MAKING HERB GARDEN

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21180, 29 October 1938, Page 10

MAKING HERB GARDEN

ABSORBING HOBBY In many gardens there can be found a small patch of ground, bordered with parsley perhaps, and with mint growing apace, a ragged bush or two of sage, and some straggling thyme, which, with care and perseverance, could be transformed into a herb garden. Cultivating it can become an absorbing hobby and one that gives particular pleasure to a woman, for, if she likes, she may compound simples, pot-pourri, and pomander from her own produce. The herb garden may be quite a small one, formal in layout and hedge-enclosed. The wirter of this article, an English woman, has recently turned a rough bit of waste ground into a herbary and added it to the garden proper and says that the task is well worth while. It is essential, before starting work out of doors, to make a practical plan of the herb garden on paper. The first thing to do after marking out the ground is to clean it of weeds, and dig it deeply. If the soil is inclined to be “sour,” it must be limed. Millipedes, leather-jackets, and other common insect pests must be eliminated and the plot must be well drained.

The herb garden which is here described is square, and in the centre is a round bed with an old, shell-shaped bird-bath fixed upon a sturdy log. Round the bath sweet-scented bergamot is planted, the bed being edged with dark blue dwarf lavender of the Munsted variety. Surrounding tire centre bed is a chamomile path from which, outwards and clockwise, other beds stretch, divided by narrow, crazy paths, each bed being filled with herbs of different kinds. Outside the. “clock” runs a circular paved path, while across the corners of the square lie four beds filled with sages, mints, thymes, and southenwood. Enclosing all is a hedge of sweet briar and honeysuckle.

Sweet Briar Hedge A herb garden proper should be enclosed. For a surrounding hedge sweet briar is very suitable, and as many varieties of the briar as possible should be used. A rosemary hedge is also most attractive and, being evergreen, is doubly valuable in winter, when it provides green and fragrant sprays for house decoration. Growing From Seed A great many herbs can be grown satisfactorily from seeds, but if this is done the preparation and tilth of the soil are of the first importance. A seed bed should be prepared by mixing thoroughly equal parts of garden soil leaf mould, and clean silver sand. The depth of sowing is largely determined by the size of the seeds—the smaller the seed the less the depth. Seeds sown in the autumn require more covering than those sown in spring. Boxes well bored for drainage are preferable to pots or seed pans. The best way of setting fine seeds in a shallow depth of soil is first to mix them with a little fine sand to ensure even distribution and strew them over the surface of the prepared boxes. Then a little fine dry earth should be shaken over them through the meshes of a sifter. If the weather is unfavourable, these boxes may be housed in a cold greenhouse. Swet and bush basil, both desirable herbs to grow, may be raised from seed sown in March, in heat, and transplanted in May to a warm and sheltered part of the herb garden.

Herbs for Pot-Pourri

Fennel may be sown in the open ground and borage also. The time to sow both pot and sweet marjoram is April. Plants of pot marjoram are best divided and transplanted in March or early April. Sage can be raised from seed with ease, but cuttings root readily under a hand-light. It is said that tarragon is becoming a scarce plant in this country, but In this garden it grows well. Although it is a true perennial, its roots should be divided and a fresh planting of tarragon made every year, or it is liable to perish.. Balm is apt to run wild if not restrained; dried, it makes a very sweet ingredient in pot-pourri, a tonic tea, and an excellent "farmhouse” wine.

The herb garden must be beautiful as well as useful, and so, among the green herbs, grow colourful plants, such as bergamot (for pot-pourri), the Italian orris, purple catmint, handsome golden elecampane, lilies, varieties of nasturtium, tall yellow mullein, poppies, and blue periwinkles. There are marigolds, too, the petals of which may be dried for use in broths and soups; they were once believed “to strengthen and comfort the heart.”

- Cures and Remedies

Among mints the common spearmint should not be allowed to have all its own way. There are peppermint (for cordials), apple mint, and penny royal with Its small purple flowers. Mullein is the plant of which Gerard wrote: “It can be made a manner of Torch, if it be tallowed,” referring to an old Roman custom of dipping the long straight stalks in melted fat and afterwards burning them. The leave.: of mullein, boiled in milk, were used of old as a remedy for coughs and colds. Nepeta, or catmint, with its purple flower, greyish leaves, and ratlin.- strong odour, was considered to be a cure for lunacy. It is best to get young nepeta plants from a nursery in spring and divide them in autumn when they have overgrown. The nasturtium we count as a herb because its leaves are so good in salads. The seeds, when pickled, somewhat resemble capers. Legend says that elecampane sprang from the tears of Helen of Troy. The root of this plant was once used by herbalists for its digestive virtues and against diseases of the chest.

Father: "Here, here! Why is my darling daughter crying?” Daughter: “Oh, I picked out in the fashion magazine the dress for the party ball to wear when I get rich—and now Marie says she’s going to have one just like it when she gets rich!” On the Danger List With a gloomy look on his face, the private came down the steps of the military hospital. “Hullo, Bill!” said a passing-com-rade. “And how is the sergeant-major this morning?” The private looked glum. “There's no hope,” he said sadly. “He returns to duty to-morrow."