garden remedies

I’ve long held an interest in the history and uses of different medicinal garden herbs and, wherever possible, I’ve tried to have at least a few beneficial herbs growing around. Since getting a proper garden to potter around in, the home pharmacy has expanded considerably and one of the first herbs to go in was chamomile.

This ancient and gentle medicinal herb has sedative qualities that reduce anxiety and aid in sleep and, as the owner of a brain that doesn’t always settle well at bedtime, is probably one of my most frequently used herbal remedies. The generic supermarket brand tea bags don’t really cut it for me, however, and wherever possible I prefer to get whole, dried flower heads. It does make for a more bitter tea but with that also comes a much stronger and quicker effect when sleep duty calls.

The apple-like fragrance, and tall wispy flower heads of chamomile also make it an attractive garden addition also. Its cheery yellow heads attract both native and European bees so I’m glad that it’s so readily self seeded through my vegetable patches, where it grows happily and abundantly alongside food crops.  As well as helping to connect with Morpheus, it is also a digestive aid, and can relieve hayfever symptoms – depending on what causes your allergies (for me it’s grass and pine pollen, so chamomile works well). Applied externally, a chamomile rinse can help with skin irritations and fungal infections. Used as a hair rinse, it can alleviate dandruff and scalp irritation.

As the number of plants has continued to increase exponentially through my garden, I’ve started to sell on some of my excess through my local farmer’s market. Much of the world’s chamomile is produced in Egypt, Mexico, central Europe and Argentina and, as it is frequently harvested by hand, labour costs in its production are also high. The time it takes to pick, for the amount you get as dry weight, makes it barely worth the effort to sell as an individual. However, even though my efforts probably translate to the princely sum of $1/hour in earnings, I think of it more as a free form of meditation, with a tiny cash reward at the end. One of the most pleasant things to do on a dry, warm summer morning is to sit beside a chamomile bush and delicately remove the fat flower heads – enjoying the birdsong and thinking of little else.