One area that I was really impressed with at Hellens was their Physics Garden. My pictures really don't do it justice as my lens wasn't wide enough to capture it all.
It's set out like a large wheel with raised beds, each section is divided into a different area of healing or usage.
This is one section I really loved, all the poisons, but many had different uses.
I also love their use of slate to mark the different plants and areas, this would be a great way to learn each one if you're reminded what they are each time you're in the garden. The manor was run by monks at one time so it quiet appropriate that they have this healing garden growing there now, this is in a little courtyard by the dovecote over looked by the manor house.
The different sections for different things was also really clever.
The descriptions on the plants were really great and interesting.
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See all this has really inspired me to up my herb game and grow more here. I grow quite a few culinary herbs (many with other purposes) but it wold be great to have lots more growing for other uses as well, maybe labling in this way would be a good way to increase my knowledge as well and make it sink in!
What do you think? Is this a good layout for a herb garden?
Anyone have anything similar growing in their garden (maybe on a smaller scale!)?
i need slate markers. these are so cool. what a great place!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to buy a white marker for them I think! I really liked it. I have to admit to keeping a plan but marking nothing in the garden as I know what I planted.
DeleteI dont have a herb garden in a wheel, but I have lots of what maybe classed as healing herbs. Many kitchen herbs are also healing. sage is good for menopausal ladies, as well as people who are sweating due to illness. You can drink it as a tea and eat it for its benefit. Feverfew is good for headaches and very low fevers, it must be eaten with something around it, like bread else it will ulcerate your mouth.
ReplyDeleteSummer savory is good for people who suffer IBS symptoms. Fennel seeds for after eating spicy food and any other food that gives you gas.
Many many others I have in the garden. My grandmother grew a huge amount of herbs for sickness.
Something I want to try and I dont know if it really works or if she was just superstitious, was growing sumac. they are extremely high in antioxidants but my gran would bath feet in it (my brother had athletes foot and she thinks she cured it with it...? questionable), she also used to make an infusion of it that she used to spray of plants that had mildew. I would like to try this part out. She used to say they did it in the Ukraine all the time when it was humid from rain to stop the garden crops dying.... I have a little on my courgettes now, but I dont have sumac to try on it.
I'm so glad to read this. We get mildew on our zucchini and winter squash every year. We also have a TON of sumac here. I can't wait to try this!
DeleteWhen I make Houmous, I sprinkle Sumac on the top. I must be self-medicating.
DeleteSumac is a highly prized plant, my brother says he had seen people using it like citronella to ward off flies and mozzies. (This is in the ukraine)
DeleteCottontail I would be interested in the results, as you can never tell with my Gran if it was real or she just believed it. I think it would need lots of investigation on line first. Dont forget that sumac can also be an irritant.
sumac is a wicked plant and mediterraneans use sumac i everything! you dry your sumac and then grind it in a coffee grinder. put it on everything - especially fresh veg/fruit salads.
Deleteeverything Sol has said above is correct!
Sounds like sumac might be worth planting!
Deletesumac is invasive. Plant in a container and strip of all berries.
DeleteWe have joked about getting goats to kill it - it is that invasive. We've made sumac-ade w it but had no idea there were so many uses.
DeleteI'd love a herb garden that big. I built a herb spiral last year and that's done really well. There are lots on the web, mine is of the heap-of-soil-with-a-stone-spiral-on-it variety, rather than a proper stone wall filled with soil but it's still working well.
ReplyDeleteI have, roughly from the top, tarragon, a couple of different thymes, wild oregano, echinacea, bergamot, yarrow, salad burnet, English mace, lemon balm, perennial onions, chives, Moroccan mint, apple mint, valerian, chervil, parsley and buckler leaf sorrel. I've got other herbs around the garden, especially big bushy ones like sage, rosemary and angelica, or plants that aren't just classified as herbs- calendula, lavender, etc.
I love herbs and find I'm using them more and more.
That sounds amazing! I want a herb area out the front next year maybe. I have so many around the place already I should have a count up really.
DeleteI love the sound of some you've got growing - I was gutted this year when I tried to swo some angelica and none came up.
The only problem with growing herbs with the same uses or attributes together is that they may have different growing requirements - some like heat & poor soil while others need cooler moist conditions etc.
ReplyDeleteSome 'medicinal' plants have parts that can be dangerous if picked & eaten by grazing children.
I agree, they had some clever ways though to keep things separate, like sunken pots and the like.
DeleteI'm really careful with any plants that are poisonous and although my children do graze they have to show me what they're eating first every time. I was had an incident where my daughter showed me a nightshade berry, but because of that rule I knew she hadn't eaten one first!
Kev - you have enough people on your blogroll who know about medicinal herbs that if you just go back and re-read some of their posts you'll learn a lot. i keep a small herb garden for food, but i also keep a medicinal herb garden, which pretty much has the same stuff in it. sage tea is wonderful for before bedtime. but make sure to mix it up, too - lavender tea before bed is lovely. how about some chamomile tea before bed. catnip just isn't for cats - although you are going to have to grow catnip in a locked box if you have cats! cats love it and there is no such thing as them getting too much. a leaf or two a day keeps the cats lounging, grooming and happy. it also makes a delicious nighttime tea! all of the "food" growing" herbs have medicinal qualities as well.
ReplyDeletejust make sure to keep any herbs that are dangerous out of the way of children and animals.
sending much love to you all and glad you had such a rewarding visit! your friend,
kymber
It's certainly an area I feel I need to increase my knowledge on, hopefully I'll learn it by osmosis over time. I think I need to start using them more in that way. Once my single surviving sage plant has got a bit bigger I will make some tea with it that's for sure! And I know I've got some chamomile seed somewhere that I should sow!
Deletethanks Kymber!
If you'd like to read any books, my first herb book was The Complete Book of Herbs by Lesley Bremness- it's very comprehensive. She has a page for each major group with photos, growing requirements and uses.
DeleteAnything by Jekka MacVicar is brilliant too and you often see second hand copies by either author- worth picking up if you do.
A new book which I've really enjoyed is The Handmade Apothecary- a mixture of herbs and foraging- with lots of information (I've used some of their tea ideas and we now have some Daisy Bruise Balm in the cupboard!) and James Wongs Grow Your Own drugs books are interesting as well.