Aroma-gardening

I am currently taking two classes through Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine (highly recommend!) In the Immersion course, gardening is a theme, and is required for the certificate!  Although I am an experienced medicine maker, herbalist, and aromatherapist, I have never gardened other than a few vegetables and a lot of tomatoes.  Herbs are different, they are more tender, more sensitive, dare I say, more fickle.

From the beginning, my plan was an aromatic garden, growing a few of the beautiful volatile oil producing plants to be distilled in Rosie,the copper still, for hydrosol and essential oil.  Yarrow, oregano, spearmint, several varieties of basil, monarda, anise hyssop, and thyme, in addition to the rosemary and lavendin which is already established from the fall.  Additionally, calendula is in the plan to be distilled for its wound-healing hydrosol.  Other medicinal a such as spilanthes and star chickweed are also pictured.

These seedlings started indoors with a heat mat and a grow light.  Sadly, more than 95% did not survive after being planted in the garden.

Next, I tried direct seeding.  This went much better, some with excellent yield, such as Genovese basil, chickweed, yarrow, and calendula.  Some with very low yield, such as spilanthes and holy basil.  Others didn't come up at all (monarda, anise hyssop, spearmint).

For some of the non-sprouted, I was able to acquire established plants from the local garden store and from local gardeners (oregano, thyme, monarda, anise hyssop).  I also purchased two established "geranium" plants, again, to be distilled for hydrosol and essential oil in the fall.

Now, it is a matter of caring for the aromatic garden as it slowly grows.

Of course, the aromatic garden is not for distillation alone.  The culinary and medicinal uses of these plant-allies abound.

Culinary finishing salt made with fresh thyme, rosemary, oregano, and sage in Himalayan pink salt. (It is especially good sprinkled on fresh, ripe tomatoes!)

Catnip and lavendin for an evening cuppa.  Can't you just smell the loveliness?

The second course I am taking is Foraging.  Through it, I am learning about all the nutritious edibles which volunteer and grow wild all around me.  Violets, day lillies, mouse-ear chickweed, cleavers, lambs quarters, and more.  

I never imagined that I would enjoy gardening, but knowledge is indeed power, and now that I know more about the once-annoying-but-now-useful "weeds", such as purslane and lambs quarters, weeding has become a daily forage for dinner salad additions.  Pinching off the tops of the aromatic plants has added fresh herbs to our meals and teas.  

"Root yourself in this earth and it will root itself in you." -Sheniz Jammohamed