Organic Gardening

CAMOMILE (Anthemis nobilis)

The English variety of camomile makes a beautiful ground cover, for it grows low and spreads gracefully over the earth. It blooms from midsummer until the first frost, producing small white and yellow daisy-shaped flowers. It has light green pinnate, or feather-shaped, leaves, and should get plenty of sun even though it does fairly well in shade. Plant seed, and camomile will self-sow from then on.

CARAWAY (Carum carvï)

With its delicate finely cut leaves and small creamy flowers growing in umbels similar to Queen Anne’s lace, caraway is quite lovely. Dry the seeds for use in cakes, rye bread, kraut, cabbage, pickles, cheese and stews. Bake a sprig of caraway with fruit.

It grows to about 2 feet, but if planted in the spring, it will only reach 6 to 8 inches the first year. If sown in the fall, seed may be harvested early the next year. Buy your first seed and it will self-sow thereafter. (more…)

SANTOLINA OR LAVENDER COTTON (Santolina chamaecyþarissus)

Santolina is sometimes known as French lavender. A fragrant, small plant, with soft grey, fine foliage, it is very decorative. The button-like discs of flowers are yellow. Formerly it was used as a moth repellent and packed with clothing. Now it is grown as an ornamental plant. Except for the color of its leaves, it is not at all similar to lavender in spite of its name. A bush may grow to 6 feet across, making santolina a favorite edging for knot gardens. Start it from plants and let it grow in a sunny spot.

SAVORY (Satureia hortensis)

A fragrant, shrubby plant with small, narrow downy leaves and tiny flowers ranging from pink to purple, savory is a valuable addition to any garden. Summer savory has the best flavor, similar to that of marjoram although stronger and more aromatic. The dried leaves are particularly good with beans, in soups, stews and ground meats. Of the 130 to 140 known species of savory, winter savory, S. montana, is also worth cultivating. It is not as fine a culinary herb as summer savory, but you can use it discreetly. Since the seed of savory does not germinate well, start it from root cuttings. Let savory have a great deal of sunlight and a fairly poor soil. (more…)

MARIGOLD, POT (Calendula officinalis)

This flamboyant plant puts forth bright orange and yellow flowers. It is a cheerful addition to any garden and can be used as a substitute for expensive saffron. Pot marigold should be started from seed. It is self-sowing and thrives best in rich soil.

MARJORAM, SWEET (Marjorana hortensis)

Of the more than 30 species, M. hortensis is the most valuable for kitchen use. The leaves are similar to oregano in taste and may be used either fresh or dried. They are small, greyish-green in color and quite pungent.

Start marjoram from seeds sown indoors, from stem cuttings or crown division. It does best in a warm, moist, light chalky soil, and you will have to keep it cut back to inhibit its woody growth. If your climate is relatively cold, treat marjoram as an annual. (more…)

Most annuals are started from seed sown in the garden. As for biennials, you may grow them just as you do annuals. You can buy many varieties of herb seed at your seed store, nursery or supermarket, but you cannot always be sure of what you are getting.

For example, tarragon may be in the seed rack but it is not a true tarragon and is hardly worth planting. True tarragon does not set seed in this country, so it is necessary to buy plants. Then there is basil. I bought “sweet basil” and got the “great ocimum sweet basil.” Later, I bought another packet with the same label, same brand. It turned out to be “small ocimum bush basil.” Now I save and plant my own basil seeds, so I can be sure what variety I’m planting.

But don’t worry. Except for tarragon and basil, commercially packaged seeds are reliable (more…)

Be lazy and love it! You might call that my gardening motto.

There is a garden club called “Plant and Pray” and that name pretty well sums up my system. If a plant could sigh, it would do so when I put it in the ground. But, fortunately for me, herbs are the friendliest, the most adaptable of all plants. Most herbs love sun, but will grow in partial shade. Of course they need some sunshine to develop their fragrant oils, and if they get too little sun, their flavor will not be so good.

The herbs do not overly care whether their soil is poor or rich. In fact, rich soil will produce large leaves, but relatively little fragrance and flavor. Unless you want herbs for looks alone, do not use much fertilizer. Although a light loam is preferable, our own herbs must grow in clay. And they do. We have always garnered all the herbs we and our friends can use.

Planting the Herb Garden

The actual planting of your herb garden is a simple matter. But whether you have your herbs all gathered together in one small patch, or spread out over a large area, there are some basic planting procedures to follow. (more…)

If  you are interested in herbs you may be astonished to realize how many herbs you are already growing.

Kinds of Herbs to grow

Parsley, chives, garlic, spearmint, dill and sage appear in almost every garden. And they are among the most valued herbs. Do you raise violets, roses, nasturtiums and marigolds? These, too, are herbs, even though we call them flowers.

Along with these herbs, add thyme, summer savory, sweet marjoram, basil, lemon balm (Melissa), borage and chervil, and you will have a good start on a herb garden which will provide for most of your needs. (more…)

We like trout lilies, sometimes called dog-tooth violets, for their graceful reflexed petals and gay natures. The slightest breeze send them into a ballet. They bloom in April and thrive in any damp semi-shady spot. They spread rapidly along a brook, sending progeny all up and down the water’s edge.

Another strong multiplier is the grape hyacinth, each like a little upside-down bunch of deep blue grapes on a green stalk. They rise up out of the ground early, coming in deep electric blue, pale blue or white, along with their thick clusters of somewhat tubular foliage. They remain quite lovely for many weeks, and are attractive and long lasting in bouquets as well.

Grape hyacinths may be planted almost anywhere, in sun or semi shade, in the garden proper, in field or wilderness. For an unusually appealing combination, try some grape hyacinths beneath spring flowering shrubs, especially Viburnum carlesi, Kerria japonica, and magnolia. (more…)

In planting primroses I’ve discovered that they look best when set in a casual unplanned manner. Group, say, seven in one area, staggering them nonchalantly along the way. Establish three more just there as the path turns. Then on the opposite side, a little further on, five more, and beyond—thirteen. Perhaps there by that old stump, plant one, in the sheltering arms of its buttressed roots.

Maintenance of the Primrose Path is practically nil—chiefly keeping the new plantings free from weeds. There is no need in a wooded area to provide winter cover, for nature does it most skilfully with falling leaves from the trees overhead. These leaves, constantly decomposing, help nurture beneficent bacteria in the soil, and provide constant plant food. In a drought year, or a prolonged dry spell, the plants may need water, but no other care.

Plants may be divided every third year or so and the best moment is right after blooming. The crowns separate easily as the primrose is lifted from the ground and gently parted by hand. Water each clump immediately after resetting and every few days for a month thereafter. (more…)

There are two ways to have colorful plantings and still hold the line on upkeep. In addition to bringing flowers from woods and meadows to your garden, you can let some of your garden flowers run wild.

Many perennials that grow in dignity in a well-ordered, well-weeded border will, if permitted, contribute the same color, fragrance, and beauty to another area. Suppose you let them run loose in your own tiny or large meadow or woodsy area.
Wherever you set them to naturalize, bee balm, spiderwort and dianthus become as independent as the native flower, needing no watering, weeding or feeding. This is an ideal way to simplify gardening at no sacrifice of beauty in the ground or indoors in cut flower arrangements.  After all, most if not all of our garden flowers were once wild; the domesticated state in which we are accustomed to seeing them isn’t their natural one.

I was first inspired to experiment with this idea one day towards the end of summer when I found iris and corn trying to occupy exactly the same spot in our vegetable garden. I uprooted the iris, but it looked so good I simply could not throw it away. Neighbors took some but there were still plenty of clumps left. I took them down the South Meadow to a spot where it is sunny all day and slightly boggy. With no heart for digging in the tough grass, and also in the spirit of experimentation, I merely dumped the plants, though I did take the trouble to set them right side up. Picking up some loose hay that lay nearby (the meadow had had its annual cut a few weeks before) I tossed it over the rhizomes and promptly forgot them. Yes, you’ve guessed it. The next year, up came the iris, all blooming like mad.   They’re still going strong. (more…)

A hedge of forsythia tumbles over a wall along a road near us. In May it is a sheath of spun gold. Forsythia came originally from Asia, and is a member of the olive family. This indestructible bush whose flowers appear before its leaves makes a fine loose casual hedge. Under plant forsythia with grape hyacinths and scilla. To expand your forsythia planting divide the roots. Do this in spring, fall, or anytime. Merely loosen the soil at one side, and gently pull off a stem with some roots attached. Prune off half of the top growth when you set the new plant.

You can bring forsythia branches indoors in late winter or early spring and they convert your house into a private flower show. This picking also serves as important pruning; it keeps the bush open to sun and air, especially in the center. Flowers next year, as a result, extend down into the heart of the shrub. Lynwood Gold from Ireland is a deep shade and a wonderful variety.

Another good early-flowering shrub is Scotch broom which grows wild at the seashore, thriving in sandy dry soil. The branches are green to the ground, and in April and May golden pea-like flowers appear in the leaf axils. The foliage is straight but flexible and responds to a sweeping breeze in a most delightful manner. For a fine hearth brush, trim off some of the branches and bind them together. (more…)