages per 48-inch square. Growing basil near the tomatoes will help to bring out the flavor.
I’m sure I haven’t yet touched on your favorite veggies, so now it’s time for you to experiment! It’s only soil, so don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. If you’re uncertain how to start, then prepare your beds and buy seedlings from garden centers. You’ve got little to lose—but if you find that you enjoy this low-cost, low-care gardening method, then you’ve got a bountiful harvest to gain!
Suggested Reading
Bartholomew, Mel. Square Foot Gardening: A New Way to Garden in Less Space with Less Work. Emmaus, PA: Rodale, 1981.
Jabbour, Niki. The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener: How to Grow Your Own Food 365 Days a Year No Matter Where You Live. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing, 2011.
Madigan, Carleen, ed. The Backyard Homestead. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing, 2009.
Lanza, Patricia. Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding! Emmaus, PA: Rodale, 1998.
Louis, Joy. Ultimate Gardening Book: 5 Gardening Books in 1; Square Foot Gardening, Container Gardening, Urban Homesteading, Straw Bale Gardening, Vertical Gardening. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011.
Riotte, Louise. Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. Rev. ed. Pownal, VT: Storey Publishing, 1998.
Warren, Spring. Quarteracre Farm: How I Kept the Patio, Lost the Lawn, and Fed My Family for a Year. Berkeley: Seal Press, 2011.
Charlie Rainbow Wolf is happiest when she is creating something, especially if it can be made from items that others have cast aside. Pot-tery, writing, knitting, astrology, and tarot are her deepest interests, but she happily confesses that she’s easily distracted because life offers so many wonderful things to explore. She is an advocate of organic gardening and cooking and lives in the Midwest with her husband and special-needs Great Danes. Visit www.charlierainbow.com.
The splash of perennial color that poppy flowers can bring to any garden is transformative, especially when placed in those pesky barren spots that we keep meaning to do something about. Horticulturalists have sculpted some of the great scenes of rural cottage romance with the dreamy splendor and regal petal scale of the Oriental poppy, Papaver orientale, of the crepe-paper flower family (Papaveraceae). So beloved is the poppy throughout history that we find well-documented cultivation records and early evidence of selective seed preservation that dates back to Persian antiquity.
Nowadays, we celebrate a medley of poppies featuring remarkable double rosettes and stunning colors ranging from ‘Bonfire’ red and the yellow of the California poppy, to a Basque salmon pink color and the Iceland poppy’s snow-queen white. Yet, this elegant ballerina of the rural oasis is often linked to a darker cousin, Papaver somniferum, the great scarlet poppy. Known more for its use in highly regulated pharmaceutical cultivation, the wild child of the Papaveraceae family is the original poppy from which the culinary seeds and all other poppy strains have been derived for domestic use.
Origins
First cultivated in Asia Minor by the Sumerians sometime around 4000 BCE, poppy was prized as a nutty spice. The seeds are still cherished for their refined alkaline flavor that enhances and tenderizes fish, poultry, and other meats. Poppy also adds a satisfying crunchy texture to dishes and has a calming effect following the meal. Used in baked goods to enliven sandwich breads, poppy seeds provide an excellent source of fiber. They release linoleic acid as they are digested, soothing intestinal discomfort and cramps associated with both malnourishment and constipation.
The fragile poppy flower gives way to a large blue or green stock topped with a seedpod. Its contents offer a host of antioxidant benefits as a source of flora latex, and the seeds are rich in iron, copper, calcium, potassium, magnesium and zinc. Poppy seeds are also an excellent source of B-complex vitamins and oleic acid. Still widely used in Eurasian pastries and Central Asian roasted dishes, poppy seeds are a Caspian mountain specialty that have become beloved the world over.
Poppy tea was a traditional herbal pain reliever in historical Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and China, but the pods utilized in the brew were not cultivated for trade in the West until around 300 BCE, when they were brought to Egypt from Anatolia. The poppy is frequently depicted in the art, literature, and textile motifs of the classical world. The bright flowers are pared in myth and legend with other symbols of allegory and fantasy, frequently relating to dreamland adventures and visionary out-of-body worlds. Poppy is an essential flower in the gardenscape of every verdant “fairy world” allotment, often brimming along orchard walls beside Siberian iris or skirting a nicotina border with baby’s breath in a kaleidoscope of otherworldly fragrance and color.
Indeed, the scent and toxicology of the poppy is steeped in our somewhat obscure allegories of recreational hallucination. This was masterfully evidenced by L. Frank Baum, who employed the poppy to pop-cult acclaim in his 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, when he wrote that the traveling group finds a “great meadow of poppies. . . . Their odor is so powerful that anyone who breathes it falls asleep. . . . So presently [Dorothy’s] eyes grew heavy and she felt she must sit down to rest and to sleep.” Sieving the myth from the reality takes little more than a trip to a local seed store, where domesticated varieties are clearly labeled to differentiate Papaver orientale from urban legend.
Numerous law enforcement agencies, including the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (USDEA) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, list two varieties of poppy as Class A Schedule I and II drugs. Storing the seeds of Papaver bracteatum or Papaver somniferum as well as growing the plants is illegal in the United States and many other countries. Currently, only large-scale pharmaceutical corporations are licensed, exclusively by governmental contract, to legally grow the plant, produce stocks and pods, and extract thebaine from poppies for use in medical-grade narcotic opiates including morphine, methadone, heroin, oxycodone, and codeine. International medical-grade trade of thebaine is restricted to a handful of approved and stringently regulated countries: Turkey, India, Spain, France, Poland, Hungary, and Austria. Afghanistan and Pakistan are not approved legal suppliers of thebaine or its derivative opiates, nor are they reliable countries of origin from which to purchase the innocuous Papaver orientale.
Poppy Propagation
Poppies must be planted in wide, well-spaced rows, and should be thinned on a weekly basis throughout the growing season. Plants should not be allowed to ground-sprawl at leisure or they will take over quickly. Disperse poppies carefully in garden beds and rows by variety, preventing cross-pollination. Take precaution when selecting flowers to cut for arrangements or display: select only the most verdant blooms so that cutting back the heads will result in a second flowering. More fragile varieties will either die back or go dormant for the rest of the season if they are pruned early, neglectfully starved of nutrients, or overwatered.
The flowers and bulbs will suffer if there is less than two feet of soil between each plant. This fussy need for nutrients is due in part to this flower’s reliance on humus-rich soil and calcium to produce its large seed pods. Poppies planted closer together than two feet will compete for nutrients, often choking each other to death. As a result, plants will produce much smaller flowers and dwarfed seed bulbs, yielding considerably less-reliable seeds. Attentive pruning, however, will prevent this.
The stocks of the poppy grow between two and three feet in height, and a single plant will easily spread between two and four feet in a loose, light loam bed of finely sifted soil. Cuttings last longer when taken on their very first day of flowering, between four and six in the morning, which is when the buds teasingly reveal the shade of the poppy yet to unfold in the morning light. These can be refrigerated at 58 degrees Fahrenheit for up to three days to delay blooming or placed in warm water for a dramatic unfolding display at the luncheon, dinner, or dessert table.
Full sun–loving perennials, poppy flowers begin to open in early summer and will bloom until late autumn if carefully sown in two-week increments throughout the first season. This will create a wave of blooms that travel throughout the garden as each grouped set begins to mature. Flowers vary in size from a modest three or four inches, as in North American dwarf varieties like California’s Stylomecon heterophylla, to the eight-inch varieties like the Persian Papaver bracteatum. The latter is selected for size and narcotic potency, being highly regulated and exclusively grown for the production of controlled opiates.
Papaver orientale will tolerate light shade but really loves the warm sunshine. It is often paired with textured, light-loving shrubs like gardenia and witch hazel, whimsical border choices cherished in cottage gardens. For a bushy ground cover, Oriental poppies can be tucked with nearby neighbors such as catmint, hosta, Siberian iris, or cottage pinks, all of which help to set a lavishly perfumed scene into which the poppies can boldly flower.
To train them along a bed, plant complementary ornamental grasses like blue fescue, quaking grass, pampas grass, or feather reed grass. These will help new shoots refrain from spreading. Nearby roughage will also encourage self-sowing, helping a controlled patch of Papaver orientale to become profoundly lusher, effortlessly presenting large vivid flowers each year. Fillers also serve to improve water drainage by thriving in the gaps of more dramatic bloomers. This keeps a garden bed looking full and tidy even as foliage blooms and wilts.
Unless you resow in rounds, poppies will burst into color, flourish, and die back within a matter of days. Timing a bed for this explosion of color is what some gardeners live for, and Papaver orientale very rarely disappoints because the seeds germinate easily. Once established, perennial poppies are quite hardy and have reliably long lives.
Transplanting
Maintaining a patch of poppies can supply a gardener with all-natural gifts for friends and family. Dividing any overgrown patches is a must at the end of each season. This is easily done by digging up root clusters and separating them into eight-inch clumps with garden sheers or a sharp spade.
Repot or reposition the transplants in well-drained and sunny areas of the garden for the best results. Always give transplants plenty of room to expand. Be sure to water them generously every other day to help the poppies settle. Give the plants extra nutrients every five weeks by adding a bit of liquid tomato feed and one tablespoon of molasses to a gallon of water. If you apply this mixture throughout the small bed religiously, it will improve the health, scent, and size of the blossoms.
Prevent shock in lower autumn temperatures by mulching or otherwise nestling all perennials and any transplants so they are comfortably insulated for the winter season. Poppies will not survive being transplanted into differing soil or temperature conditions, so it’s best to pick new locations with great care: dig them out with a wider girth of soil, providing some of the old soil along with newly sifted, soft loam to safeguard success.
Cultivation
Prepare a well-drained bed with eight inches of hand-sifted loose loam soil. This should consist of one part old soil, two parts humus-rich compost, and one part composted raw pine sawdust. Using your finger, trace a seeding line in the areas of the bed designated for Papaver orientale. Carefully pour the seeds into a seed injector and place one seed every two feet along the row. Gently mist twice a day until germinated seeds sprout and produce folded or twisted leaves.
The variegated leaves of many strains of poppy will produce fine hairs that are exceedingly fragile. Body heat and the oils transferred from our touch will inhibit leaf, stem, and bud growth. Overfondling or excessive pruning will introduce disease and blight. As the foliage spreads and budding shoots are sent up, delicately trimming back molting leaves becomes essential for full flower growth. Once bulbs flower, the stalks can be removed to encourage a second round of flowering. Otherwise, the seed bulb will begin to mature, exhausting the plant of nutrients in an effort to produce millions of seeds. After the stalks are cut in late summer and autumn, the foliage will die back as the plant begins its dormancy for winter.
Harvest
The seed bulbs, stalks, and seeds are harvested when a series of small apertures appear just below the sepal star on the stigmal tip of the seed bulb. The pips (another name for the poppy’s seeds) will rattle inside the pod when they are ready to be harvested. If left to dehydrate inside of the pods, the seeds will yield a better flavor for culinary use and be more viable in the garden when resown. If letting the seeds wander, be warned that they will easily scatter on the wind.
Large varieties like Papaver rhoeas, the field poppy, reseed themselves effortlessly and will create their own wild poppy oasis if not thinned back and weeded away from other beds and the garden pathway. Thebaine, codeine, and papaverine are found in trace amounts in all poppy seeds. These are essential alkaloid compounds found concentrated in opium. When refined pharmacologically, they are the compounds used to create our many medicinal opiate derivatives. The seeds are very micronutrient-rich and beneficial to the body. Used to calm nerves, treat intestinal disorders, and relieve pain, poppy seeds are a favored ingredient in curative oils and holistic teas.
To harvest, diligently collect the seed bulbs when they begin to dry; the bulbs should rattle when shaken. Seeds can be scattered in a bed and tucked in for winter, or they may be resown in the spring. To preserve poppy seeds for long-term storage, open the brittle pods and scatter the kernels onto a small, flat piece of cardboard. Allow them to fully dehydrate for seventy-two hours in a cool, dark, dry place; afterward bag and freeze the seeds for ideal germination results.
Like many other foothills perennials, poppy does best in areas that experience a hard winter frost (but there are also a few annual varieties to choose from). They prefer oak and pine mulch for insulation and in some areas will begin to produce spring shoots as early as February if covered nightly from frost. Poppies are not only hardy perennials, but they also add a touch of whimsy to the garden. They are heavy producers of pollen, making them a real hotspot for bumblebees and butterflies. The vivid colors and fragile crinkled petals capture the imagination and help to round out the rising architectural features of a traditional cottage garden, making growing them a horticultural habit that is very difficult to break.
A hardy and brimming bed of poppies will take time to develop, and we all meet with some measure of reform when learning Mother Nature’s rules of thumb. I watered my first poppies to death, in a manic fear that record-high temperatures one summer would suffocate them. I harvested my second attempt too soon, putting the plants into a drooping shock and producing utterly unreliable, immature seeds. My third and final attempt was a success, and I call her Goldilocks: she’s decided to reseed every bed in my garden now that she’s found just the right spot.
Selected Resources
Baum, L. Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Chicago: George M. Hill Company, 1900.
Burnie, Geoffrey. The Practical Gardener’s Encyclopedia. San Francisco: Fog City Press, 2000.
Griffin, Judith. Mother Nature’s Herbal: A Complete Guide for Experiencing the Beauty, Knowledge & Synergy of Everything That Grows. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn, 2008.
Kowalchik, Claire, William H. Hylton, and Anna Carr. Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs. Emmaus, PA: Rodale, 1987.
McDonough, Kate. “Clay Pot Cooking, an Ancient Cooking Method with Modern Results.” The City Cook. Accessed August 15, 2016. http://www.thecitycook.com/articles/2012-10-03-the-essential-kitchen-clay-pot-cooking.
McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. New York: Scribner, 2004.
“Opium Poppy: Legal Status.” Erowid. Accessed August 15, 2016. https://www.erowid.org/plants/poppy/poppy_law.shtml.
Robuchon, Joël, and Prosper Montagné. Larousse Gastronomique. New York: Clarkson Potter, 2001.
Rudrappa, Umesh. “Poppy.” Nutrition-and-you.com. Last modified August 15, 2009. www.nutrition-and-you.com/poppy-seeds.html.
Estha K. V. McNevin (Missoula, Montana) is a priestess and ceremonial oracle of Opus Aima Obscuræ, a nonprofit Pagan Temple Haus. She has served the Pagan community since 2003 as an Eastern Hellenistic officiate, lecturer, freelance author, artist, and poet. Estha studies and teaches courses on ancient and modern Pagan history, multicultural metaphysical theory, ritual technique, international cuisine, organic gardening, herbal craft, alchemy, and occult symbolism. In addition to hosting public rituals for the sabbats, Estha organizes annual philanthropic fund-raisers, full moon spell-crafting ceremonies, and women’s divination rituals for each dark moon. To learn more, please explore www.facebook.com/opusaimaobscurae.
When insects and other pests are eating up your garden’s bounty by the bushel, what’s an earth-loving gardener to do? Chem-ical pesticides are harmful to soil, plants, animals, and humans alike. These toxic formulations can seep deep down into the earth or wash away in the rain, poisoning both land and water. Fortunately, there are many ways to get rid of garden pests naturally, using nothing more than common sense and a few common ingredients.
Keep It Clean
The most essential key to natural pest control is to maintain a clean and healthy garden. Diseased, damaged, or otherwise weak plants make easy prey for garden pests, attracting undesirables by the droves and rendering healthy plants vulnerable to attack. Check regularly for weak links and rid your garden of all but the healthiest specimens. If you’ve been working with diseased or insect-ridden plants, clean your gardening tools and gloves before moving on to healthy areas of the garden. You’ll also want to clean out any weeds, fallen dried plant matter, sticks, or other debris that would otherwise provide prime habitat for unwanted insects and other critters. The neater your garden, the less appealing it will be to plant-eating insects who prefer a dwelling place with plenty of nooks and crannies in which to hide. Keep your plants well spaced and be sure to minimize any standing water. By watering early in the day rather than at evening or night, you’ll give the foliage and soil a chance to dry in the sunlight, thereby deterring slugs and bugs who prefer damp conditions.
Mix It Up
Mixed plantings are another effective way to minimize insect damage to your garden. Like humans, many insects have favorite foods they crave. When you happen to have a large swath of this favorite food in your garden, the bugs just can’t resist and will quickly establish themselves in large numbers. By mixing your plants—some spinach here, some squash there rather than consecutive rows of single varieties—you make your garden less attractive to insects searching for the ideal place to set up shop. Rotating crops from season to season is also helpful. Many insects spend the winter snuggled deep within the garden soil, ready to reemerge alongside their favorite food source come spring. If they find a completely different crop than what they’re used to feasting on, they’re more likely to relocate.
Take the Team Approach
Getting rid of harmful insects in your garden can be quite a challenge, but you don’t have to fight the battle alone. Attract beneficial insects that will eat the unwanted insects, and all you have to do is sit back and let nature take its course. To combat a caterpillar problem, try enlisting the help of ichneumon wasps, chalcids, or brachonids. Attract them with the flowers of Queen Anne’s lace, carrots, or parsley. Hoverflies and lacewings are very effective against aphids. They can be lured to the garden with asters or goldenrod. Ladybugs will eat a variety of plant-destroying insects including aphids, whiteflies, and mites. Try planting daisies or yarrow to attract them, or simply order a batch from a gardening shop.
If you have an infestation of beetles, cutworms, or root weevils, try populating your garden with nematodes. You can purchase their eggs, which come on small pieces of a spongy material that is moistened with water and mixed into the soil. If you really want to pull out the big guns, try a praying mantis. Those big fellows will eat nearly any insect, making them an ideal choice when you’re not really sure what sort of bugs you’re dealing with, or when you’re having issues with multiple insects. Obtain praying mantis eggs through your gardening supplier, then place them in your garden to hatch and grow into hungry adults.
In addition to beneficial insects, you might also employ a small squad of ducks, chickens, or other birds to help weed out unwanted pests. Ducks love to feast on slugs and bugs alike, while chickens will make short work of grasshoppers. Even wild birds like sparrows and robins will gobble up large quantities of garden intruders. Place feeders and nesting materials near the garden to attract them.
Hand-to-Hand Combat
Though a bit tedious and potentially time consuming, hand-picking and physically removing harmful pests from your garden is a viable and effective option. Wear some gloves and go out in the early morning armed with a flat piece of cardboard. Place the cardboard under each plant and give the plant a gentle shake. Any insects clinging on to the foliage will lose their grip and plummet onto the cardboard below. You can then relocate the bugs, or dump them into a bucket of soapy water. To reduce a slug population, go out in the evening or nighttime armed with a flashlight. When you find a slug, pick it off and toss it into a pail. You can relocate the slugs or destroy them in seconds with a hefty sprinkling of salt—not a very nice action, decidedly, but they are eating up the fruits of your labors, after all.
Solid Barriers for a Solid Defense
One of the most effective means of garden pest control is also one of the most straightforward. Physical barriers keep bugs at bay by literally sealing them out, leaving them with no chance to sink their mandibles into your precious plants. One such barrier that many gardeners find highly useful is the floating row cover. Made of a porous, lightweight fabric that’s sold in wide strips by the foot, floating row covers lie over your plants like a blanket, expanding outward as your plants grow larger. Sunlight and water can penetrate the floating row cover just fine, but bugs stay out. There are other barrier-type deterrents you might try, as well. To protect single plant sprouts from insect damage, try slitting an empty toilet paper tube vertically down the middle and cutting off a small piece that you can fit around the young plant like a protective collar. Just be sure it’s low enough that it doesn’t limit the plant’s access to sunlight. As a slug deterrent, wrap a couple inches of copper wire around your plants about two inches above the base. They won’t be able to crawl over it and will be forced to turn around.
Sticky Traps
Covered with a tar-like substance and painted in various bug-specific colors, sticky traps lure insects, which then become immobilized on the sticky surface. You can simply hang up strips of flypaper, or if you’re more ambitious, you might make your own custom or super-sized versions. You can prop a large, rectangular piece of wood against a garden fence to create a very large sticky trap, or you could go for quantity and create several smaller rectangles out of wood or heavy cardboard that can then be spaced around the area. Paint the wood or cardboard yellow to attract whiteflies, aphids, fruit flies, or midges. If flea beetles or cucumber beetles are your targets, paint the boards white. For flower thrips, use light blue. When apple maggots are a problem, red is the color of choice, only you’ll want to use a spherical shape rather than a rectangle. An apple-sized ball will do fine. Cover the traps with clear plastic wrap, then coat the plastic wrap with Tree Tanglefoot paste or any other sticky substance that’s moisture-resistant. You may have to recoat the traps after heavy rains. Once the trap catches its victims, you can peel away the plastic wrap, dispose of it, and replace it to catch the next intruders.
All-Natural Bug Sprays
Though insecticidal sprays (even all-natural, nontoxic ones) can be harmful to your garden if used in large doses, they do work, and quickly. The trouble is they harm the good insects as well as the bad ones, and some formulas can wilt plants if left on too long in the sun or if used in too-high concentrations. Use sprays in moderation, and only as a last resort when other methods fail. You’ll want to spray the insects directly, as these sprays do not work through residual contact.
To get rid of soft-bodied insects like aphids, mites, and mealy bugs, mix one tablespoon of vegetable oil and one tablespoon of dishwashing liquid into a quart of water. Shake well, then spray the plant from the bottom up and from the top down wherever you see the insects. For heartier insects, try adding a couple tablespoons of hot pepper sauce or cayenne pepper to the mix. Let the concoction rest overnight, then shake vigorously before spraying onto bugs. After applying the spray, rinse your plants with a good watering. Since these recipes only work through direct contact, there is no reason to leave that icky stuff sitting on your plants all day.
Taking On the Four-Legged and the Furry
Not all garden pests are creepy-crawlies. Depending on where you live, you may get a variety of rodents, gophers, and even deer in your garden, all trying to gobble up your beautiful crops. Fortunately, there are plenty of effective and cruelty-free ways to repel these creatures. For starters, be sure to secure all open food sources, such as the compost bin. Your garden delights are temptation enough as it is without you leaving other tasty snacks lying around. Then you’ll want to install in the garden some offensive aromas that will send the beasts packing. For mice or rats, soak rags or cotton balls in peppermint oil and tuck under eaves and in rock borders near the garden space. To repel gophers or deer, human hair is the thing. Save some clippings from your next haircut or obtain some from a barbershop, then place large handfuls into nylon, mesh, or cheesecloth bags. For deer, hang the hair from trees and bushes. For gophers, tuck the sacks down into their holes. You might also try hanging a bar of heavily scented soap near your garden, as the strong odor will repel a variety of sensitive-nosed creatures.
Learning to Live with Nature’s Balance
As every experienced gardener knows, you will have to put up with a few unwanted critters here and there. We share the earth with so many creatures great and small, and it’s unrealistic to expect these instinct-driven organisms to respect our notions of personal ownership when it comes to the tasty treats springing up in our backyard gardens.
Despite your best efforts, some of your plants are likely to be nibbled. Instead of getting irritated, expect it and plan for it by planting extra—more than you will need so that there will be plenty to share. Insects and other garden pests need to eat too, after all! By practicing natural pest control and respecting nature’s balance, you’ll be able to keep your garden healthy and thriving with minimal headache and minimal harm to the earth.
Melanie Marquis is a lifelong practitioner of magick, the founder of United Witches global coven, and a local coordinator for the Pagan Pride Project in Denver, Colorado, where she currently resides. The author of numerous articles and several books (including The Witch’s Bag of Tricks, A Witch’s World of Magick, Beltane, and Lughnasadh), she’s written for many national and international Pagan publications. She is the coauthor of Witchy Mama and the cocreator of the Modern Spellcaster’s Tarot. An avid crafter, cook, folk artist, and tarot reader, she offers a line of customized magickal housewares as well as private tarot consultations by appointment. Connect with her online at www.melaniemarquis.com or at www.facebook.com/melaniemarquisauthor.
As I write this article, I’m in my herb garden and it’s June. Or, as writer James Whitcomb Riley put it, we’re “knee-deep in June.” I know what he means. The garden is brimming with early summer lushness as summer settles over the Appalachian hills I call home. The lemon thyme is cascading over rocks, a hummingbird flashes like a jewel with wings among the monarda, and the basil is doing nicely. And on this warm, sunny June afternoon I also see one of the world’s most beneficial insects, the honeybee, quietly going about its business. This frequently under-appreciated insect is the world’s most important pollinator, helping sustain life as we know it.
As I watch these industrious insects buzz from my coneflowers to the slender spikes of my blue speedwell, I’m reminded of a disturbing news report I heard recently. It seems that once again over the past year, the honeybee population has taken a sharp decline. Bees are responsible for pollinating about 80 percent of the food crops we eat. The bee is also the only insect in the world that produces a food that humans eat, which is, of course, honey. Other bee products we use are bee pollen and wax. As you can see, any drop in the honeybee population should be taken seriously.
Some food crops depend on animals or wind for successful pollination. But the majority of food crops such as apples, cherries, cucumbers, melons, peaches, and pumpkins depend heavily on honeybees for pollination. I don’t know about you, but I’m not willing to give up peach cobbler or pumpkin pie!
As herbalists and herb gardeners we can help create a safe haven for honeybees and other types of bees, such as bumblebees. By planting nectar-rich producing herbs and other methods, your herb garden can become a bee sanctuary. To begin, let’s take a look at the history of the honeybee and why its population has declined.
Bee History
There are about 20,000 known species of bees. For the purposes of this article, we’ll be concentrating on the honeybee, Apis mellifera. Within this species there are different nationalities of Apis mellifera depending on their place of origin. To keep things simple I’ll just refer to them as honeybees.
The honeybee we know today originated in Eastern Asia at least 125 million years ago. It began as a wasp-like insect that ate smaller insects and was a cavity-nesting bee. It’s unclear exactly when these early bees switched to a diet of nectar and pollen.
Eventually, honeybees spread to Africa and the Near East. Humans learned early how important bees were. Honey was collected by our early ancestors, and ancient Egyptians used honey in their embalming process. The ancient Minoan civilization on the Greek island of Crete associated the bee with the Goddess and created the feminine name Melissa, meaning “bee,” as well as gold jewelry in the shape of bees.
Bees were introduced to North America in the 1600s. Commercial beekeepers today breed bees for honey production and to pollinate crops.
Threats to the Honeybee Population
In recent years the honeybee population has declined at an alarming rate, and in some instances the causes remain a mystery. Here are some known, possible causes:
Colony collapse disorder (CCD): This happens when worker bees in a colony leave behind the queen, honey, and immature bees. The reason for their disappearance is still unknown. The hive can’t survive without them; as a result, it dies.
Varroa mites: These are an external parasite that sucks blood from honeybees. Unchecked they can wipe out a colony.
Pesticides and herbicides: Many of these are toxic to bees, birds, and other beneficial insects and plants. In some instances these products may not kill the bees directly, but instead they may kill plants that honeybees feed on.
Loss of habitat: As cities, highways, and suburbs grow, the honeybees’ natural habitat and food sources shrink. This is one area in which the home herb gardener can help our honeybee population.
The Herbs and the Bees
Bees need three things to survive: pollen, nectar, and water. Pollen, produced on the anthers of flowers, provides protein. Nectar, the sugary solution, serves as a carbohydrate and provides energy. Many herbs are an excellent source of pollen and nectar, and we can provide water in a bird bath, fountain, or pond.
When selecting herbs for bees, remember to let them flower. As herbalists, we frequently cut back herbs to use the foliage, but to help feed the bees, let some of your herbs flower. Also keep color in mind. Bees see colors in the blue color spectrum and seem to be most attracted to blue, blue-violet, white, and yellow. Although the experts say honeybees avoid red, I’ve observed them on my red monarda and pink coneflowers.
What follows is a selection of some herbs that are known to attract honeybees to the garden and have been, in my experience, dependable performers. By spreading your flower-blooming period over the growing season, you’ll encourage the bees to keep visiting your garden. The blooming seasons for some of these herbs may overlap.
Spring/Early Summer
Allium: These tall flowers grow from bulbs planted in the fall and bloom in late spring. The flower heads, usually blue-violet or white, are round and stand on sturdy stems 2–3 feet tall. Rabbits and deer don’t like them, but honeybees do.
Betony: Sometimes called “woolly” betony, this old medicinal herb is now grown as an ornamental and bee plant. It stands about 18 inches tall. The leaves are deeply crinkled, and the pink flowers bloom in May/early June.
Catmint: The blue, small, tubular-shaped flowers bloom in May/June along stems about 18 inches tall. The bees find them irresistible.
Chive: The fluffy, pink-purple flowers bloom in early spring and may be one of the first flowers available to bees.
Crocus: Blooming in very early spring, this bulb is a bee magnet. Plant large amounts of blue and white crocus in the fall. Since they only reach about 3 inches tall, I plant them in the front of the border of my garden.
Dandelion: Many people think of dandelions as weeds and are determined to kill them. Don’t. Dandelions are a valuable bee herb. I’d rather help the bees than have a perfect lawn.
Summer
Borage: This is an annual herb with fuzzy foliage. Stems are 18 inches tall and are topped with vivid blue, star-shaped flowers. Bees are crazy for them, and they bloom in June.
Coneflower: Also known as echinacea, both the pink and white varieties are popular with honeybees. Usually reaching 2–3 feet high, they bloom in June and July.
Daisy: Not only are bees drawn to all varieties of daisies, the flat shape of the flower makes it a convenient landing pad for honeybees. I have daisies that bloom in June to late summer.
Lavender: I know it’s hard to keep from cutting lavender flower stems for drying, but the blue-violet flowers are a bee favorite. My lavender reaches its peak in June.
Monarda: Also known as bee balm, monarda is a mint, and like all mints it draws honeybees. The shaggy flower heads can be white, violet, or red. Standing 3–4 feet tall, it’s a show-stopper in any bee garden. Bloom time is June–July.
Sage: All sages, including Russian sage, attract honeybees. Most sages bloom in June to late summer and range in height from 18 inches to 4 feet.
Thyme: This culinary herb and ground cover is a treat for bees. I’ve found English and lemon thyme to be the best.
Veronica: This bee herb is also known as speedwell. Its slender 2–3 foot spikes are topped with small blue, white, or pink flowers. I have several clumps of blue veronica in my herb border. They’re usually covered with honeybees in June to July.
Late Summer/Fall
Aster: Blue, purple, and white asters will carry your bee garden almost up to the first frost. Easy to grow, they range from 18 inches to 4 feet tall.
Goldenrod: This herb can become weedy, but if any grows in a wild area of your property, leave it alone. Blooming in August through September, goldenrod serves as a late-season feast that ensures enough honey for the bees to survive the winter.
Some Final Thoughts
As you plan your honeybee herb garden here are some things to remember: Plant herbs of the same variety in groups of three if possible, in a sunny area. If your herb garden is only a terrace, then plant containers of small growing herbs such as chives or thyme. Remember to provide a water source. Please don’t use toxic weed and pest controls—let the birds help control destructive insects. In lawns, allow honeybee favorites like dandelion and white clover to grow.
Let your herb garden go a little wild, and the honeybees will reward you with their presence.
James Kambos has raised herbs for many years, and his garden has been included on local garden tours. He’s a writer and an artist from Ohio.
Just because winter is knocking on your door doesn’t mean gardening season has to be over. In fact, while you’re out readying the herb garden for the big chill, why not take a few minutes to pack up a bit of that summer sunshine for the dreary days ahead? And with just a little planning, many of the herbs in your outdoor garden can easily be brought indoors for a flavorful harvest all winter long!
All you will need in order to bring your outside herbs inside is a few pots, a little potting soil, and one or two relatively warm and sunny windowsills on which to perch them. And while an indoor herb garden will likely produce less than those from the garden in the summer, winter-grown herbs are ever-useful, flavorful, and oh so beautiful.
Dig It
Whether you start a few annuals from seed or take cuttings from some of your perennial herbs from the garden, growing herbs indoors couldn’t be easier or more rewarding. Simply pick several of your favorite herbs from the garden, and using a sharp spade, dig up a small clump and repot it. If the plant is woody, like rosemary or tarragon, you can take one or more stem cuttings and root them in a pot. I do this every year with rosemary, since it regularly dies during the cold, wet winters of the Ozarks. By spring, I have a nice large plant to put back in the herb garden.
Perennials such as bay, lemon verbena, rosemary, tarragon, winter savory, thyme, salad burnet, chervil, oregano, garlic, onion chives, marjoram, sage, and mint all thrive indoors when given the right conditions. Keep in mind that compact varieties tend to grow better in pots than standard varieties, so use those if you have them.
If your herbal wish list is like mine, you might want to go ahead and add English mint (Mentha spicata), Greek oregano (Origanum vulgare ssp. hirtum), Cuban oregano (Plectranthus amboinicus), ‘Grolau’ chives (Allium schoenoprasum ‘Grolau’), and creeping savory (Satureja repandra) to next year’s roster. Or better yet, get them started indoors this winter and transplant them to the garden come spring. That way you’ll have the crucial “pot” varieties ready to go when fall rolls around again.
Also, don’t overlook some of the more decorative edible herb varieties as possible candidates for indoor growing. Golden and ‘Berggarten’ sage, trailing rosemary, and variegated thyme are not just beautiful, they are deliciously edible, too. And while the leaves of ginger and turmeric are truly inedible, all make very pretty houseplants that are easy to care for. As a bonus, you can harvest a few baby rhizomes from your pots and, come spring, return them to the garden for fall harvest.
Sow Some Seed, Too
Although this article is about bringing outside herbs inside, that doesn’t mean annuals should be left out. Some annuals can be potted up and brought indoors without so much as a hiccup. Basil, for example, is amazingly resilient. But in general, if you want annuals as a part of your indoor winter landscape you should go ahead and start them fresh from seed in late fall. By the time winter rolls around, they will be ready and waiting for that sunny windowsill.
True cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) makes a very pretty and flavorful indoor herb. As you probably already know, a pinch goes a long way in salads, on sandwiches, and as a flavorful garnish for Mexican dishes and salsa. And while it’s pretty easy to grow cilantro indoors, there are a few things to consider. First of all, cilantro is day-length sensitive and tries to bolt as days shorten. It has long taproots and will need a deeper pot than most other herbs, and it is incredibly slow to rebound after being cut. To get around these problems, you’ll need a pot twelve inches deep to accommodate the roots, and you’ll need to reseed a fresh pot every couple of weeks for a continuous harvest. I strongly suggest trying pot cilantro ‘99057’ (Coriandrum sativum ‘99057’) for winter cultivation, as it is the first true cilantro bred specifically for pot culture.
If growing cilantro leaf doesn’t sound appealing or doable in your space, consider trying cilantro sprouts, which are easy, nutritious, compact, and absolutely delicious. And if you are one of the few people who find the taste of true cilantro a bit on the soapy side, check out Vietnamese coriander (Polygonum odoratum), which is not actually related to true cilantro but can be used in similar ways and grows much better indoors.
In fact, many herbs have specific cultivars that have been bred to be more productive in pots than standard garden varieties. Most people wouldn’t dare think of growing celery indoors, but ‘Zwolsche Krul’ is a compact variety of leaf celery just perfect for the indoor herb garden. Dill is another herb that many herb enthusiasts find difficult to grow indoors because, like cilantro, it has a long delicate taproot and is too big and lanky for window cultivation. However, if you have a hankering for fresh dill leaf, try growing ‘Fernleaf’ dill. This little wonder grows only eighteen inches tall and resists bolting—perfect for winter conditions. For herbs like basil, which tend to grow very large, consider ‘Spicy Globe’, which is smaller, spicier, and has a more compact habit than traditional varieties do. It also grows at relatively low temperatures of 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit—a boon to winter gardeners everywhere.
Before you decide to grow an herb indoors, just remember that members of the parsley family have long, delicate taproots that are easily injured when transplanted. Therefore, instead of digging up existing plants, you will need to sow the seeds of parsley, dill, and celery directly into the pot in which they will grow all winter.
Pot ’Em Up!
Whether you want to bring in a small division of mature perennial herbs such as sage or rosemary, or some new seedlings of annual herbs like basil and parsley, the first step is to ready those plants for life indoors. Start by selecting sturdy plastic, ceramic, or terra-cotta pots big enough to allow plenty of room for new root growth. This is particularly important if you plan on growing more than one herb per pot or for herbs with long taproots, such as those in the parsley family.
Unglazed terra-cotta pots work great for indoor plants, especially for gardeners who tend to overwater. The porous nature of the clay allows the pot to breathe and transfers excess water away from plant roots. On the other hand, clay pots tend to dry out too quickly in the relatively low humidity found in most homes during the winter months. I’ve worked around both scenarios by fitting clay pots into slightly larger plastic pots without drain holes. This way I get the benefit of the breathability of clay with a plastic pot to catch any excess water.
Soil Isn’t Always Dirt
Once you have your pots all lined up, you’ll need to fill them with quality soil that will feed your herbs and regulate air and water circulation. Of course, you can use just about any kind of commercial potting soil for growing herbs indoors, but keep a few things in mind before you buy. Quality potting soils or mixes should be light and fluffy, hold moisture but drain well, and firmly anchor the plant while still allowing the roots room to grow. Cheap potting soil often contains poorly draining sedge peat, sand, and dirt that can make it too heavy to drain well. Bonnie Plants recommends potting mixes that contain “aged bark (or composted forest products), perlite, vermiculite, lime, sphagnum peat moss (not sedge peat), and a wetting agent (helps soil stay uniformly moist). Other ingredients might be gypsum, peat humus, and compost.” That covers just about everything except the fertilizer, which I recommend you avoid as a built-in part of the potting mix. Fertilize with soluble organic products made specifically for herbs or simply drench the soil with diluted fish emulsion once a month.
And no matter how wonderful your garden soil might be, it’s best not to use it for growing herbs indoors. Garden soil is very heavy for small containers, and more often than not it will either drain poorly or shrink from the sides of the pot and allow the water to run out too quickly. Garden soil also tends to harden after watering, reducing air flow and stunting roots. It’s also chock-full of potential pests and diseases just waiting for an opportune moment to strike. If you’re into making your own potting soil, try mixing a blend of 70 percent potting soil or sterile compost, 20 percent perlite, and 10 percent sharp sand together in a large bucket. This mixture will allow excellent air circulation, drainage, and moisture retention. Just keep in mind that herbs generally prefer a soil pH between 6.0 and 7.0. Herbs such as rosemary, thyme, marjoram, lemon balm, and cilantro prefer a pH of around 6.0. For herbs that prefer a higher pH, add one teaspoon of lime for each six-inch pot and adjust upwards for larger pots.
Let the Light Shine
Plentiful, high-quality light is a major aspect of growing herbs indoors. Before you plant or pot up your herbs, take a close look at how much light your plants will receive each day from natural sources, such as windows. Herbs need around five hours of direct sunlight each day. If your windowsill doesn’t get that much light, you will need to provide some form of artificial light, which can be as simple as fluorescent tubes or as high-tech as multispectrum grow lights. For the home gardener, standard fluorescent lights are both effective and affordable.
Start by selecting a baffle that has space for at least two light tubes. Place a “warm” light tube on one side and a “cool” light tube on the other. This provides a color spectrum wide enough to produce healthy plants when combined with natural sunlight. It is important to ensure that this artificial light spans the entire growing area evenly or plants on the outer edges will suffer. Experts suggest leaving fluorescent lights on fourteen hours a day and adjusting them to hang between six and eight inches from the tips of the plants. A plug-in switch timer is a big help when it comes to turning the lights on and off.
Because plants will always lean toward natural sunlight regardless of the quality of an artificial source, it is necessary to turn your pots regularly. For young seedlings, you might need to turn each pot one-quarter of a turn at least once a day and sometimes as often as twice a day, depending on how much natural light they receive. Just be sure to turn the pots in the same direction each time.
Reverse Hardening Off
One of the most important steps to preparing potted herbs for life indoors is a process akin to the spring ritual of hardening off, only in reverse. Rather than acclimating herbs to more and more sunlight, as is done with spring seedlings, herbs that will be moved indoors need to be acclimated to less and less light if they are to thrive in the relatively low-light conditions inside your home.
Leaves use sunlight to generate food essential for the plants’ survival. To do this in the most efficient manner, many plants produce specific leaf shapes in order to capture various levels of light. In response to very bright sunlight, plants will often generate long, thick, and narrow “high-light” leaves. These are leaves that receive abundant sunlight and do not need to be as efficient at producing food. On the other hand, “low-light” leaves are thinner and wider in order to make the most food possible with less sunlight. Therefore, when the intensity of light is suddenly reduced, as in winter or indoors, plants must respond by growing more low-light leaves. If they cannot produce these new leaves quickly enough, they will either flounder in the struggle to produce enough food or die.
Rosemary is notorious for being difficult to grow indoors, and the biggest contributing factor to this is its inability to respond quickly to changes in light intensity. Therefore, to prevent low-light shock, pot up woody herbs like rosemary and sage as much as six weeks before the first frost in your area and move them to shadier and shadier locations in two-week increments. I call this reverse hardening off. During this adjustment period, herbs will have time to grow many new low-light leaves and will burst with new growth when given a bright windowsill indoors.
Let It Rain
Indoor plants need water just as much as outdoor plants—the challenge lies in knowing how much water is enough and how much is too much. Garden soil is deep and can usually hold moisture for long periods of time; potting soil generally dries out much quicker. If this is your first time growing indoors, start by checking your plants every day to get a feel for how long each watering lasts. Water should be provided when the soil is almost but not quite completely dry. This may be once a week or once every several days, depending on relative humidity, growth rate, and soil type used. When the soil is at its optimum moisture level, it should feel like a well-wrung sponge. But don’t rely solely on the appearance or feel of surface soil, as it often feels dry to the touch. The simplest way to test the moisture near the root zone is to plunge a finger into the soil to the second knuckle. Otherwise, a moisture meter is an easy and accurate way to test for moisture down in the root zone, where it counts.
When it comes to water, consistency pays in dividends. Pick one day a week to be watering day and stick to it. Once every seven to ten days is usually sufficient for indoor plants. Water deeply and thoroughly until the water runs out of the bottom of the pot. If you have shallow saucers underneath your pots, be sure to drain them after about thirty minutes. Standing water may lead to root rot, mold, and diseases.
On the other hand, plants growing in dry indoor air welcome humidity around their leaves. Create a moister environment for your plants by placing them on shallow trays filled with smooth pea gravel and water. If you grow herbs on gravel trays, you can forgo the saucers under the pots and let the water that runs from the drainage holes renew the water in the trays. Otherwise a small humidifier can be placed near the plants and used regularly to combat dry, indoor conditions common during the winter months.
I have talked to gardeners who swear by showering their indoor plants once a month in the bathtub. Using the showerhead and lukewarm water, the “rain” treatment should last for five to ten minutes. Afterwards, the plants are allowed to drain for several hours before being put back on their stands. This procedure accomplishes several things. First, it gives the plants a deep and thorough watering, which helps remove toxic salts excreted by the plant from the soil. Second, it rinses dust from the foliage, allowing more light to reach food producing plant cells. Last but not least, showering your plants creates a penetrating humidity that stimulates leaves to uptake moisture and nutrients, which is why this is an excellent time to apply a light foliar feeding of liquid kelp.
Resource
“You Must Use a Good Potting Mix.” Bonnie Plants. Accessed December 15, 2015. https://bonnieplants.com/library/you-must-use-a-good-potting-mix/.
Jill Henderson is a self-taught herbalist, author, mixed-media artist, and world traveler, with a penchant for wild edible and medicinal plants, culinary herbs, and nature ecology. She is a long-time contributor to Llewellyn’s Herbal Almanac and writes for Acres USA magazine. Jill has written three books: The Healing Power of Kitchen Herbs, A Journey of Seasons: A Year in the Ozarks High Country and The Garden Seed Saving Guide: Seed Saving for Everyone. She also writes and edits Show Me Oz (ShowMeOz.wordpress.com), a weekly blog filled with in-depth articles on gardening, seed saving, homesteading, wild-crafting, edible and medicinal plants, herbs, nature, and more. Jill and her husband, Dean, live, love, and write in the heart of the Missouri Ozarks.