The Garden of a Witch

I love my garden in the summer. To me it is magical, full of new life and offering an abundance of materials for crafts and spell work as well as fabulous things to eat. I like to have it all as natural as possible and I plant both for myself and the bees.

I have been known to be a bit naughty and take a little cutting when out and about in my travels. A year later and I wonder what all these different plants are that are starting to flourish in their pots. That is until they burst forth into flower and I remember what it was that attracted me to them in the first place.

I have flowers, trees, bushes, fruits, vegetables and herbs. I pretty much ignore my garden all winter, then late spring I begin planting seeds in my greenhouse. That’s when my busy mornings and evening start. Once the seeds are in, I have to go out to the greenhouse and garden twice a day to make sure everything is happy and watered.

I don’t use chemicals in my garden. I plant onions next to carrots and other pairings to put off the likes of carrot fly. I encourage bees and ladybirds to help pollinate and keep down the aphid population. I save my egg shells all year round and then crush and sprinkle them all round young plants and seedlings to keep the slugs and snails at bay. Any left over egg shells are ground up into Cascarilla powder and used in spell work or for protection.

All my plants grow furiously in the summer, unfortunately so do the weeds lol. I do weed but I am not obsessive about it. I like to leave many of the wild plants (weeds) for the bees and other insects. I cut my lawn every three to four weeks, allowing the daisys, dandelions and clover to take hold between cuts. The bees love these and I could listen to their gentle hum and watch their rhythmic flights from flower to flower for hours. It’s quite therapeutic and an excellent meditative aid. Most of my fruit and vege flower at some point, so they all provide food for the bees too.

Amongst the weeds are always some hidden treasures. For example the stinging nettle can be used as a natural anti-histamine to combat allergies and hayfever and Chickweed is good for soothing skin conditions such as eczema.

I grow sage, so I can make my own smudge sticks. I have lavender which, apart from smelling nice, has many uses. My rosemary, basil, parsley, oregano and thyme are all used for cooking. The different mints are used for fresh tea all summer. The borage I use for decoration and to grind up when making blue salt but mainly I leave it for the bees. Calendula I dry and save to make healing salves, even on it’s own the dried flower can be rubbed onto an insect bite or sting to help reduce the pain and swelling. Roses provide me with beautiful coloured petals for spells and decoration and the rose hips can be made into a syrup full of vitamin C to help ward off colds.

I use my corn husks for corn dolls and this year I’m having a go at growing a small amount of wheat to make my Brigid’s cross for Imbolc and other Altar decorations. Wish me luck with that!!

I pot up and grow my baby Spider plants in my greenhouse. They are a welcome plant in my house as they produce oxygen whilst purifying the air by absorbing carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and xylene. What’s not to love! I would have a lot more than I do but I always seem to be promoting their benefits and then giving them away!

I grow lots of Aloe Vera. I use the greenhouse in summer to multiply my plants. Aloe has so many uses but I personally use it to treat Hubby’s eczema, as a first aid for burns or insect bites and as a facial moisturiser.

Once we get into autumn and I start pruning, my fruit trees provide me with beautiful wood for making wands, pentagrams and runes and the grapevines become wreaths for decorating.

I know they are not plants but they are very much a part of my garden, so I mustn’t forget to mention my lovely gargoyles and grotesques. They have been charged with guarding my home. I have a few and they mainly sit around my pond watching the entrance and the back door of the property. I thank them daily for carrying out their duty 🙂 You might also spot a fairy door, a Celtic cross, wind chimes, bells, hag stones, wishing stones and a few tiny witches here and there!

I’m sure there are many more plants I could add to my garden and many more uses I could find for the ones I have. (I still have many in mind to try). However, that is all that time and climate allows for me at the moment.