Grow Your Own: Suburban Gardening: Beneficial Herbs

Saturday, May 25, 2024

Beneficial Herbs

Thus begins a new season in our Historic Garden. We have available beds. The Community convenes at The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden on Saturdays during planting and harvesting season.

Come on out to commune and work with us. Take home free varieties of mint and Field Thistle.

Our Garden does not have a fence. This has forced us to find different methods for

discouraging deer and other animals. The large pots at the entrance to the Garden are

planted with sedum and vinca. Deer do not like vinca. Not only do they not like it

they seem to be repelled by it. https://naturesmace.com/blogs/blog/do-deer-eat-vinca

The greenery in the immediated background of this bed is mint.
It is delicious and very fragrant. It is great for drying for tea. It is
also makes a marvelous mojito. We have 4 different kinds of mint in our Garden.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/147363/the-real-mojito/

Hollyhock is a plant. The flower is used to make a medicinal tea.

People use hollyhock for preventing and treating breathing disorders and digestive

tract problems. Some people apply hollyhock directly to the skin for treating ulcers and painful swelling (inflammation). Hollyhocks stand as beacons for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. These towering blooms serve as pit stops for these vital pollinators, offering a rich source of nectar. The presence of Hollyhocks can transform a garden into a buzzing hub of activity, underlining the plant's role in sustaining the local ecosystem. https://greg.app/hollyhock-toxic-to-humans/

We have loads of thistle that will be dug out and composted. Bring a pot and take home some of this beneficial and invaluable plant.

"...Thistles are very ecologically productive,” Matt said of the plants’ role in Earth Sangha’s meadow restoration efforts. Butterfly and moth larvae, along with a host of other insect herbivores, feed on the pollen, nectar, leaves and seeds, and pollinators and other flower visitors are plentiful as well. Come fall and winter, thistle seeds are great forage for goldfinches and other seed-eating birds..."

https://choosenatives.org/articles/irresistible-thistle-invaluable-native-plant/

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Original Garden Committee Members

The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden was made possible by many different groups of individuals who worked hard, who donated money for materials that made the vision possible. The County Personnel was very responsive in the donation of soil, large machinery and labor. The Garden is sustained the same way. We are a group of lifelong learners. Left to Right: Betty Griffin, Esther Babb, Curtis Caviness, Kevin Lake, Richard Stanard, Wayne Hamer, Valerie Hamer, Lucy D. Walker, Crystal Brown, The Gainey Family

Teamwork = School and Community Together

This group of teenagers pitched in at a moments notice. Community donors and volunteers supplied all of the lumber and other materials needed to build the garden. City Council Members, A School Board Member, Members of the Environmental Commission and Families pitched in to build the garden. A construction firm noticed our dilemma and volunteered to build the first 25 boxes. Volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints contributed time and Carpenters to assist in building the remaining beds.

Gardening is the most rewarding manual labor on the planet

In July of 1990, I received a call informing me that my Mom had passed. It was raining. I went outside anyway. It was very warm and the smell of the warm earth was very soothing. I weeded my flower beds and thought about my Mother. She had left the hospital against Dr's orders. She wanted to die at home. She worried about her cabbage, beans, tomatoes and the various other vegetables that she was growing. Her physicians agreed that work in her gardens kept her spirits up. She was in her massive garden sitting on her little cart rolling herself up and down the row as she picked green beans and other vegetables daily for 3 weeks. She passed quietly late one night in the arms of her companion. She wrote her will on the back of an old envelope giving her small farm to whomever would live in the house and care for the land.

The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden

The Teaching Garden at The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden is dedicated to contributing to the sustainability of life within Englewood and beyond. There is NO PLANET B. Our children must teach their children to preserve the one we have.

The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden is supported and maintained by a Village of Lifelong Learners who have volunteered to aid in the STEAM Education at a Community level of the children in Englewood. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) We support the concept of creating and maintaining a year round School Garden at each School in Englewood and work towards that end in a partnership with the School System.

Pre K and beyond are welcome as we share this journey of moving towards bringing residents closer to nature while incorporating elements that will help them succeed in school. We partner with the Schools and members of the Community to help children understand the value of;

- working together as a community,

- preserving the Environment while

- growing their own food,

- eating healthy

- fighting obesity

- malnutrition and

- giving to those less fortunate.

Everything that we are depends on maintaining a healthy planet. All life depends on the capacity of humans to grow and maintain the land in a clean and healthy way.

We are on a quest to improve the Environmental conditions on our School grounds and in our City. We hope to be instrumental in the formation of a sustainable NJ School System . We are encouraging EPSD to take constructive steps towards becoming a United States Department of Education Green Ribbon School District.

Cabbage: Another of the World's Healthiest Foods

Protection Outside

Be careful of the natural elements and other living things when working, entertaining, or playing in the yard. Chemicals & poison end up in the ground water. They kill the good bees, bugs and helpful garden life. use organic solutions and try not to change your ecosystem. Those same chemicals get back into your tap water.They may cause potential harm to you, your children, your pets and other wildlife. Protect your eyes, skin and hands while you work. Put "off" on your clothes, not your skin. If you have a small yard, use a manual mower.