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Organic growers of medicinal herb seeds, medicinal herb plants, organic vegetable seeds and organic garden seeds
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Strictly Medicinal Seeds Newsletter
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We are happy and busy
here in Southern Oregon, growing and shipping FRESH ORGANIC SEEDS, LIVE ROOTS and ORGANIC PLANTS. Feel free to take advantage of the goodness by contacting us through our handy website at strictlymedicinalseeds.com. Meanwhile, it is fun to connect with you through this newsletter, where we can give a few tips on how to diversify your greenhouse, herb gardens, shade gardens or forest lands.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Richard A. (Richo) Cech
Strictly Medicinal LLC
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The Medicinal Herb Grower
The Medicinal Herb Grower Vol 1 on sale for $15.00 each. Sale ends Nov 1, 2017. This book is entirely loaded with practical advice for the small-scale medicinal herb farmer, the home gardener of medicinal herbs, and the horticulturalist on the lookout for ways to grow the oddest plants on earth. If you are having trouble taking advantage of every season in the cycle of growing plants for food, medicine and environment, then this book will help you immensely. There is a lot in here about making potting soil, methods of medicinal herb propagation and about fall sowing of seeds. Here's a quote from page 118 under the heading Multicycle germination. "I visualize the passing of seasons as temperature oscillation over time, which when graphed, produces the familiar wave pattern that one sees as the body print of the snake, or the form of waves on the beach, or the progress of a wave of light. It is the oscillation of seasonal temperature that softens the seed coat, stimulates the embryo, and eventually ignites the magic."
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Fresh Organic Seeds
There are a few seeds out there that truly must be planted in the fall for germination in the spring. These include Ginseng, Elderberries and Poppies. Ginseng seed is best sown 1 inch deep in forest or shade garden. Rake back the mulch, plant the seeds 1 foot apart and 1/2 inch deep, then rake the mulch back over the planting. Spring germination is almost assured. It may be helpful to put up knee-high brush fences around the patch, to keep deer from stepping on the spring seedlings. We had an extraordinary year on Elderberries, both Black and Blue. Cleaning them from the berries, we found them to be fat, and the juice of the berries made good elderberry syrup, too! Sow elderberry seeds in deep flats of potting soil in the fall and they will germinate reliably in the spring. This is a really important herbal fruit as it comes in very handy around flu season! Poppy (Papaver somniferum) is supplied in generous packets so you can prepare an outdoor seedbed and sow the seeds right away. They germinate and grow in cool soils--here on the west coast we plant them in the fall. Flowers come in the late spring. Attending to these cycles of planting and plant growth makes for happy gardeners. As winter clouds crowd our horizon, we gather firewood, but we plant seeds, too. It is a good thing.
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Forest Roots
The most effective way to get forest roots going in woodland or shade garden is to plant them now! Rake back the mulch, dig a shallow hole, nestle the roots in with buds pointing up and rhizome horizontal to the ground, fill soil all around, pat it down, and replace the mulch over the top. Valuable plants like Goldenseal, Black Cohosh and Solomon's Seal may be marked with a sturdy stake and a plant label to assure that they are recognized, tended and appreciate when they emerge come spring. The old adage about perennial plants sometimes applies: "First year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap." But in actuality we often get flowers and fruits on our goldenseal the first year after transplant. Working with live roots in the fall assures success on a shoestring!
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A Walk Through The Nursery
This is a virtual tour of some of our nicest plants that are showing well right now. These are all perennial (except for the sturdy angelicas, which are biennial), and given the right horticultural technique, fall planting can be a very productive approach. Many gardeners in warmer zones fall plant to the garden for optimal results come spring, and gardeners in colder zones may want to pot up plants to get an early start for next year. A cold greenhouse works well for this. Here is my list of goodies, all linked:
In the fall, we combine larger size of stock with a smaller pricetag. Almost everything is on sale until we shut down plant shipping at the end of November. Buy some solid plants and plant to garden, stake your spot and mulch it. Or, pot up some goodies and place in solarium or greenhouse for green entertainment in the cooler months ahead. The results can be astounding.
Richo
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Strictly Medicinal Youtube Channel
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May you all plant diversity onto the landscape and sow seeds of food and medicine to feed body and soul of self, family and community. Whether you do it purposely or by chance, may you all plant trees that kiss the sky.
Richo
Strictly Medicinal LLC
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