Sowing herb seeds

I get very excited when spring rolls around and I can start planting seeds. During the week before full moon I am busying sowing seeds. I had a lot of herbs seeds to get in because I'm planning on expanding my herb garden in a big way. That's the problem with reading inspiting books like Lucy's Jones's Self-Sufficient Herbalism. I would like to grow when I dispense in clinic as creams, teas and tinctures.

In our current global climate with NZ being last stop for shipping, if medical herbalists and naturopaths are so reliant of things being grown outside the country then we might find ourselves out of luck in some areas.

Some of what herbs I've sown so far include Echinacea purpurea and Echinacea pallida, tulsi, sweet basil, St Mary's thistle, lady's bedstraw, cayenne, cowslip, madder, thyme, astragalus, sea buckthorn and poppies.

I like to harvest my own seeds so I can plant them again the following season. I also love to see self sown ones popping up. That's my idea of lazy gardening.

As you can see the Echinacea I sowed last month is just about ready to be pricked out.