#herb garden

[happyheidi]

[cajunwitch101]

[vanilla-cigarillos]

Growing Marshmallows!

The secret ingredient to many people’s favorite sweet treats used to grow in the ground! The roots of the Marshmallow herb contain mucilage (a polysaccharide substance) that was originally used to thicken marshmallows. Although it’s known for its uses in sugary goodness, this herb is also potent herbal medicine for treating all manner of respiratory issues. If a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down~, a few herbal marshmallows are even better! Here’s a quick post about how you can grow this herb yourself. 

How To Start Growing:

So whenever people think about growing their own herbs, of course the first assumption is to start with seeds. Here’s a nice place to buy Marshmallow seeds from: Earthbeat Seeds.

The only thing that is absolutely required to grow Marshmallow is cold stratification. Marshmallow seeds need cold stratification for good germination. This means they need cool, moist temperatures to mimic winter conditions. This process prevents the seeds from germinating in the fall, which would lead them to be killed as tiny seedlings over the winter season. A bit of cold storage tells the seeds that winter has passed, and it’s time to get growing! 

Putting the packet of seeds into the refrigerator a few weeks before planting accomplishes that. Once they’re up, the plants themselves are pretty hard to kill.

Outdoor Conditions:

If you live in an area with a mild winter season, I recommend planting your seeds in the late fall and they’ll germinate the following spring. On the other hand, if you live in areas with a long and cold winter, you can plant the seeds very early in the spring (right when the soil can be worked). Make sure to place your plants about 1 foot apart in a well-prepared perennial bed. Mulch heavily in the first year to discourage weeds and retain moisture in the soil while the plants are getting established.

Indoor Conditions:

The proper moist conditions are needed to be achieved either by storing marshmallow seeds on a moist paper towel and inside a plastic bag in the refrigerator for 3 - 4 weeks before planting. Make sure to keep your seeds just barely moist, and leave the bag cracked open a bit for ventilation during this process. 

Plant Care:

Marshmallow loves consistently moist soil! Remember that moist doesn’t mean drenched; this herb doesn’t want to grow underwater. Make sure that wherever you plant your little guys, there is good drainage and the area will be able to avoid standing water.

Harvesting:

You’re able to start harvesting in the 2nd or 3rd fall after planting your herbs. 

Use a sharp spade to harvest the roots in the late fall, after the plant has died back but before the ground freezes. It’s possible to harvest without killing the plant, so make sure to replant the crown after removing a portion of the root during this process. Clean the roots thoroughly, and then chop into pieces and dry them immediately. The dried roots are the most common medicinal preparation, and can readily be purchased online if you’re not wanting to wait 2-3 years for your home-harvested root in order to use Marshmallow in your witchy and/or herbalism practice.

And there you go! I hope this post helps you get started growing this wonderful herb in your indoor or outside garden :)

[caniethenondogsartblog]

Finally got the chance to photograph all the herb planters I made based off @samsketchbook ‘s piece “how to decay gracefully.” I really really love this comic, it really means a lot to me and has stayed with me for a really long time now, and I’m super excited to have a little piece of it in my home :]

I plan to plant lavender in them when its planting season comes around, so I’ll definitely update this post with photos of that!!!

[appalachiaisforlovers]

[thevisualvamp]

A tisket a tasket

[fallensapphires]

Plants: Dried Herbs and Flowers

Fall in love with the beautiful colors of autumn especially through the petals of a dried flower.

[ohmytomatoe]

[wildrungarden]

9/18/23 ~ Marigolds I didn’t even try to grow. Just seeds that fell into the compost garden from last years flowers 🌼 featuring one of my now FOUR Marshmallow Root plants 🙌🏻 I am going to try and collect seeds from the Marshmallow Root this year.

[hecatesdelights]

Getting all my plant babies ready to go outside!!!!!😁💚

[diycraftsnmore]

How cinnamon is made by gray.davis (TT)

[tea-with-mrs-mourning-dove]

[forestgreenivy]

First garden update of the season! These are some of my herbs this year. Hanging in baskets and in random pots. So far so good. My English Thyme is doing wonderfully. I bought it back in September, and it made it through the winter and is continuing to grow now. That was exciting to see! I also got some cat nip growing with some marigolds. Ophelia should enjoy that for sure.

Most of these here are still very young plants, and they will continue to grow! There’s much more going on back there. I’m so excited to share!

[ecopunkfox]

My whole garden! The first pic is the actual dirt (clay) area we get in front of the AC unit, where we’ve planted blueberries, blackberries, and a few different flowers. We’re not supposed to plant in the other grass space unless we fence in our backyard, which we can’t afford to do to the HOA’s standards. The last picture is the opposite side, behind the black mesh-covered shelves are the snap peas, and you can see some of the plants lined up along the fence there. There’s also a few containers behind the bench, where I keep lettuces so they don’t get burnt.

I stood in the same spot for all three pictures, and it was about 10:30 am (the sun rises on the other side of the building). I wanted to give an idea of the space I’m working with - it’s pretty packed! When I have more space in a future home, plants will be much further distanced lmao. Packing in so much to a small area = more work for me.

I let good weeds grow up through the bricks and rip out the invasive grasses. I also rip out the grass from the lawn when I see it growing up over the clover (don’t tell the HOA lol). There’s a noticeable difference between my grass area and the ones bordering me, and you can see it starting to affect their yards as the clover thrives :3 the yard people this year don’t mow as often as the ones before did, so good stuff has an opportunity to get established :3 it also seems like he mows at a higher setting (like, distance from the ground setting) because a lot of clover makes it through a mowing.

Both of the neighbors yards are almost fully empty, lol. Just concrete slabs. The ones on the blackberry side have two grills and sometimes have parties out there at night, but the ones on the other side literally never use it, it’s just full of trash. Ive considered asking if I can plant some stuff over there but idk. The college kid seems fine but idk his dad and don’t wanna draw too much attention to myself and get into trouble with the HOA. They already hate me