Starting Herbs from Seed Outdoors

It is pretty easy to start some of the medicinal herbs from seed at this time of year in the Maritime Pacific Northwest. Here are some tips to make your project go smoothly:

1) Choose the right plant at the right time- Choose plants like Chamomile, French Sorrel, Dill, Yarrow, Catnip, and Cilantro that can grown in this moist, cool weather. If you start them inside, they may get too pampered and not do well outside when you transplant them, so try to find a fairly warm spot to start them outside in the ground or in pots.
2) Plant the Seeds- Get some potting soil and some 4" pots (reused is ok, but wash them first with mild biodegradable soap). Water the soil before you start, and let the water soak in.  To start small seeds, just scape the surface with a fork, and sprinkle the seeds on the surface.  For bigger seeds like Calendula, put your index finger into the soil 1/2 way to the first knuckle in up to 5 spots in the pot, put a seed into each hole, then cover back up with soil and gently pat the soil back into place.

3) Care for the seedlings: Cover the pots with a sheet of glass, plexiglass or plastic sheeting to keep the moisture in and warm the soil making sure to keep the plastic directly off of the soil (you can use chopsticks or skewers to hold it up). As soon as you see some of the seeds starting to sprout, give the plants some air or take the covering off. If is cold, just lift the covering off during the day or lift the glass up an inch or two to get some air flow in there. It may take 1-3 weeks depending how much sun, rain, and wind we may get this spring.

4) Transplant the seedlings when they are big enough to hold their own in the garden. Make sure they get enough water, but not too much- put your finger into the soil and see if it is holding moisture. If so, don't water. But that said, do not let it completely dry out between watering.
I would like to take this time to say that you should sit down with a calendar and plan a little time out- in other words,plan to do this project when you can be around to check in on the plants. The first time I started herb seeds I did it before a week long trip and needless to say, they didn't get watered and not many of them survived.- Learn from my mistake! The calendar can be your friend-you can write down notes to refer back to later, and it is always hanging around where you are.
Sorrel Plant:

Happy Gardening

Notice what you like- in person
Start taking walks around your neighborhood notice the plants you like. Notice what you like about them, and take a note of when they bloom, and what colors they turn in the fall, and whether they are green all year or do the leaves fall. I found that it was too overwhelming to work on my yard when I first moved to my house. We started out with a big yard and a lot of plants that I did not know much about.  Looking at lots of gardens and landscaping for other people as well as learning about the habits of the herbs I grown at the farm has helped me learn what to expect from the plants and how to use them in the landscape.
Grow what you Like
If you grow plants that you like for one reason or another, you are more apt to watch their progress, and prune them at the right time, etc. If you plan to use the flower, leaf or root, you will care more about your garden and notice what they are doing throughout the year.

Plan it Out
You still need to think about the big picture in the end- think three seasons or more ahead to know what to plant when... There is a great book called Square Foot Gardening, by John Jeavons that will help you plan what edible food crops to rotate through the garden. I added chickens to the rotation after a few years of the grass getting into the beds and the soil being worked too much. I had already planted Tomatoes in all the major growing areas of the garden, and was getting blossom rot. I have designed and installed other people's edible & medicinal landscapes in the past few years, but this year the farm and the home gardens are getting a makeover!
Write it Down
A garden notebook, a calendar, a blog, or a sheet of paper in the garden shed are all acceptable forms of communicating to yourself later. You should use at least one of these tools to track your major work days in the garden. You can go as far as measuring every pound of food you grow to just writing down the last frost day and when you planted seeds and where they were transplanted and grown in your garden. I am creating the planting schedule for Longfellow Creek Communitiy garden this year based on the past two years' plans I saved.  At home, Marc and I decided to turn a larger portion of our backyard into food! Since we used the chickens to clear the way last year, we have really fertile soil! On the farm, I am working with some students this Spring and Summer to start more plants for the edible landscape business, and to plant out the demonstration garden I have designed to complement the Tea Shack. They will also harvest their own herbs to make medicines on the farm. There is no way I could do this properly if I didn't know what happened the year before.
Concentrate your Effort
Sometimes, if you are trying to look at the garden all at once, you can get overwhelmed by it all. Divide and conquer... and stick with it. Try to concentrate on working on one area at a time. That is not to say that you can't look at the whole picture, but if you divide it up into bite sized pieces you are able to accomplish things easier. In one session you can make a small area look neat and have a great head start on the season. Then, another day (or week) you can start on the area next to it and so on. Also, if you are totally overwhelmed, start in pots! You can move them around the garden to where the sun is right and take note of what happens through the season.

Happy Gardening!
Don't forget to have fun and eat as you go. Plant cherry tomatoes and peas for your nibbling pleasure; make tea from chamomile, clover or mint plants. Or purchase some Holy Mama Tincture to add to your soda water or hot water and de-stress! It contains Holy Basil, Wood Betony, and Motherwort- all good for helping you adapt to stressful situations and keep you calm as a mild sedative**. You deserve a treat- and don't forget to bring a chair or bench out so you can take a break in the garden and enjoy your efforts.
Join us sometime- email jayne@sistersageherbs.com

** This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA**

Virtual Tour of Sister Sage Farm

Check out this cool blog! Amber Cole, a photographer and blogger, and Crystal Seltzer, an herbalist and teacher at Bastyr, came out the the farm the other day for a visit and Amber wrote about it in her great blog. I was showing them the farm so Crystal could see what was in store for her herbal studies students if they decide to come out and intern at the farm this Spring and Summer. I have several spots open for other interns on the farm (no live-ins) this summer. If you are interested, please contact me jayne@sistersageherbs.com and we can work out the details. I am still offering the CSA fresh herb shares this year as well as product shares!

Chickweed Picture

 

This is the chickweed plant that is so good to eat in the spring! YUM!

Eat Your Weeds!

Really, I mean it! They come up in your garden at this time for a reason. They are so full of vitamins and minerals that are hard to come by at this time when you grow your own food. Try a small bit of chickweed, shotweed (Wild Cress) and dandelion greens in your salad every day and your digestion and energy will improve. I like chickweed the best- it has a nice crunchy, suculant taste. You can add it to the other herbs you put into a vinaigrette like fennel, thyme, oregano, and rosemary, or make an infused vinegar to preserve the vitamins for the summer and winter seasons when chickweed is not available in the garden. For those of you who have been trying to figure out what is the difference between shotweed and chickweed I will post a picture soon, but right now the shotweed is flowering and the chickweed is not in my garden. The shotweed is upright and the chickweed is rambling forming a matt in the later part of the spring, but both have white flowers (chickweeds are bigger).

Chickweed Vinaigrette:

1 C Olive oil
1/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 C or a handful of chickweed, shotweed, and dandelion greens
1-2 fresh mustard leaves or 1 T prepared stone ground mustard
3-5 cloves of garlic or some garlic greens to taste
Salt & Pepper to taste

Put everything into the blender and whirl it around for about 30 seconds, or chop everything into small pieces and mix together with a wisk. Use immedeately or store in the fridge for about a week- use a plastic lid (reuse another salad dressing container) because vinegar will react badly with metal containers like mason jars- You can use a piece of waxed paper in between the lid and container if you don't have anything else.

Arnica Salve Anyone?

This is a great article on the benefits of using Arnica Montana I found at the Herb Companion website. I grow Arnica Chamissonis, which is used interchangeably. Check out the order page, or buy some at my site at localharvest.org. I just started my own version of booty camp and have been using it for my tired muscles- Look for an arnica cream soon!

peace- Jayne