Open Source Apothecary At Home / Growing it
Growing it
How to grow, harvest and dry the plants themselves — and what the agronomy literature says about potency
The plants behind everything else in this handbook, and how to actually get them. The point of growing your own is not thrift — it is that you control the two things that decide potency, which are the moment of harvest and the method of drying, and those are the two stages where commercial material most often loses what you were paying for. The agronomy literature is unusually specific here: drying temperature measurably changes essential-oil composition, harvest timing measurably changes active-compound content, and storage conditions measurably degrade what you saved. This section covers site and soil, propagation, the crop-by-crop specifics for a zone 6a hillside in West Virginia, harvesting at the right developmental stage, drying it so the volatile compounds survive, and foraging the plants that are better taken from the wild than planted.
11 entries
Chamomile and calendula: the two annuals worth the space
Both flower in their first year, both are harvested daily at their peak, and both will reseed themselves if you let them.
growingDrying and storing so the potency survives
Drying method changes active-compound content measurably. The wrong one turns medicine into brown, odourless leaf.
growingForaging the wild medicinals — and the five rules that keep it safe
Nettle, plantain, dandelion, violet and yarrow grow wild here in quantity. The risk is never scarcity; it is misidentification and contamination.
growingGrowing medicinal herbs: what actually decides potency
You control two things a commercial supplier cannot: when it is cut and how it is dried. Almost everything else is secondary.
growingHarvesting at the right moment
The single biggest difference between home-grown medicine and commercial material is that you can cut on the day, not on the schedule.
growingMints, lemon balm and the easy aromatics
The plants that pay for themselves in year one — and the ones you should never let into open ground.
growingPerennial medicinals: echinacea, valerian, milk thistle, St John's wort
Three of these need cold stratification to germinate and a full season before you harvest anything. Plan accordingly.
growingPropagation: seed, cuttings, division and stratification
The reason your echinacea never germinated is dormancy, not bad luck. Some seed needs cold, some needs light, some needs scarifying.
growingRoots, rhizomes and bulbs: garlic, ginger, turmeric, and the root crops
Garlic wants winter. Ginger and turmeric want the opposite — warmth, a long season, and to be lifted before the cold.
growingThe Mediterranean herbs: lavender, rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage
The hardest and most rewarding group here. Everything in this page comes back to drainage — winter wet kills these plants far more often than winter cold.
growingWoody medicinals, and the plants that need a pot
Elderberry, hawthorn and rose are planted once and harvested for decades. Aloe and tea tree never survive the winter here without help.
growing