Healing power of herbs 

Kaz Selbie

Diversity and balance are vital for a healthy garden, farm and body. One way to achieve this is to plant herbs around your vegetables and fruit trees. Not only are they delicious in our food and beneficial for our health but they are also valuable in our gardens.  Herbs improve soil health and increase beneficial micro-organisms, allowing soil nutrients to be further available to surrounding plants. Intermingled throughout the garden herbs create a symbiotic relationship between plants which heightens the growth of both by increasing the available minerals in the root zone of their companions. AND lastly, their highly scented leaves and flowers confuse pests and attract predatory insects and birds.

Here are a few examples, but there are so many more to consider.

Basil loves tomatoes, peppers and eggplant and is known to enhance their flavour. It deters white flies, mosquitoes, hornworms, aphids, houseflies and asparagus beetles. Purple basil is particularly loved by bees.

Nasturtium also improves the flavour of tomatoes.  Being attractive to aphids it can be used as a ‘trap’ crop to entice them away from your vegetables.  Nasturtium provides nectar for bees and other pollinators and since it grows close to the ground it gives safe shelter for spiders and predatory ground beetles.

Lavender is great planted in rows between fruit trees to prevent pest infestation.  The strongly scented leaves and flowers ward off codling moth, caterpillars and bees love lavender.

Anise Hyssop attracts bees and pollinators.  Plant it in a row away from your garden to act as a magnet for cabbage butterflies, thus keeping them away from your cabbages, broccoli and kale.

Borage is beneficial with tomatoes and cabbage family plants, deterring tomato hornworm and cabbage butterflies. It attracts pollinators so plant around squash, melons, cucumber and fruit trees to increased pollination, encourage good bugs and ward off the hungry pests. Borage improves the soil and is great for the compost.

Chives and garlic are excellent to grow under fruit trees or around carrots, beets, strawberries, cabbage and lettuce. They repel carrot rust fly, aphids and fruit tree borers.  Chives and garlic absorbs potassium and calcium in their leaves, making them an excellent chop and drop fertilizer during the growing season.  They can be trimmed back and will happily regrow.

Thyme is a garden tonic herb enhancing the flavour of strawberries and repelling cabbage white butterflies from broccoli.  It also attracts hover flies which feed on aphids.  Like other Mediterranean herbs it doesn’t like too much water so plant slightly away from the watering line. 

Sunflowers enhance the growth of corn and maize.  The large flowers are a rich food source for pollinators, attracting birds which eat pests. 

Dill, fennel, lovage, coriander and parsley have deep tap roots, hollow stems and flat leaves with tiny, nectar-rich flowers forming on each stem.  The nectar in these tiny flowers are appealing to beneficial pollinating and predatory insects.

Chamomile nurses many plants as it sucks up potassium, calcium, sulphur, and phosphorus from deep in the soil and returns these nutrients to the soil when mulched. It attracts pollinators and beneficial insects which feed on caterpillars and when planted near other plants it improves vigour and yields.  Chamomile planted near onions and brassicas improves the flavour.

Marigold is strongly scented and kills root nematodes that damage vegetable crops and flowers.  Chop them up and drop on the soil surface at the end of the season or dig them into the garden once the flowers have faded. 

Calendula is a fabulous tonic for the whole garden. Its roots form an active relationship with soil microbes and beneficial fungi and the leaves accumulate minerals. The plant suppresses root nematodes just like marigolds.  The flowers are rich in nectar and resin making calendula is a beneficial plant for pollinators offering medicine as well as food to bees.  It also attracts predatory insects that prey on garden pests. Did you know calendula is used to mop up for dangerous levels of cadmium on land? Don’t use calendula after this as cadmium remains in the leaves and flowers.

Yarrow is very attractive to pollinators and predatory insects like ladybugs and lacewings.  It accumulates copper, potassium and phosphorous and when used as a mulch or allowed to break down in the soil, it returns these nutrients to the soil.

Comfrey should be planted away from vegetable garden in a position to allow its roots to spread. As a fast grower, comfrey can be cut back two or three times over the growing season, making it a beneficial cut and drop mulch with loads of minerals in the leaves that are valuable to other plants. Allowing a few comfrey plants to flower encourages bees and pollinators.

Clover is a nitrogen fixer and helps to build the soil.  Clover accumulates phosphorous as well as nitrogen in the leaves.  Blooming most seasons, it’s attractive to pollinators and predatory insects as well as bees and repels cabbage butterflies.  Planting clover under fruit trees and in garden walk ways allows the nitrogen to filter to nearby garden beds.

Herbs are not only good for our health but so good for soil and plant health too. The more herbs you have in your patch the more you encourage the good bugs; ladybugs, wasps, hover flies, lacewings and other predatory insects. These good bugs prey on caterpillars, aphids and other pests.  Herbs also attract butterflies who lay their eggs on the branches so leave a few stems in the garden over winter to encourage these beautiful creatures.

As you know, some of our biodynamic preparations consist of herbs to enhance and heal our soil and encourage optimal plant growth but planting herbs in your garden is also helpful. Have you got enough herbs in your garden?  

Note:- Please check with your local council to ensure the above herbs are not environmental or invasive weeds to your area.