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Adventures in Growing My Own Magical/Medicinal Herbs

Roma

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I suppose part of it may be based on ecological need as well as preference
Not the case here. There are various stellar energy flows. For example the parsley is attractive/transparent to some of the energies from the Pleiades. And coriander picks up light from the middle star in the belt of Orion. Long ago I was contacted by Mintaka a couple of times but Alnilam is new to me.

I need to be more strategic in plant choice.
 

Diluculo_DelFuego

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I still need to go to CVS and buy a couple herb kits to grow on a windowsill. There is so much stagnant air and energy in this apartment, it needs some life, and our Gnome statue may appreciate it. I want my own place so I can grow all herbs and such, including weed. I even want to start fruit trees, which will be a Michigan challenge. Could do berry bushes indoors in a grow cabinet I guess, but would need an onsite Edward scissor hands to constantly prune it.
 

Scottish_Pride

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I still need to go to CVS and buy a couple herb kits to grow on a windowsill. There is so much stagnant air and energy in this apartment, it needs some life, and our Gnome statue may appreciate it. I want my own place so I can grow all herbs and such, including weed. I even want to start fruit trees, which will be a Michigan challenge. Could do berry bushes indoors in a grow cabinet I guess, but would need an onsite Edward scissor hands to constantly prune it.
When growing plants indoors, most will at least sprout in a windowsill. But once there's more than one set of leaves on there, the vast majority of herbs will want more light than a windowsill. Unless you've got one of those sunrooms with multiple bigass windows on multiple sides, that is.

One easy way to get around this and still grow herbs indoors just fine, is to invest in a grow lamp. If you go this route, just find one to order online. LED lamps are what I'd recommend, as they last for years and are much more energy-efficient than other types. Some are expensive, especially if you're wanting to get a lot of light over a larger area. But I literally just bought a small one for $12, with a neck that stakes right into a single plant pot in order to shine light directly on the plant.
 

Diluculo_DelFuego

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Right on. A neighbor years back was illegally growing weed in his apartment. Despite the strong smell when they were flowering, he grew them pretty well with his setup. His setup was a AC unit, a fan or two, potted plants, miracle Grow, a reflective tent and a rack for grow lamps.
He did grow and produce some tasty Gorilla Glue #3.
 

Scottish_Pride

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I still need to go to CVS and buy a couple herb kits to grow on a windowsill. There is so much stagnant air and energy in this apartment, it needs some life, and our Gnome statue may appreciate it. I want my own place so I can grow all herbs and such, including weed. I even want to start fruit trees, which will be a Michigan challenge. Could do berry bushes indoors in a grow cabinet I guess, but would need an onsite Edward scissor hands to constantly prune it.
Oh yeah, one more thing. If you're getting one of those little cheap "Grow Your Own ____" kits, make sure the pot has holes in the bottom for water to drain out. Proper plant pots will always have drainage holes, and sometimes the ones in these kits don't. But this is usually easy to fix, if they're plastic. Just get a needle or an icepick or something, poke a couple holes in the bottom before using it.
 

Scottish_Pride

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It seems like it's been forever and a half since I posted last, so here's some more stuff for y'all:

Wormwood:
This is the very close cousin of a previously covered plant, mugwort. Though they both don't like a ton of water and heat, therefore providing some challenges to me growing them, wormwood seems to have held up much better. My mugwort has completely died at this point, sadly. The floods just got too much for it last year, and I did not plant it in a good enough place to endure them. Lessons have been learned.

While they both seem to have a sort of reserved nature about them energetically, wormwood has a much more masculine vibe to complement the deep lunar impression I got from the mugwort. Almost like two sides of a coin, even if their traditional uses in magic overlap quite a bit. This is a perfect example of why I get so much mileage out of getting to know the herbs themselves before doing workings with them, because rote correspondences will never tell the full story. While two plants may technically be used to do the same thing, one can lend itself to a wildly different approach from the other. Each type of plant brings its own unique personality to the table, and the best magician is one that takes this into account. An even better magician is able to combine ingredients knowing how each component can work together, in a way that is more synergistic than just "This thing is for this, this one for that."

While I have had my one wormwood plant for a few years now, which is currently loving the intense dry spell that's been going on this year, I actually got myself a second one recently. There's this variety that was on clearance at work, called "Parfum d'Ethiopia'. It's got a very pungent smell, that I can only describe as a jar of green olives but more bitter. I actually kinda like it in a weird way, even though you can't use it culinarily as far as I know. With this plant being marked down for dirt cheap, my further justification for buying it was that I may be moving sometime next year. While it may be possible to root a cutting of my current wormwood plant to take with me, it is much easier to just have a plant that's already in a pot and ready to go. So for the time being, in a pot this one shall stay. It'll hopefully be much happier with the better drainage in a pot vs in the ground, anyhow.

I've read before that wormwood can be used as a moth repellant, so recently I used some of mine as a "DIY moth ball" for a drawer that's been getting suspicious holes in all the clothes. I did this by packing a bunch of leaves in to a coffee filter, and tying it shut like a bag. I bagged it up in a second coffee filter for good measure, and shoved it into that there drawer. For most of the clothes in this drawer, I don't really care too much about little moth holes appearing, so this was more just a fun little experiment than anything. Also a way to make some use out of what was left after cutting the plant back some, in order to keep it nice and bushy.


Gotu Kola
This is yet another one of the plant species that I did not know existed, until big flats of it got plopped right onto the tables at work. The sign had medicinal properties on it like "Helps body adapt to stress", "Helps with fatigue, joint problems, anxiety and depression." To which I immediately said, "Shut up and take my money!"

Upon further research, this is a tropical/subtropical plant that is very valued in Eastern medicinal practices. You can also use the peppery foliage like a leafy green, both fresh and cooked. Since I'm always looking for low-effort ways to not eat like my stomach is a garbage can, I've been shoving a bit of this bad boy in everything from red beans and rice, to curry, ramen and sandwiches. At least to me, it has a very versatile taste that can be "hidden" well with anything that has a reasonable amount of flavor. Like most of the weird edible shit that grows well here, my family has yet to take me up on the offer to try some. Oh well, more for me!

According to my research, this plant needs lots of water and does not stand up to any sort of freezing or near-freezing weather. However, it is also known to be invasive in my part of the country. Which makes sense, since we are hotter and wetter than a One Direction fangirl discovering online smut fanfiction for the first time. In order to keep this plant contained, I put it in a semi-shady area, in a bed that's already mostly taken over by milkweed. Though it seems to be alive and well at this point, it's not taking off like I anticipated. Though it may have done better with more sunlight, I believe the real culprit is the insane dry spell this area's been having for the past few months. We haven't had a proper wrath-of-God flood since March! Can you even believe that? At the same time, it's been over 100 F just about every single day for the past few weeks. This has created a recipe for disaster when it comes to things drying out faster than I can even turn my head, and overall I have been having to constantly water plants that haven't needed a human watering them in years. Almost everything is affected right now, and some plants like the basil are simply not growing as fast as they have in previous years, due to less water. I have been trying as much as I can to lug my sweaty ass out there with hose in tow, but you can only water so much. I swear you can't fucking win in this bipolar ass climate. Tailor everything to surviving constant floods, then along comes a drought.

Sorry about that little rant, y'all. This has a pain in my everloving ass as of late. Though supposedly a tropical storm is now forecast for later this week, so there may be relief on its way. Never thought I'd see the day where I wanted it to rain. XD
 

Girlinthefields

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Some Minor Updates:

The tulsi basil seedlings I had are now getting close to a mature size. However, the leaf shape is nothing like their parent plants! I had grabbed the seeds from some flowering "Rama" and "Amrita" varieties, and the leaves of this second generation look much more like the "Kapoor" or "Vana" varieties. I'll love em just the same, but I feel like this perfectly demonstrates what I've read about tulsi basil propagation being a genetic toss-up. At least when you're harvesting seeds from plants that are possibly cross-pollinating with other nearby basils.

The moringa is having a tough go of it with how rainy this summer has been. Still growing quickly, but leaves from the lowest branches and upward seem to be discoloring after a while. I'm currently trying to at least pick some of these off in time to harvest, and leave the higher growth to stay healthier. In the mean time I'm drying the leaves I collect, first by air-drying for a few hours after washing. Then I pop these bad boys in the microwave to thoroughly dehydrate all the way, because prolonged hang-drying methods tend to result in herbs getting messed with by the cats. Moringa leaves seem to dry out rather nicely, forming a brittle pile afterward. Though I've tried it in some ramen and it turned out pretty good, my goal is to store as much as I can for the time of the year my moringa tree will be dormant.


I'll probably be coming out with stuff on more plants soon. Kinda got a lot going on right now.
Hi there. I think its fantastic what you are doing. I personally love growing my own herbs and have been at it for past 3-4 years. As I am in Brazil, the climate is a bit of a challenge but I also feel that the plants/herbs will strive exactly in accordance with tjeir personality. For me, Rue is the most stubborn so far. If it doesnt like you, it will not grow. I have a special bond with my own Rue and probably for that reason, she now gave me several offsprings. But they will stay only where they get born, not a chance to replant or give it to someone.
Also, nobody else can touch the Rue, its really pickly.

But it is amazing as a protective plant. You know if someone has a bad energy very quickly.
 

Girlinthefields

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Alrighty, so here's some more:

Angelica
My experience with this herb, was sadly, very short. I bought myself a plant, and it died of what I think may have been root rot a month later. I do want to try again someday, because DAMN the energy I felt off of it was impressive. Just wham. A bolt of its own overwhelming, burning force right in your face. Definitely the strongest thing I've encountered when it comes to an herb for banishing/exorcism, maybe just a tad harsh even.


Tulsi Basil
This is a lesser-known type of basil, also called sacred basil or holy basil. It has had significant medicinal and spiritual connotations in India for centuries, especially in Hinduism. We happened to have some plants at work for a while that were giving seeds, and out of curiosity I gently pulled some off to bring home. These seeds got planted a bit ago, and they're just now starting to go from seedlings to being juvenile plants. They're currently nowhere near big enough to pick from. But when they are, I may try a recipe for combining it with black tea.


Lavender
My relationship with this plant is one I can only describe as that of unrequited love. I absolutely adore the calming smell and general comfy feel of lavender, but it seems to never stick around for long during my sad attempts at cultivation. My climate in particular makes lavender very challenging as a live plant, as both the rainfall and humidity go directly against its need to stay dry. The best thing you can do is keep it in a terra cotta pot, with lots of perlite or gravel mixed into the soil. The more drainage, the better. Throwing a tiny bit of lime or wood ash into the soil mix could also further help, to get soil pH level slightly alkaline. Once the plant's in the pot, basically just ignore it really hard. Hardly feed it, never water unless it's visibly drooping. Lavender wants nothing more than to be abused, and is the biggest masochist of the plant world I've ever seen. Giving it the neglect it needs is honestly the part I struggle with the most, as my first instinct is to just smother plants in love and resources.
Yep, you are right about lavender. It likes sun and dry ground. If it gets really wet at your end, put some builders sand around it and plant it on a slope so that the water drains in or down ...i also cut it fully back once a year and it will come back again beautifully...
I do have the local variety here though (Brazil)..the French one is more gentle ...
 

Scottish_Pride

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Hi there. I think its fantastic what you are doing. I personally love growing my own herbs and have been at it for past 3-4 years. As I am in Brazil, the climate is a bit of a challenge but I also feel that the plants/herbs will strive exactly in accordance with tjeir personality. For me, Rue is the most stubborn so far. If it doesnt like you, it will not grow. I have a special bond with my own Rue and probably for that reason, she now gave me several offsprings. But they will stay only where they get born, not a chance to replant or give it to someone.
Also, nobody else can touch the Rue, its really pickly.

But it is amazing as a protective plant. You know if someone has a bad energy very quickly.
Oh yeah, I remember my rue plant. That thing did pretty well for a while, but then one of our flash floods killed it. It does seem to be one of those plants that wants just the right kind of conditions, and not much else.

That was actually my go-to herb for hex breaking, until I found out I developed an allergy to it. After handling a bunch of the plants at work, my arms started breaking out in blisters really bad. Apparently this is a very common reaction to rue, though it means I probably shouldn’t try growing it again. Sad.

Brazil’s in the tropics, right? If so, you may have success growing moringa year-round. That thing seems to be very resilient, with its only real weakness being cold. Same with gotu kola.
 

Girlinthefields

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Oh yeah, I remember my rue plant. That thing did pretty well for a while, but then one of our flash floods killed it. It does seem to be one of those plants that wants just the right kind of conditions, and not much else.

That was actually my go-to herb for hex breaking, until I found out I developed an allergy to it. After handling a bunch of the plants at work, my arms started breaking out in blisters really bad. Apparently this is a very common reaction to rue, though it means I probably shouldn’t try growing it again. Sad.

Brazil’s in the tropics, right? If so, you may have success growing moringa year-round. That thing seems to be very resilient, with its only real weakness being cold. Same with gotu kola.
I had that skin reaction too but not to Rue. It is one of the grasses that gives me that kind of blisters rash...

I am a bit more to the South so its more cooler in some periods of the year. But yes, Moringa generally does great but I did not succeed yet. This year will give it a go again, just waiting for the rainy season.

The ground here is very clay like so it gets dry cracks in the winter which is not kind to some plants. For that reason, I have to start the Moringa in the pot otherwise it will get 'strangled' by the dry ground...and only when large enough, replant it and protect it from the ants who love it and will strip it of leaves in one night ...

But I have been building up the soil by cover crops and stuff like that to make it more pleasant for all...

Also, I am slowly learning about what plants like what so have been having more success with Rosemary, Rue, Lavender and Thyme for example...

But its really nice.

Btw, I also love growing ginger and curcuma...really easy and of course great for cooking and teas.
 

Scottish_Pride

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I had that skin reaction too but not to Rue. It is one of the grasses that gives me that kind of blisters rash...

I am a bit more to the South so its more cooler in some periods of the year. But yes, Moringa generally does great but I did not succeed yet. This year will give it a go again, just waiting for the rainy season.

The ground here is very clay like so it gets dry cracks in the winter which is not kind to some plants. For that reason, I have to start the Moringa in the pot otherwise it will get 'strangled' by the dry ground...and only when large enough, replant it and protect it from the ants who love it and will strip it of leaves in one night ...

But I have been building up the soil by cover crops and stuff like that to make it more pleasant for all...

Also, I am slowly learning about what plants like what so have been having more success with Rosemary, Rue, Lavender and Thyme for example...

But its really nice.

Btw, I also love growing ginger and curcuma...really easy and of course great for cooking and teas.
Oh yeah, we have shitty clay soil here too! It’s such a pain. Most of my successful in-ground plants are in slightly raised garden beds that have already had years of layered mulches breaking down to improve the soil. I compost and “lasagna garden” religiously, too.

Most of this has been in the back of the house, though, while the front area looks like trash due to that clay. I’m actually working on a project this fall to start improving the soil in the front, by adding a couple inches of compost and wood chips. Gonna be doing a cover crop on top of that, once it cools down a little more next month.

I’ve heard ginger is easy to grow in this area, but I haven’t tried it yet. Sweet potato’s taken up the “spreading summer root crop” niche for the moment. What’s cucurma, though?
 

Scottish_Pride

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Considered indoor closet growing cabinets?
I haven’t felt the need to yet, since I’m lucky to have an outside area for growing stuff. However, I plan on moving next year, which may entail giving up that wonderful luxury. In which case, that’s a thing I’ve considered building along with more container gardening if I can score balcony space.

I’ve also been experimenting with some indoor plants this year, including my first bonsai project with a jasmine plant. It’s…..not been as successful as outdoor growing so far. I think I keep overestimating the amount of water plants need when indoors. Let’s just say great I have such a generous employee discount on plants to let me keep experimenting. 😅
 

Diluculo_DelFuego

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Right on, im envious of you all. About the only safe plants I could grow would be cat grass and catnip, until a new place where I can grow a tray of herbs up high somewhere in sunlight. Am going to spend five bucks and plant some herbs and flowers while walking.
 

Girlinthefields

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Oh yeah, we have shitty clay soil here too! It’s such a pain. Most of my successful in-ground plants are in slightly raised garden beds that have already had years of layered mulches breaking down to improve the soil. I compost and “lasagna garden” religiously, too.

Most of this has been in the back of the house, though, while the front area looks like trash due to that clay. I’m actually working on a project this fall to start improving the soil in the front, by adding a couple inches of compost and wood chips. Gonna be doing a cover crop on top of that, once it cools down a little more next month.

I’ve heard ginger is easy to grow in this area, but I haven’t tried it yet. Sweet potato’s taken up the “spreading summer root crop” niche for the moment. What’s cucurma, though?
Oh sorry, here I go again mixing the names...curcuma is turmeric....No doubt you will know it. I use it for just about anything.
Last year I did a first batch of calendula salve and added ground turmeric from the garden together with lavender oil. It saved me when I fell on a metal rod last month and made a nice hole in my leg ...

As for the soil, I am going with the forest permaculture system. Planted a lot of trees and underneath go with the lower growing bushes etc. Banana trees are great for that so planning to plant some more too together with native plants. Also, the chop and drop method is perfect for me. I can't get my hands on woodchips so try to make use of what's around lol.

I wish I could do more raised beds as it would be easier to control the soil but it will take me some time to get there. Hubbie works so it's me and the shovel only haha.

Sweet potatoes are great. I tested it last season, got it to grow well but did not get as many potatoes as it needs watering when the dry season hits and I have only now set up sime sprinkle system so lets see next season. Fingers crossed. I did suceed nicely with tomatoes though...who knew that milk would be the best weapon against the fungus on the leaves...
 

Girlinthefields

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I haven’t felt the need to yet, since I’m lucky to have an outside area for growing stuff. However, I plan on moving next year, which may entail giving up that wonderful luxury. In which case, that’s a thing I’ve considered building along with more container gardening if I can score balcony space.

I’ve also been experimenting with some indoor plants this year, including my first bonsai project with a jasmine plant. It’s…..not been as successful as outdoor growing so far. I think I keep overestimating the amount of water plants need when indoors. Let’s just say great I have such a generous employee discount on plants to let me keep experimenting. 😅
I have learned that lesson rather painfully....smothering my plants with love, or so I thought, generously watering only to kill them all....now I just keep them in and forbid anyone to water at all...once a week in summer, once in two weeks in winter...but i only have like 3 pots inhouse. Still afraid of myself lol
 

Girlinthefields

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Btw, do you guys in different parts of the world know and use a plant called Guiné? I think it may be called Anamu in other places.
It's really popular here for spiritual and medicinal uses (even though it can be toxic if not used properly). I only came to know it when I moved here hence why I am asking...
 

Scottish_Pride

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Oh sorry, here I go again mixing the names...curcuma is turmeric....No doubt you will know it. I use it for just about anything.
Last year I did a first batch of calendula salve and added ground turmeric from the garden together with lavender oil. It saved me when I fell on a metal rod last month and made a nice hole in my leg ...

As for the soil, I am going with the forest permaculture system. Planted a lot of trees and underneath go with the lower growing bushes etc. Banana trees are great for that so planning to plant some more too together with native plants. Also, the chop and drop method is perfect for me. I can't get my hands on woodchips so try to make use of what's around lol.

I wish I could do more raised beds as it would be easier to control the soil but it will take me some time to get there. Hubbie works so it's me and the shovel only haha.

Sweet potatoes are great. I tested it last season, got it to grow well but did not get as many potatoes as it needs watering when the dry season hits and I have only now set up sime sprinkle system so lets see next season. Fingers crossed. I did suceed nicely with tomatoes though...who knew that milk would be the best weapon against the fungus on the leaves...
Yeah I’m too cheap for wood chips, myself. I just loot bags of leaves from all the neighbors as well as using my own. There’s tons of pine needles as well, but those take forever to break down.

Milk as a fungicide?? How does it work? That sounds useful as FUCK
 
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