‘Gardening with Herbs’ Gardening With Herbs Through a sustainable lens With Norma Weinberg, www.herbsdottir.com Master Gardener, passionate plant person What is Sustainable Gardening? Sustainable gardening is low maintenance, eco-friendly and often mimics nature.
Composting Recycles and enriches
Conserving water resources Water is precious, it needs to be protected. You can use ground covers and mulch to enable soils to hold water. Grow Native Plants (suitable for your climate and area)
Harvest and save herb and flower seeds Try to use heirloom seeds and plants Companion Planting
Plants that:
Benefit each other Attract or deter pests Help to improve the soil Improve a crop’s flavor Choosing Plants Marigolds deter pests & release toxins through its roots to kill nematodes.
Nasturtiums act as a trap to draw pests away from the main crop as: roses and lettuce. Fennel attracts beneficials Pollinators are: bees, butterflies, hover flies, and ladybugs (control aphid pests). Weeds: Friend or Foe?
Dandelion and Dock can help condition your soil. They bring trace minerals to the soil surface, where fruit trees roots can access them. Stinging Nettle (Urtica Urens) These ‘weeds’ support more than 40 beneficial insects, and are vital for the survival of some butterflies and moth larvae.
Some Weeds: Companion Plants?
Plantain (Plantago sp.) & Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
All around good friends for the plants and for you, minerals for the plants and remedies for you
Yarrow
Catnip Bronze Fennel Ginger Lovage
Chamomile Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) Lavender Lemon Balm
Aloe Arnica Calendula Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) Cranberry Echinacea
Garlic St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum)