Medicinal Garden

[PunkinPeep]

I've been seriously throwing around the idea of dedicating a good chunk of my land to a garden specifically for the production of herbs/plants that have medicinal value. Then i could dry them and keep them on hand.

I'm wondering who else has done something like this. I'm really not at all educated on the subject except for my stumbling around on the internet and getting interested.

I know many of you have book recommendations, and i welcome those.

I would love to know if someone else has a successful medicinal garden and can give me some pointers.

Thanks!

 

[Blackbird]

I would recommend this for a beginner perhaps;

http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/seeds/seeds.html

Lifeline Medicinal Seeds Kit

I ordered it and am pretty happy with it.

Some great books that I would recommend are Susun Weed's Healing Wise, and 55 Most Common Medicinal Herbs by Heather Boon & Micheal Smith.

http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3089

 

[Wifezilla]

A lot of the culinary herbs are also medicinal. I grow feverfew, mint, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, chives and basil. The mint sure is handy when you get a cold.

 

[freemotion]

There are lots of wild plants that you can learn to identify and gather, too, like nettles, comfrey, burdock, St. John's Wort, etc.

I planted oats along one end of my garden, and had a terrible time establishing them with all the squirrels we have here. Finally got them going. Showed them to dh THREE STINKIN' TIMES throughout the summer so he wouldn't get too helpful with his weedwacker.

Yup. He got 'em. Just as they were getting big enough to harvest. .

 

[FarmerChick]

There are lots of wild plants that you can learn to identify and gather, too, like nettles, comfrey, burdock, St. John's Wort, etc.

I planted oats along one end of my garden, and had a terrible time establishing them with all the squirrels we have here. Finally got them going. Showed them to dh THREE STINKIN' TIMES throughout the summer so he wouldn't get too helpful with his weedwacker.

Yup. He got 'em. Just as they were getting big enough to harvest. .

that is just too funny. I have those troubles here also..HA HA

 

[PunkinPeep]

There are lots of wild plants that you can learn to identify and gather, too, like nettles, comfrey, burdock, St. John's Wort, etc.

Oh yes! I am. I'm on an all out mission to identify what is already growing here and figure out what's what....and then how to use them. I think that's my first of many goals. But i am sure that i could easily propagate more and have a regular little natural drugstore outside.

 

[Farmfresh]

The cool thing is it really doesn't take much space at all!

I grow almost all of my kitchen herbs and some for the flu teapot as well. Most of my plants are either in large pots, the wasted space between house and driveway (the tough mint family) or in my flower beds! If you dehydrate and then freeze in air tight containers the potency lasts for a long time, this way you can rotate crops and maintain lots of variety in even less space. For example I grow basil one year and cilantro the next in the same pot. I use fresh dried of one and frozen dried of the other and switch each year!

 

[sylvie]

I decided to plant a medicinal garden and discovered that nearly every plant has medicinal value of some sort. Just pared the list down to only planting what would be too expensive to buy if needed, and made notes as to where I could find others in the wild. I already have a large herb garden.
I think educating yourself on medicinal plants is one of the best moves ever.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Farmfresh, i didn't realize you could make enough from just one plant for a whole year. That's great! We're thinking about doing an indoor herb garden for things we regularly use in cooking. I can't wait!

sylvie, would you share which herbs you chose?

 

[Mackay]

Don't forget burdock root comfrey.