Herb Spotlight: Calendula

Calendula-Calendula officinalis

Calendula is a wonderful little herb. While commonly called pot marigold, it's not related to marigolds. Botanically speaking, it's a member of the Asteraceae family meaning it's more like a daisy than a marigold.

Because of that, if you're allergic to pollens of flowers from that family (namely ragweed), it's better to avoid it since it can cause a similar allergic reaction. The NIH also recommends that it not be taken if you're also taking certain sedatives. A tea made with calendula should not be consumed during pregnancy. As always, please make sure to take medicinal herbs with caution and knowledge!

However, it's still a safe herb to use and is often used by herbalist. The flowers are eatable (although some find it bitter), can be made into a tea, and used topically. It's typically used to treat  sore throat and mouth, menstrual cramps, and ulcers. Calendula has anti-inflamatory properties so it can be used to help clear up acne and rashes (provided the user isn't allergic!). It's also used to help with pain, swelling and to heal wounds. Neat!

Here's a handy, dandy how-to on making your own calendula oil which you can use straight or in making a cream or salve (depending on how you like to use it).

What you'll need:

1. Clean jar with a lid  (I use a mason jar because I can and always have them on hand) 

1. Dried calendula petals* (grow your own or order them from a green friendly place like Rose Mountain Herbs)

1. Oil (You can use almost any oil but I recommend a skin friendly oil like jojoba, grapeseed, olive or coconut. I like a half and half blend of olive and coconut)

Make your oil:

There are two methods you can use; cold infusion or hot infusion. I'll explain both

Cold infusion:
This is the easiest method and you can do this with a lot of different herbs, not just calendula. It's also a preferred method because herbs can be delicate and heating can destroy some of that herby goodness.

1. Fill your clean jar with your dried herbs (about half way full...so you'll want to decided what size jar you're going to use when you buy/harvest your herbs). 

1. Top with your oil. Fill the jar up as far as you can without spillage (otherwise you can end up with your very own slip and slide kitchen floor.)

1. Put a lid on it!     

1. Once your jar is closed up tight, you'll want to keep it in a warm sunny place for 3-4 week. Shake it every once in a while and watch the beautiful golden color develop (if you're using calendula)

1. After a month or so, you'll want to strain your herbs out of your oil. You can use a tea strainer, muslin, cheese cloth or my favorite, a jelly bag ( I like the jelly bag because I can let it drain out with very little effort or monitoring on my part.)

That's it! You are done, my friend, and you can keep your oil in a sealed container for up to a year (a dark place is better than in full light) or use it in other products you want to make.

Heat infusion:
I use this method because I work with coconut oil a lot and it tends to solidify if it dips below 80 or so (which is also why I blend it with olive oil to create a slightly more liquid oil). You can also use this method if you don't want to wait a month to enjoy your oil.

What you'll need:
In addition to the supplies above, you'll need something to heat your oil in like a crock-pot, a sauce pan or a double boiler. I use a double boiler because I'm lazy and there isn't as much risk of burning your oil this way.

1. Take your herbs and oil and add them to your choice of vessel (crock-pot, sauce pan, etc...)

1. Heat these herbs and oil on low for 2- 4 hours. Yep, two to four hours. If you can stand to do it longer, go for it but remember, you have to stir frequently because you just want the oil to heat, not cook.

1. After you've finished heating this mixture, let it cool. If you're using an oil that solidifies (like coconut), don't let it cool to the point that it hardens so you might have to strain it while it's still pretty warm. Other wise, let the mixture cool and stain out the herbs in the same method as cold infusion.

1. This oil store the same way you would the cold infused oil.

And there you have it! A lovely oil made with your calendula.

Here's some baby calendula from my herb garden last year!

*Use dried herbs because fresh herbs contain moisture, meaning water, and water in an oil infusion can lead to the oil turning rancid. Aside from losing all your hard work, you could have a stinky mess on your hand or botulism.  People do use fresh herbs from time to time and are just fine but why risk it?

Plant of the day: Tomato

By far, the most prevalent thing in my garden is always tomatoes. I love tomatoes, especially home grown ones. I can't eat store bought/hot house tomatoes any longer because the taste simply doesn't compare. I've also read Tomatoland which is kind of a downer if you were ever at the store thinking you were making some good choices while shopping.

The good news is you'll never have a better tomato than the one you grow yourself! They taste like actual tomatoes since these ones are grown for flavor.

Common name: Tomato
Scientific name: Solanum lycopersicum
Also Known As: pomi d’oro (golden apple)
An incredibly brief history: A staple of many traditional European cuisines, tomatoes actually originate from South America, specifically the Andes mountains. Strange but true! From there, it made its way to Europe thanks to Spanish explorers by the 1500s. While it seems natural that the tomato would have made its way north, it was introduced there by Europeans as well. Now, you can find tomatoes almost anywhere and are a popular back yard garden veggie.

  Fun facts:

• Tomatoes were once thought to be posionous. The fruit is safe to eat however, the plant does contain Solanine and Tomatine which can be poisonous. The leaves of a tomato plant do have more solanine and tomatine than the fruit and should not be consumed as greens or in large amounts.
• The name lycopersicum means 'wolf peach' because it was once believed that nightshades were used to summon werewolves. 
• Botanically, the tomato is a fruit but is colloquially thought of as a vegetable because of the way we eat it. Furthermore, it's this strange distinction that allowed it to be classified as a vegetable for the purpose of imposing tariffs on the crop in the 1800s. NIX v. HEDDEN, 149 U.S. 304 (1893)

Herb Spotlight: Basil, Ocimum basilicum

Anyone who's been to my garden know that one of my favorite, favorite herbs is basil. I grow it everywhere. I love the smell, the taste, the color...every thing. It's a pretty useful plant too. Who doesn't have a bottle of dried basil in their spice rack? I've been known to eat it right out of the garden just as readily as I'll throw copious amounts in a a pasta sauce or pesto.

It's used in all kinds of cooking; Italian, Thai and a handful of other Asian cuisines. Everyone is probably pretty familiar with this mint. Did you know it's a mint? It is! It's also known as St. Joseph's Wort too. And there are tons of cultivers of basil as well--sweet basil, Genovese basil , spicy globe basil, boxwood basil, magical Michael , dark opal basil , Cuban basil, Thai basil, cinnamon basil, Mrs. Burns lemon basil, just to name a few. I'm fond of lemon and lime basil because it adds such a wonderfully citrus scent to my garden when I brush by it.

Basil in amongst the veggies

I like to plant it in with my tomatoes and peppers. It's said to improve the flavor of tomatoes and I've found it is pretty effective in keeping some bugs away too. (Other bugs will flock to it and it seems to do nothing for grasshoppers which are usually the biggest problem where I live.) Just as a side note, basil shouldn't be grown next to rue, it will inhibit its grown. As an additional aside, Basil and Rue Don't Get Along sound like the title of a fascinating BBC program.

Sweet basil just starting out in my herb garden

So basil is a pretty handy friend in the garden and quintessential spice to have on hand but did you know that it has medicinal properties as well?

It does indeed!  Here are just a few of the uses for basil outside the kitchen.

• Basil is rich in antioxidants so it can be a boost for your immune system
• A tea made from basil, particularly tulsi (holy basil) can be used to make a sore throat feel better, help bring a fever down faster, and even help reduce cholesterol
• Dried basil leaves can be used to make a tooth paste which can help freshen breath
• Basil oil or a tea made from the leaves can also help reduce stress and are reputed to help sharpen memory.

Tulsi basil just starting out in my garden. It got about a foot and a half tall.

So next time you're in the supermarket, buying plants or seed for your garden, consider how useful basil could be to you!

Disclaimer: Now I'll say you shouldn't run out to your garden instead of going to the doctor and I'm not a doctor, I don't even play one on TV so this isn't a substitution for medical care. Herbs can also cause adverse reactions or reactions just like prescription medication so make sure you do your research and that you use herbal remedies safely.

Plant of the day: Succulents

In my 2012 garden, I fell in love with succulents and I'm really not sure why I hadn't just been putting them absolutely everywhere prior to that point. Succulents are awesome because they play up to some of my best strengths, namely abandonment and forgetting to water things.

From July, you can see some of the plants are getting big!

Now, I know that these two skills might make me a terrible gardener but somehow my garden always makes it. In fact this year, it got so large I started calling it Jurassic Park. I had tomatoes that would have been taller than me if they hadn't been weighed down by their fruit and 12 ft tall sunflowers (they drove the squirrels crazy!). Once the plants started producing--and you'd be surprised how many tomatoes 23 plants produce...or not--I was a lax photographer so unfortunately, I don't have the pictures where there was plants everywhere!

But back to my succulents. They're great because they're very low maintenance. They like the hot and they like the dry. Plus (and this may not be a plus for everyone) they don't get out of control big. I like to use them in containers because I can then move them around the yard.

Succulents fall into a fairly broad category of plants and even definitions. If you're a botany nerd, such as I am, you'll know that there are a lot of different orders and families that fall into the common term of succulents. Now, I'm not wild about cacti so the succulents I usually plant fall into the family Crassulaceae.  That's mostly because I have a habit of groping plants. Yes, I commit plant frottage.

What this means (the plant family, not my need to touch them) is that I like to plant succulents like Hen and Chicks or Jade. So those are some succulents that are easy to come by and if you plant them in containers, you can bring them inside during the summer so you can enjoy them year round!

Plant of the day-Cosmos bipinnatus

One of my favorite flowers for my garden would be Cosmos. What you most commonly find in gardens is dubbed garden cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) but there are many different species out there. In some areas, it can become an invasive species however, here in Colorado they don't seem to be a problem. The best part about our climate here is that you can usually get an spring and fall bloom (due to hotter summer temps around here) These flowers love the sun and will tollerate the heat as long as they get enough water.

One plant from last year's garden which decided to pop up in this space despite not having been planted here! 

 They're annuals but they'll self seed fairly easily, as evident by my little volunteer above. I usually have a rule in my garden to plant annuals in containers and perennials in the ground but cosmos are so happy and colorful, I don't mind the extra work.

Some cosmos in the brown pot on the left hand side

Back in the sadle: How I spent my summer

I meant to document this through out the summer last year. Of course when you're doing demo work and putting in 320 sq ft of garden beds, time can get away from you. However, it's the winter now and while I'm waiting for the seeds to sprout and the ground to thaw, I can start updating my blog again. So here's how my amazing garden came to be!

Part of the backyard makeover involved taking out a deck and a sidewalk. The old deck was a bi-level deck that was composed of two 18X18 sections. It was fairly unsafe because (as we found out when we were taking it apart) the beams were a little too far apart and the top section lacked hand-railing. I'm sure back in the day, the deck was a big selling point... like if you're a big bbq-er or I don't know, whatever else people do on decks. The deck and the backyard were not the reason we were drawn to the house. Under our care, the deck mostly became a halfway house for foxes and raccoons. Which is clearly what the suburbs needed.

Well we ended up taking out the whole deck (which is where I found out I really like tearing things apart) and I smashed out the side walk. That looked like this.

Seriously, I love smashing concrete

This is what the new deck looks like. We played with some of the porportions and unfortunately this picture is not an in progress one and you can see that we started paving already.

The deck still isn't stained and it's sort of a work surface but it's still a neat deck

We used two different patterns to give ourselves some additional options for parties. The pavers that were put down in a traditional grid form the garden path and the diagonal pavers form a little patio where we have a chimina

As for the pavers, well we took out all of the grass on one side of the backyard and reclaimed the area from the old deck. This is 500 of the 1000 pavers that we purchase to put down between the raised garden beds. We put the beds in first so that we could lay out the pavers correctly. Those boxes by the way are made out of the old deck! It wasn't treated lumber so all we did was sand off any remaining stain and built these amazing raised beds.