THINGS TO DO
Born to be wild By Carissa Wills-DeMello
If you’ve got any sort of green thumb, then you’re surely delighted by the awakening of spring and by the plants rising from their winter slumber. For many of us, spring time means one thing more than any other: gardening. From juicy melons to bright cut flowers, the gardening options are endless. Gardening tantalizes our senses, gets our blood moving, and connects us with the cycles of nature here in New England. For those who want a gardening experience that is manageable and meaningful, focusing on a theme each year may serve you well. Perhaps last year you focused on planting perennial pollinator plants, and this year you’ll fall in love with annual vegetables. How about herbs? Herbs are a gardener’s dream – they can serve as medicine and culinary flavor, pollinator attractors, and cut flowers. They’re sort of a jack-of-all-trades class of plants! While herbs are often quite resilient and
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easy to grow, studies have even shown that when herbs experience a bit of stress, their flavor and medicinal compounds can be enhanced. So those who’ve struggled getting their garden going in the past might do well starting with herbs. Do I have your attention now? Let’s get planning!
Stewarding the “wild”
One beautifully simple way to grow an herb garden is to start with what you
April 2021 | The South Coast Insider
already have. Go ahead: grab a pen and paper, and possibly a field guide or an herbalist friend. Stroll your yard. Which plants already live there? Which tend to thrive and where? This exercise firstly can serve as an assessment of your growing conditions. But even more so, this can be your jumping off point to “tending the wild.” A multitude of beautiful medicinal and edible herbs can be found wild throughout New England: Yarrow, Saint John’s Wort, Violet, Mullein, Nettles, and Dandelion, to name a few. Befriending the wild plants that you already share your home with is a powerful way to connect with the land around you. You may be surprised by the profound effects on your spirit! While every yard will host a different array of wild herbs, depending on your soil type, sun exposure, and annual climate variations, here’s a few that are quite common and worth befriending:
Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) Proliferates in sunny, compacted soil, by roadsides and in backyards. Mullein is a
