What are you planting in your zombie apocalypse-herb garden

Greetings and salutations.  What are the top five herbs you grow in your garden and what do you use them for.  

Do you use herbs primarily to eat, and for pollinators.  Is first-aid a consideration?


Basil
head colds, loss of appetite, gas
Plant 2 weeks after the last frost, warm weather annual

Echinacea: (coneflower)
Anxiety, blood pressure, inflammation, flu symptoms
Full to part sun, clumping perennial, 2 to three years for flowers, if planted from seed

Calendula:
antifungal, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial
Sow spring to early summer, full sun, short-lived perennial

Chamomile:
anxiety, stress, insomnia
Self-sowing annual, part shade

Dandelion
acne, eczema, heartburn, gastrointestinal disorders
Prefers full sun, perennial

Garlic
Antibiotic, lowers cholesterol,
Perennial, plant in full sun

Ginger
Nausea relief, pain relief, cold and flu symptoms, reduce inflammation
perennial, Grows in part to full shade,


Lavender
antiseptic, anti-inflammatory
Full-sun

Perennial, like, will come back year after year,  may die if cut to the ground.

Marshmallow
pain, inflammation, constipation, ulcers, urinary tract
Perennial, direct sunlight, moist soil

Oregano
Antibiotic, antioxidant, gut health, pain relief
Oregano grows as an annual in cold climates. Full to partial sun

Yarrow
Wound treatment, lower blood pressure, improve circulation
Perennial, Hot, dry conditions in full sun,

Lemon Balm
Stress relief, anxiety, indigestion, nausea
Perennial, Full sun to part shade, will grow in most soils

Meadowsweet
Colds, bronchitis, heartburn,
Perennial, full sun

Motherwort
Anxiety, gas,
Perennial, sun to part shade, moist soil

Peppermint
Digestion, tension, headaches, sinuses, energy, bacterial infections
Perennial, light full sun to part shade

Passion Flower
Insomnia, anxiety, pain, inflammation, burns
Full sun to part shade, perennial if it makes it through winter, may come back from roots

Stinging Nettles
Inflammation, hay fever, blood sugar control,
Moist, full sun to partial shade, perennial

St. John’s Wort
Depression, appetite, nervousness
Perennial, full sun to part shade,

Thyme
Stomach ache, arthritis, sore throat
Perennial, full sun,

Valerian
Sleep and anxiety, antioxidant
Perennial, light shade to full sun

I grow Rosemary, thyme, parsley, cilantro, oregano and basil to use in food.  Garlic because we love it.  Chamomile, peppermint, and spearmint mostly for tea, lavender and calendula as flowers and companion plants.  I plan to plant Yarrow and Echinacea this year, and maybe marshmallow.  
Thank you for this post, I enjoyed learning about the herbs.

All I have is the
1. mint/thyme family
2. garlic/onion family
3. carrot/lovage family

I need to branch out

I grow a lot of herbs and I am looking to add more.  At this point I grown them either for cooking or for beneficial insects.

Lovage
Garlic
Bunching onions
Chives
Garlic Chives
Thyme
Lemon Thyme
Sage
Savory
Rosemary
Oregano
Parsley
Basil
Dill
Pineapple Sage
Bee Balm
Cone Flower
Feverfew
Catnip
Several kinds of mint if my husband hasn't killed them
Borage
Calendula
Yarrow grows wild in my yard.

Jen Fulkerson wrote:I grow Rosemary, thyme, parsley, cilantro, oregano and basil to use in food.  Garlic because we love it.  Chamomile, peppermint, and spearmint mostly for tea, lavender, and calendula as flowers and companion plants.  I plan to plant Yarrow and Echinacea this year, and maybe marshmallow.  
Thank you for this post, I enjoyed learning about the herbs.

Quite a collection Jen!  I started way too much Yarrow last winter and planted it out.  I love it.   It is vigorous.  My favorite is the Polish mix I got from Baker Creek seeds.  I planted a ton of Echinacea too but I planted most of it from seeds so I haven't seen blooms from those plants.

I focusing on English Lavender this year.  I have a disease where I have to start every seed in the packet. :-)

S Bengi wrote:All I have is the
1. mint/thyme family
2. garlic/onion family
3. carrot/lovage family

I need to branch out

It's a good start.  The more you plant the more pollinators you will have.  When I planted Yarrow, beneficial micro-wasps and bees when way up.

Kate Muller wrote:I grow a lot of herbs and I am looking to add more.  At this point, I grown them either for cooking or for beneficial insects.

Kate, you have quite the collection.   You're lucky you have wild Yarrow!  If your mint got mowed I hope it pops back up, I have a feeling it will.  Mint spreads like wildfire.

Cheers, Scott

Ooh so I deliberately grow some herbs including babying some through the winter inside, but there are many more that just grow around the place where ever they wish to really and quite often exactly where I don't wish them to be!
The only one i ever use medicinally is Pot marigold if something needs disinfecting.

Kept inside in winter (some in the barn lemongrass in the house)

Bay
Rosemary
Thyme
Lemon grass
French Taragon
Sage

Outside planted

Parsley
Chamomile
Angelica
Lovage
Marjoram
Chives
Mint
Coriander
Dill
Fennel
Horseradish
Salad Burnet
Red/black currents
Raspberries
Garlic
Pot marigold

Plants that grow wild on our land with medicinal uses

Dandelion
Feverfew
Groundsel
Lesser celandine
Foxglove
Sphagnum moss
Willow
Elder
Hawthorn
Daisy
Silver weed
cinqufoil
Tansy
Wormwood
Wood and water avons
Nettles
Ground elder
meadow sweet
Ladies bedstraw
St johns wort
Yarrow
mullein
dock

and probably many more I can't think of off the top of my head.

Last year, I had:

Lemon Balm: calming effect
Echinacea coneflower
Garlic Chives
Lavender
Rosemary: mouth wash
Egyption Walking Onions

Blue Sage, Autumn Sage and Turks Cap (mallow) for pollinator.

Scott Foster wrote:

Kate Muller wrote:I grow a lot of herbs and I am looking to add more.  At this point, I grown them either for cooking or for beneficial insects.

Kate, you have quite the collection.   You're lucky you have wild Yarrow!  If your mint got mowed I hope it pops back up, I have a feeling it will.  Mint spreads like wildfire.

Cheers, Scott

The dear husband didn't mow over the mint he buried it while expanding our natural swimming pond.  I was my fault for planting it before the pond was completely finished.  I will replant this spring.  Ironically my last cat killed all my mint plants.  I have had a difficult time keeping any mint plants alive more than a year or two.  It is running joke that I can grow just about anything except mint.

I forgot about the beneficial volunteers  in the yard like mullen, dandelions, dock, sheep sorrel, clover, and other plants I only remove if they are in a really bad location.  

Skandi Rogers wrote:Ooh so I deliberately grow some herbs including babying some through the winter inside, but there are many more that just grow around the place where ever they wish to really and quite often exactly where I don't wish them to be!
The only one i ever use medicinally is Pot marigold if something needs disinfecting.

Kept inside in winter (some in the barn lemongrass in the house)

Quite the list Skandi, I'll be stealing some of these for my list.  

P.S. I didn't consider moss as an herb.   I will check it out.

Regards, Scott

Top Five Herbs that I use:

Parsley -- blood clotting. Really helped me stop bleeding after giving birth, and helped my husband after he had fistula surgery. It is the highest source of vitamin K. And it's tasty in food, too!

Garlic -- antibacterial/antifungal. Tasty in food!

Chives-- we munch on these outside, and use them in most every dish that calls for onions. I can't ever seem to grow enough. I love that they are present most of the year, too!

Mint -- anti-inflammatory, good for autoimmune conditions and gut problems. Also good for respiratory ailments. Makes a nice tea.

Oregano (also thyme and rosemary) -- I don't use these medicianlly, nut we use them a lot in cooking!

Sweet Marjoram-fear,stress,sadness,tension,high bloodpressure
Evening primrose is growing here, i try to get it to grow in other places.
Watercress, i gotto say i try it again this year, but i prefer land-cress, because of the problem with liver-flukes in watercress.
Lemon balm, is popping up everywhere.
Common mallow, is pretty easy and beautiful.
Flax, gonna try to plant a bit in the fields.
Hyssop, is very good for colds and perrenial, making mini hedge rows with them.
Hops, the flower cone are great to make a tincture with for sleep disorders.
Fennel, is great in salads too and good for stomach.
Arnica, i'm trying it out now, to see if i can get that going this year.
Aloe vera inside, good to hydrate hands.

Nicole Alderman wrote:Top Five Herbs that I use:

!

Good List: thanks!  I didn't know parsley had so many medicinal qualities.

Hugo Morvan wrote:
Hyssop, is very good for colds and perennial, making mini hedgerows with them.
Hops, the flower cone is great to make a tincture with for sleep disorders.
Fennel is great in salads too and good for the stomach.
Arnica, I'm trying it out now, to see if I can get that going this year.

I'll look into Arnica, never heard of it.  Good list.  Thanks for the input.

Good luck Scott  I have good luck with lavender I buy, One poor plant was on the side of my hugelkultur, and the chickens removed all the soil down to the wood and that little lavender plant is laying there with soil on the root ball, and one little root hanging on and not only is it alive but blooming. (I did put soil around it)  When it comes to seed I can't seem to get them to germinate.  I have tried twice this year with no success.  I think I will try to put the seeds between a damp paper towel on the refrigerator and see if I can get them to germinate that way. Time will tell. I like your post it's fun.

Jen Fulkerson wrote:Good luck Scott  I have good luck with lavender I buy, One poor plant was on the side of my hugelkultur, and the chickens removed all the soil down to the wood and that little lavender plant is laying there with soil on the root ball, and one little root hanging on and not only is it alive but blooming. (I did put soil around it)  When it comes to seed I can't seem to get them to germinate.  I have tried twice this year with no success.  I think I will try to put the seeds between a damp paper towel on the refrigerator and see if I can get them to germinate that way. Time will tell. I like your post it's fun.

Thanks Jen.    I put an entire pack of seeds in an egg carton and wrapped it with handy wrap.  I haven't go sprouts yet.  Besides apple seeds, it's the only thing not sprouting:.:(  Maybe I need a heating pad,  I don't have one...

I noticed some` herbs don't give viable seed. Hyssop, lavender, rosemary, dill. When i had plants from the nursery that is. When i started hyssop from seed last year it flowered and provided seed which i've tried immediately and it resulted in lots of nice plants. I've started lavender from seed last year after failed propagation attempts involving cuttings and seeds. They weren't as fast growing as the hyssop, but i expect them to flower this year. I've planted them close together so i hope they will cross pollinate and deliver new lavenders which will provide viable seed again. Rosemary is easy to get cuttings from, but i use a lot of it. Started seeds this year and will plant them together, will probably take two years to get viable seeds, but it's still worth the effort. Dill was hard to find as well, but three years ago i bumped into some good seeds at a seed exchange.
I make hedges with herbs in my veggie beds. Thyme is easiest to propagate.

https://permies.com/t/124338/Thyme-propagation-technique-mini-hedges

Lavender and Coleus are Poppin

I grow herbs primarily for food, tea, and for the insects. I'm learning to use more medicinally. For the zombie apocalypse, elecampane is on my list to look into.

If I could only grow 5, it'd be oats, thyme, rose of Sharon, lemon balm, and plantain. That would cover my bases of nutritive herbs, antimicrobial, soothing (healing/moistening), and insect habitats.

I grow...
Culinary - thyme, lemon thyme, basils (lime basil is fantastic!), rosemary, sage, bee balm, oregano, chickweed, mints

Tea / Infusions, mostly for calming the nervous system or hormone health - oats (for oatstraw and milky oats), rose of Sharon (for the demulcent properties), rose, lemon balm, stinging nettle, raspberry leaf, red clover, passionflower, chamomile, tulsi

For wound healing and skin health - plantain, yarrow, calendula

Others that I haven't used yet - Echinacea, lavender, hyssop, Feverfew, catnip

Just for bugs - borage

Added this year - mullein (for respiratory health), caraway (for digestion/bloating), fennel (for digestion/bloating), elder (for immune system), St. John's wort, self-heal

Things in my culinary/tea garden -
Rosemary
Lavender
Calendula
Catnip
Lemon Balm
Sage
Thyme
Winter Savory
Dill
Nasturtiums
Bunching onions
Garlic chives
Cilantro
Parsley
Crimson clover
Blackberry & Raspberry leaves
Rose hips/petals
Lots of different mints in pots... I can't get enough mint, really.
Same goes for basil. I grow about six kinds of culinary basil in a mix as well as tulsi holy basil for tea.

Other things I'm growing -  
Comfrey (I believe bocking 14 is more of a forage herb than a medicinal variety? I use it for compost and chicken fodder mostly)
Borage for the bees, as well as a few other things.

Wild herbs -
Plantain
Claytonia
Wild mint
Dandelions
Mullein
Wild rose
Chickweed (stellaria media)

Things I want to grow, but either haven't tried or had success with yet -
Feverfew
Lemongrass
Ginger
Echinacea
Fennel
Roselle
Horseradish
Elderberry
Yarrow
Lambsquarters... everyone else seems to have them as weeds but I'm not so lucky!

Rebecca Rosa wrote:Things in my culinary/tea garden -

EchinaceA!

Great list Rebecca

Horseradish:  The deer love horseradish leaves.  I have a horseradish plant that's 3 years old but I've never harvested it.  
Elderberry: Grows like a weed here.
Yarrow-Grows like wild fire-micro-wasps and bees seem to love it.  I like the way yarrow looks, kind of meadowy.  I had good luck with Baker Creek's yarrow, my favorite is the Polish blend.
Echinacea-My experience is these don't flower the first year.

Since Im having to start a new garden...if zombies hit right now I'd be relying on mama nature's mountain gardens so... Dandelion, poke, wild mustards, wild rose, wild ginger, liverwort, bloodroot, yellowroot, ginseng, mushrooms, etc.

I'm glad she's a more dedicated prepper than me...

Unsure avout a "zombie" apocalypse, but I have been growing more every year for us to use. Some to eat, some to attract pollinators, and a few more for other purposes.

Herbs included:

- Mints (peppermint and spearmint, also catmint and hummingbird mint as ornamentals and occassional edible flowers). Mints are delicious in salads and desserts, and also makes a lot of lovely cocktails.

- Basils (mixed of Spicy bush, lemon, holy, lettuce leaf, and other). Salads, pesto, focaccia, tea, and cocktails.

- Oregano - I think greek. I love it for salads and sauces and with meat dishes.

- Thyme- essential for stuffings and meat dishes. I have it growing everywhere. Also good in cocktails.

- Tarragon- one that I rarely see or taste in Ontario for some reason. I use fresh for salads and in eggs. I dry and use it for soups through winter, and it's also great for sausages :) It has an anise-forward flavour, similar to fennel. Unlike the fennel, the rabbits don't consume the tarragon down to nubs.

- Sage- what is stuffing without copious amounts of sage?! Sage loves bread like meat loves salt. Can also be used as a tea or gargle for sore throats.  I also grow some more ornamental varieties of salvia as well because I love the blue/ purple flowers, as do the bees.

- Savoury- also one I find less used, although common through atlantic Canada. Excellent to flavour beans or sausages.

- Lemon balm - delicious in salads and with fish. I need to experiment more with this for tea or for salve maybe.

- Lavender- I love lavender tea. I also make infusions to use to flavour cocktails and desserts (Lavender is wonderful in shortbread cookies, and gin). And Ive also sewn little lavender stuffed bags to use in all the closets as a freshener and bug repellant.

- Parsley- always flat-leaved varieties. I think the majority of it is cilician parsley, which is very leafy and has a great flavour. An essential to me for salads, soups, and who knows what else. I stuff it into every corner of the garden.

-Rosemary- a real challenge for me to grow, since it isn't particularly fast growing and yet really cannot tolerate even my mild Canadian winters. I have taken to digging it up and trying to protect it, this year I actually managed to have one survive, so I am very excited to be able to replant and (hopefully) get a bigger bush. I use rosemary to flavour all manner of dishes, and I also infuse it into sugar syrup to make cocktails and oil for either cooking or skin cream. Also nice in desserts, although people here rarely think of flavouring sweet things with rosemary.

- Borage- lovely for salads. Not nearly as common as it should be. Also use it to encourage pollinators. Will have to try it in drinks this year.

- Chervil- delicious for salads, beans, meats. When you want something kind of between parsley, savoury, or tarragon, but more subtle than any one of them. I need to experiment more with this herb.

-Lovage- so tall! Too tall. Lol. I need to find a more suitable home. Kind of a musky citrusy flavour.  Delightful in all kinds of dishes. Another herb I need more experiments with.

-Celery- I grow soup celery, which is all leaves and very thin stalks. I use it for salads and soups.

- Perilla/ shiso- a Japanese herb that is very tasty! Hard for me to describe the flavour. Nice with fish, or tossed through salads. I am growing more red perilla this year and will experiment with new ways to prepare and eat it.

- Woad- I dont know anyone else who grows woad. I started last year and have plans to plant some more this year. Not for eating (although I am a walking disposal and will try just about anything lol) but I want to harvest it for dye, and am curious how renegade it is as a potential pigment.

-Chamomile- used very commonly for tea, and I also make small cool compresses for my husbands eyes, since he gets really dry eyes. Useful for pollinators.

-Echinaccea/ purple coneflower- used for tea and for pollinators

- Feverfew- a native flowering plant that I grow as an ornamental that pollinators love, but will be looking into other uses. (it planted itself originally) I think it is supposed to be useful for headaches. Flowers remind me of valerian, in that I think they smell a little like vomit.

- Valerian - definitely smells like vomit :). To me anyway. Used to make tea. I combine with chamomile, lavender, and sometimes skullcap to help calm my nerves and sleep better.

-Calendula- Useful, cheerful pot marigold. I sometimes eat the leaves in salads, and harvest the flowers to make salve for my skin. Also discovered its usefulness against burns. Can use the flower petals to garnish salads to make them beautiful, just like with borage or tarragon.

-Mitsuba- another I need to experiment more with. Its somewhere similar to celery and something else.. also called "Japanese Parsley" and nice in a lot of dishes. A more gentle and delicate flavour. Nice with buckwheat noodles. Does well in the wetter areas of my garden, which is a boon.

-Marjoram- delicious!! It doesnt particularly enjoy my temperate 5b garden, but I keep planting it every year because it's so tasty. Kind of citrusy and floral. Something else to it as well.  Lovely in soup. This year I might try it in cocktails.

-Dill - mmmm dill. Salmon and trout aren't complete unless they are dressed in a thick, feathery green coat. And life would be abysmal without dill pickles, one of my all-time favourite foods. Also fab chopped into mash, with or without garlic. Pairs wonderfully with feta cheese. The tall umbels are attractive and enticing to pollinators.

-Chives- eggs! Tomato salad! Fresh cheese! Mmm chives! Honestly I sometimes snack on them straight up just when I am out there.

- Garlic- the king of herbs! The source of flavour for just about anything, and as essential as salt imho. I put garlic in everything. It's delicious, and also good for you. Every kind of vegetable, bean, and meat dish can be improved with garlic. Doesnt work on vampires, since I am one and I eat it all the time. Also my cold preventative.

-Coriander- I have a pot started this year. I absolutely loathe and abhor coriander. It repulses me both in scent and taste. I don't know how to describe it, like eating a bar of laundry soap. The smell on my nose is possibly more foul than the taste, with some sort of awful musk that pulls at my insides. Hurk. However, I realise there is something terribly wrong with MY tastebuds (and olfactory) since everyone else seems to think it smells fresh and tastes beautiful, and my husband LOVES it through rice and in salsa. So sometimes I cook with it, and just wash down my dinner with a LOT of wine or gin. The smile on his face is worth at least a few disgusting meals (to me) from time to time. Lol.

I do also grow yarrow, purely as a hardy little perennial ornamental that survives in my acid clay. No idea people ate it. I'll have to look into it now. :)

And of course I dont plant garlic mustard, but we've been eating it the last couple weeks, and will be for a couple more, while I harvest the invaders. I read something about preparing the roots as a horseradish, so have plans to try that. Leaves and flowers for salads, although I have also heard they make great pesto.

I stuff herbs into all the corners of my garden, in between all the vegetables, along the fenceline, and wedged between ornamentals, wherever I find space. Or make space. I dont do indoor pots because my cats get excited to chew them all and then vomit out the bits they eat, so for winter I harvest whatever I can and then do without or buy in if I need it. I would love to have a bay tree, but I dont think one would suffer my winter.

Herbs I grow-

garlic- #1, would never be without. Good for cold & flu prevention; circulatory issues; promotes healthy cholesterol; antibacterial; and antimicrobial.
To get benefit of raw garlic without stomach upset -
Sweet Pickled Garlic: Peeled garlic cloves in a glass jar; cover with natural apple cider vinegar and a glass or plastic cover. You may need to help it stay submerged- crumpled wax paper or pickle weights. Let sit for 3 weeks on the counter. (Note: your garlic may turn blue or green during this period. Don't panic. It's okay & the color will go away.) After 3 weeks, strain the vinegar & put the garlic in a clean jar. Pour half the vinegar into a bottle to use for salad dressings, tonic, etc. The other half heat very gently with an equal amount of honey just until the honey dissolves. Pour over the garlic & put in the refrigerator. (Maybe not necessary, but it will keep years in there.) Eat straight from the jar; put in salads or anywhere you'd like a pop of flavor.

ginger- reduce inflammation, repair damaged joints & cartilage.

plantain- it counts as growing if you improve its conditions, right? Another that I'd never be without. Bites, rashes, wound healing, expectorant and nutrient dense.

rosemary- brain tonic for improving memory & concentration.

roses- hips: improve blood pressure, cholesterol & chronic inflammation; nutrient dense.
      petals: cooling and soothing.

thyme- coughs and chest complaints; tonic.


herbs that grow wild here:

chickweed- moistening, soothing, nutrient dense.

mullein- great for the lungs: colds, congestion, smoke irritation, and allergies.

red clover- vitamin and mineral tonic; improves menopause symptoms; and anti-tumor compounds (cancer preventative?).

sumac- (NOT poison sumac) vitamin C; lemony tasting sumac-ade

wood sorrel- nutrient dense; great lemony flavor.


Lots more that we just haven't identified yet, I'm sure. Lots more that I plan (and have seeds) to plant. Food production took priority.

Herbs I use a lot: goldenrod, rose hips, yarrow, mint, prairie sage, wintergreen.

I have some seeds stratifying in the cold right now to add to my garden this year. Mostly wildflowers, but some with medicinal uses are wild bergamot, anise hyssop, skullcap.

I mainly focus on using medicinal plants that are already growing wild around my place and nearby, those native to this patch of earth. However, I've noticed quite a few non-native medicinal plants around my house and wondered if an herbalist used to live here. Sure, mullein and valerian grow all over, but there's also speedwell, lungwort, yellow archangel, nipplewort. I think since they're here, I should learn how to use them, too.

I have that “no such thing as too many mints” syndrome.  And shade & damp. Fragrant  Fields Nursery feeds my addiction. They even have one that really tastes like cotton candy!

Mint repels zombies, Right?

leigh gates wrote:I have that “no such thing as too many mints” syndrome.  And shade & damp.

I have that syndrome, too, and I'm so glad I do! Five years ago, my husband realized that mint helped calm down his Crohn's. So I planted mint. For years, that mint didn't like me, and I was seriously depressed that I couldn't grow enough of this "weed" for my husband's daily tea and we had to buy it. Well, this year he had a massive Crohn's flare-up due to a medical procedure. And, guess what, all that mint is now really happy. It's so happy that I can make my husband strong mint tea (in different flavors of mint!) every day, and there's always more mint to harvest.

Fun/sad thing: his crohn's causes ulcers all over his feet and legs. For a while, those feet sure looked like zombie feet. So, the mint really does combat zombies...or at least helps prevent the zombification of my husband!

For those wanting to see yucky zombie feet pictures, click here and here

Fragrant  Fields Nursery feeds my addiction. They even have one that really tastes like cotton candy!

OoooOoOooooh, I was really tempted to buy some of their mints, but I wasn't actually sure they did taste the way they were advertised to taste (and I didn't want to spend shipping, hehe). I might just go buy some! Which one of their mints is the one that tastes like cotton candy?

I have just started growing a few herbs, but researching some that might be just growing on our property. I love your lists and am going to copy these and start planting and planning my herb/medicine herbal gardens.

OoooOoOooooh, I was really tempted to buy some of their mints, but I wasn't actually sure they did taste the way they were advertised to taste (and I didn't want to spend shipping, hehe). I might just go buy some! Which one of their mints is the one that tastes like cotton candy?.          
I have tried Strawberry, Cotton Candy & one of the fruit flavors. Scroll that intoxicating page, wipe drool off screen. Taste exactly as advertised. Arrived  in good shape BUT that was last year and not blazing hot. Also, my cousin has the colitis/rash & gluten free really helped. Reading labels closely i.e. “food starch” “modified food starch” “ thickener”  “ sauce” are all gluten if not label as another starch. Took 3 years too completely resolve but no flairs 10 years. Good luck!

I love the sharing of herbs and uses.  I also really liked the idea of using pressed paper egg cartons for planting.  I see that in a composting situation it is expected they will degrade in 2 to 4 weeks.  I am wondering if they were soaked in a manure tea just before being placed in the garden if that would improve plant performance.

We have wild spearmint and peppermint on our place and the lemon mint my wife planted one year has gone wild and crazy.  We actually have to weed it out of our flower garden.  I was surprised that no one mentioned marigold as the plants repel many garden eaters.  In addition, it seems that marigold leaves are highly useful to increase the nutritional value of eggs.  I have taken to keeping all the blooms that are going past and then drying and grinding them to feed the chickens.

One of our wild herbs, essentially a mint that is useful albeit easily toxic if taken internally is pennyroyal. https://www.drugs.com/npc/pennyroyal.html In this vein, it appears rodents dislike the odor and it was used in granaries to prevent rodent damage.  Care should be taken as it can damage the liver if taken internally.  It has been used as a counter to worms, but this should be used with care.  

My father used to claim that deer would preferentially dig up pennyroyal during the winter to feed on it.  As it is a mint, it may have been a way for them to rid themselves of worms at a time when worms in the feces would be less likely to spread.  For those who wish to consider natural deworming plants, here is a link https://www.jrpiercefamilyfarm.com/blog-1/2019/08/08/13-natural-livestock-dewormers-to-try  

It would seem logical to raise plants that can treat your animals as well as your family to maintain productivity.