Herb II the continuing saga of the GREEN THUMB CLUB!

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I just couldn't let the question get sucked up into the top of the computer without putting it on the bottom! I asked last time if anyone had any interesting herbs and how they used them. It might also include veggies or flowers or fruit trees etc.. I just couldn't let it go.......been too much fun. I will start off by saying that I am planting herbs in little pots inside. What are you all starting this year?

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), January 24, 2001

Answers

I'm going to be starting some daylilies from seed soon. They are from named varieties crossed together, and I'm really loking forward to the surprise of seeing what they will be like! We'll also probably plant the usual tomatoes and broccoli, and some onions. My brother in law has been working with a variety that will produce long storing, regular sized onions from seed the first year. Favorite herb would definitely be comfrey!

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), January 24, 2001.

How do you use Comfrey? I've heard ya'll talking(typing)about it but I don't know how to use it?

-- Nan (Davidl41@ipa.net), January 24, 2001.

Comfrey is used for many things like a poultice for healing. I use a comfrey oil for skin irriatation. A friend has terrible wounds on her legs from medical toxins excaping and she uses comfrey.

Some of my favorite herbs are lemon and lime thyme, oregano, chamomile, lemon verbena, chervil, rosemary, forget me not, meadowsweet, Lavender (rubbed on pulse points relieves tention and headaches, bay, bee balm, basil, rue, french tarragon. Oh i can't forget my new fav. pineapple sage. Just smelling it lift's my spirit's and makes me feel peaceful. Anyway you can see, i love my herbs. I treat many things naturally instead of using perscription drugs. Herbs can be dangerous in certain combinations and in larger quantities. Always be careful and well read.

A word of caution, Tansy is very vigorous. Also mint spreads like wild fire. I set a tall piece of chimney flue in the ground and plant my mint in that.

-- Shau Marie (shau@centurytel.net), January 24, 2001.


how do i get a start of comfery is it a seed or plant? advice please Bob in se.ks.

-- Bobco (bobco@hit.net), January 24, 2001.

Comfrey from seed is not as reliable as root cuttings or a division. The stuff goes by runners, so it should be easy to get a start from someone with it. I got mine at the local garden center. Comfrey is also touted as a good liquid manure for your garden -- ideal for tomatoes, onions, gooseberries, beans, and other potash-loving crops. 14 lbs fresh chopped comfrey to 20 gall. water, cover to exclude light and steep for 4 weeks, use clear liquid...but it is very stinky due to the high protein content. So if you're hip deep in comfrey, take comfort that it's excellent compost material.

I've been working for 25 years to eradicate the tansy that threatened to engulf our property! I've finally got it on the ropes, but it sure wasn't easy! Don't let that stuff escape, you'll be sorry!! (and cut off the flower/seedheads before they're mature and DESTROY them! They seed VERY readily.)

Something else that has naturalized are my chives. I dug up 8 little bulbs from one of the old family farms years ago and they have taken readily to the flower beds. My mother reviles them, but they have taken over and grown under red pines where nothing else would. And you can rip up as much as you want and there is always plenty more.

I'd also like to add to my rose collection (quite small right now) of hardy roses. They're mostly rugosa and rugosa-hybrids, Therese Bugnet, Henry Hudson, Hansa,& Grootendorst. I'd like to find a source for Dart's Dash, which is reputed to set really heavy crops of hips in the fall -- I really want to make rosehip jam again like I did with my grandmother!

I also planted cornellian cherries (not a cherry at all, member of the dogwood family, but edible) this last year, and I'd like to increase the variety of domesticated elderberries.

I'm waiting to see if the Anise Hyssop comes back this year. The bees and the humming birds really liked it, and it's supposed to be good in pork and rice dishes, as well as in salads and fruit cups. I discover that the Lady's Mantle I planted for effect can be used as a wool dye, and in vet. medicine for diarrhea (I need to look into that more). I planted walking onions that I'm waiting to see if they've colonized. I'd like to establish Good King Henry and other chenopodiums.

I'd like to concentrate a bit on some native herbs as well. I've got a nice stand of goldenrod going, which is a wonderful plant. I'd like to rip out a stand of Gardener's Garters that I was foolish enough to let get started and replace it with some more Monarda, maybe some more catmint and lemon balm there too, for a nice Tea garden. (there's also spearmint still lurking in that bed...)

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), January 25, 2001.



I am with Julie on the Tansy. I put in one plant by the side of my gardneing shed and the next year it grew in great big bunches in the front, back and sides. Boy is it fun to try and kill roots, that strong under a shed. Also Julie i have been growing Monarda/bee balm for years. It looks good, grows well, and has many uses. I mainly grow it for the bees. They pay me back by pollenating everything.

-- Shau Marie (shau@centurytel.net), January 25, 2001.

I'm glad this thread continued. I can talk about herbs forever! Comfrey is normally used externally in poultices to treat fractures, sprains, and injuries. It contains allantoin, which gives it great healing properties. It also contains pyrizadine (spelling?) alkaloids, which can cause venoocclusive disease of the liver (screws up blood flow to liver). For this reason it is normally advised not to use Comfrey internally, although I do know herbalists that use it internally in moderation. It's best to start from root divisions. It's invasive and will grow like a weed, so you may want to contain it. You use the dried leaves and roots medicinally. Someone mentioned Goldenrod--great for urinary tract infections in a tea. We have a lot of it growing wild here and it is invasive, but I do love it. I think it's also nice in dried flower arrangements.

-- amy (acook@in4web.com), January 25, 2001.

How do you use the goldenrod in the tea? Do you use the flowers, leaves or roots? Thanks Amy!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), January 26, 2001.

Nan, use the goldenrod flowers in tea. It's really indicated for urinary tract problems, like cystitis.

-- amy (acook@in4web.com), January 26, 2001.

Quite some time ago (we're talking clipper ship days here), goldenrod leaf tea was considered superior to green tea in Japan and China, and they would trade something like 100 lbs of their tea for a pound of goldenrod leaf tea -- which made the sailing captains very happy and very wealthy when they sold the china tea in the US.

The best quality goldenrod leaf tea was obtained from the Canadian (?) goldenrod (the kind that shoots most it's flowers off to one side, rather than straight up). It was harvested, rubbed between the fingers and rolled up like little cigars, and dried. It would ferment slightly because of the mechanical bruising and this increased the flavour and desireability of the tea. It was prepared the same as regular tea was (using simmering water, not boiling).

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), January 27, 2001.



Does anyone else eat their daylilies? I've been eating the buds and blossoms for years now (fried blossoms in batter weren't all that great, but the buds are good in soups and stews, can be dried for that in fact, and are essential in an oriental dish called Pork with Golden Needles -- i.e. the day lily buds). Has anyone else eaten the roots? I keep meaning to get around to trying them...

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), January 28, 2001.

You try them first Julie, then I will too, tee-hee, I have often wondered about the daylily roots also, have lots of native plants I have transplanted from the woods to areas and steep banks on the farm here, and they grow despite the summer droughts of late.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), January 28, 2001.

We have a burm(SP?) around our basement that is really ugly. It has to be weed wacked about once a month or the grass gets really bad. Does anyone have a suggestion on what to plant around it? On it? At first I was going to make a raised bed, but I cant because of the basement underneath. I was afraid it would leak!!!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), January 30, 2001.

I made a salve out of comfrey and calendula last year, but what I really wanted to do was make a cream out of them. Does anyone know how to do that? I couldn't find any recipes for creams..only tinctures and salves.

-- Joanne Schaefer (JoOhio1@aol.com), January 30, 2001.

Now that Annie has challenged me, I can hardly wait for the ground to thaw out and get digging. Mmmm-Mmm!!

I don't know if this will help for making a cream or not, it's a recipe for making a night cream, so perhaps you can adapt it with the herbs of your choice;

3 T. lanolin, 1 T. sunflower oil, 1 T. almond oil, 1 teasp. oil of lavender.

Melt the lanolin in a small bowl over a pan of hot water. Add the first two oils and beat well to combine. Remove from heat, let cool a little, beat as mixture thickens, then stir in the lavender. Pour into a small jar and screw on the lid when cream is cold.

This is maybe not as cream-like as you were thinking. I would also guess that if you beat it with an electric mixer, it would get creamier, and that you could use any infused oil - like calendula - in place of the lavender, altho that is very healing too. Alternately, you could try adding infused oil directly into whatever kind of commercial cream is appropriate for your use (i.e. handlotion for general skin rubs, a medical cream for wounds).

Another recipe for making creams; melt 1oz beeswax with 1 oz.water- free lanolin, add 100 ml infused oil and 50 ml herbal tincture, then strain, stir, and store in glass jars.

Nan -- what does this berm look like? Is it raised dirt? Could you build a low retaining wall around it and plant it with something like a rock garden that doesn't want a lot of water, so you wouldn't have to weed whack it and it wouldn't be an eyesore? Maybe put down plastic under it so that any water that does flow through the soil is directed downslope away from the house and into the yard instead? You can plant a number of shallow-rooted plants that don't want a lot of water in a situation like that, such as hen-and-chicks, clarkia, thyme, hardy lavenders,self-heal, yarrow,and other decorative types. Or, how about putting a weed barrier over it, barking it over, and put half barrels on top with plantings in? You can drill a drainage hole in the bottom and fit it out with plastic drainage hose and run that off under the mulch to a safe drainage area?

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), January 31, 2001.



Re: cream, they key is to use equal parts distilled water to your oils and waxes. I wing it with my recipe each time, but here goes... 1/3 cup jojoba wax and cocoa butter, 1 tsp. lanolin, 2/3 cup sweet almond, olive, or grapeseed oil (or a combination if you desire), 3/4 to 1 ounce grated beeswax (use more beeswax for a firmer cream, less for a smoother cream). Melt the beeswax with the lanolin and oils in a double boiler, take care not to burn it. Place one cup distilled water in a blender or electric mixing bowl and start it up, slowly pouring in melted wax and oil mixture and it is mixed. You can also help it along with a spoon, in case the blender begins to sputter. As you blend, it will turn into a creamy, white consistency. If the oil and water remain separate, which can happen sometimes, just pour out the water and start again. The key is to pour in slowly and blend quickly. You can then place it into pretty jars and scent each jar with a few drops of favorite essential oils if desired. I often scent it for face cream with Rose attar essential oil. (Avoid perfume or fragrance oils.

-- amy (acook@in4web.com), January 31, 2001.

Follow us down to the bottom of the list again......Green thumbs club cont.... See ya' there.

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), January 31, 2001.

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