Great Gardening Tips For Growing Herbs

We grow our own herbs here at Chickenmash Farm. It’s pretty easy and nothing tastes better than fresh herbs. You can tuck herbs anywhere. We grow herbs in our flower beds, garden and containers.

Let’s talk about growing herbs in containers. You want to use containers that drain well and you can use anything from a wicker basket to clay pots and even an old boot. An advantage to growing herbs in containers is you can move them around to the best location for sun or shade when needed on scotching summer days. You need to remember to water when drying out. Plants in containers dry out faster in the heat the plants grown directly in the ground. The great thing about growing most herbs is you can keep trimming the herbs and harvest the whole season.

Growing herbs in the garden has great advantages for you vegetable plants. We like to grow basil near our tomato plants. Basil helps tomatoes with insect control and improves flavor. Bee Balm is another great herb to grow with tomatoes. It helps improve health and flavor. Not to mention it’s a beautiful herb.

Rosemary is great to grow with you carrots as it helps repel the carrot fly. Rosemary is one of my favorites! We grow it in the garden, containers and flower beds. This is one herb we use not only for cooking but also in our Rosemary Mango Goat Milk Soap. It holds its flavor and fragrance even when dried. You can use the woody stems as a kabob skewer. While we’re talking carrot, chives are also a good herb to grow with carrots.

 Dill is a good plant to grow with cabbage to help with health and growth but doesn’t like to be near carrots. Honeybees like dill also. And we all know honeybees are a gardener’s best friend.

Flax is good to grow near potatoes to help repel Colorado potato beetle.

Now let’s talk flower beds. We grow herbs in our flower beds and use clay pots to contain herbs like mint. And it just gives the flower bed a decorative edge. We take clay pots and break the bottoms out. We then” plant the pot” so to speak. We leave the top half the pot sticking out of the ground and bury the bottom half. I leave the pot in the ground all year long.

We grow lots of lavender for our Legendary Lavender Goat Milk Soap and in the flower bed it adds color and a can be used as a hedge. You don’t have to use the same clay pot method we do in our flower beds but it is great for the mint family. Mints like to spread and take over so the pot helps hold them in place and it makes it easy to give the mint a haircut. Just trim the mint spilling outside the rim of your pot and you dry for later use. We all know it’s good in tea but you can also use dried mint to repel clothes moths. The dried leaves repel rats and mice too.
We can’t end without at least mentioning parsley. Parsley is one of those herbs we use all three methods, in the garden, in the flower bed and in containers. We love this one for our goats. Sometimes after giving birth goats will have a congested utter. Keep in mind a congested utter is different than a goat with mastitis. We have had amazing results by feeding parsley which is a natural diuretic.  It should not be used in excess with pregnant women as it has been shown to stimulate uterine contractions. Happy planting and exploring all the options herbs have to offer! 

Lavender Products from Chickenmash Farm

We love lavender at Chickenmash Farm. We grow a lot of our own lavender that we use in our soaps. For all things lavender be sure to check at our website. We use lavender in our Goat Milk Soap, Body Sprays, Candles, and Cream.

Featured Ingredient- Lavender

From time to time we like to feature some of the ingredients we use in our body care products. We’d like to reintroduce you to the timeless scent and benefits of Lavender.

Using herbs in your body care products is a satisfying way to indulge your skin with natural wholesome ingredients.

Origin of Lavender                                                                                                                                           Lavender is an old world plant or shrub belonging to the genus Lavandula, having spikes of fragrant, purple flowers.  Lavender has been known for its gentle and soothing fragrance since ancient times. Used by Greeks and Romans in the public baths, the word lavender is derived from the Latin word lavare, or to wash.

Lavender has many uses from culinary to medicinal to cosmetic.

Let’s talk about culinary. You can use Lavender to flavor ice cream, jams and vinegar to name a few. I’m not sure about the health benefits of cooking with it but it sure sounds fancy.

There are many medicinal benefits for using Lavender from calming nerves, to soothing headaches. Try putting Lavender flowers in a sachet and tuck it in your pillow. You’d be surprised how it can help a troubled sleeper relax and get some rest.

Now let’s talk about why and how we use Lavender in our products. We use both Lavender essential oil and Lavender flowers.

 We add Lavender flowers and Lavender essential oil to our Legendary Lavender Goat Milk Soap to make a great bar that is gentle and delicate for sensitive skin.

 We use Lavender essential oil in our Legendary Lavender body spray. Not only for the timeless scent of Lavender but for the calming benefits of Lavender in the air. Our sprays can be used as a body spray, room spray or linen spray.

 When we started our foot and body cream Lavender was a must. You can rub a little on your temples to help sooth a headache or on your hands at night to help you sleep.

 Summer Daze is our natural bug repellent body spray that has a combination of five different essential oils known to help repel bugs and lavender is one of them. We include Lavender in our Summer Daze spray to help repel ticks.

You can grow your own Lavender. We do! Here in Ohio it’s easy to grow in our flower and herb beds. We harvest the flowers and use them in our soap. It’s a beautiful plant and easy to cut and dry and add to flower arrangements or wreaths. Make your own Lavender & wild flower wreath for yourself or as a handmade gift for someone special.