Our favourite month in the garden! It’s Monk May (we’ll explain!) This month we’re celebrating easy magical herbs, love potions and medieval rituals!
We love May, by far the best month in the garden. The weather is getting (slightly!) more consistent, the nights are still getting lighter and the soil is warming up. In April you’re itching to get going on your seeds and by the time summer comes, everything has already gone over. Even Monty Don has been quoted saying that May is his favourite month in the garden.
But whether you are green-fingered or not (who doesn’t love a trip to the garden centre?!) nobody can deny the happy effect seeing a little bit of green does for the soul.
"There had once been a flower-bed in it, and she thought she saw something sticking out of the black earth-some sharp little pale green points."
- The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
That being said, anybody can garden and herbs are a fantastic way to start. Often very hardy (meaning they cope better with cooler temperatures) rosemary, lavender and thyme, for example - can all be bought already grown! Very often even the supermarkets sell reasonably priced pots of herbs in the fruit and salad section that you can repot on your windowsill (and use in cooking!) As exciting and easy as it might be to invest in lots of quirky smelling herbs, the key is to try one or two that you actually like. Rosemary, basil and mint (for cocktails!) could be considered perfect places to start.
As I type, I’m sipping on my second herbal tea of the day. Bear in mind, I drink several cups of regular tea everyday and I even take one up to bed! However I can’t deny that after a heavy week of eating all the good stuff, placebo or not - my body is starting to feel the benefits of this fennel, lemon, spearmint and ginger blend. There have been several claims made in the past regarding ‘detox’-style teas, and of course you have to be careful with what you choose to put in your body, as the science isn’t always there to back up claims. What is undeniable however, is the role that herbs and other plants have had on the medicinal, culinary and spiritual histories, several dating back centuries and across the entire world.
(Of course that’s not to say you should try any of the below at home without medical advice. Don’t get foraging for mandrakes, however tempting that may be!)
Chives; parsley; coriander (good in curries, gross on it’s on in my opinion!) and lemon balm have always been popular, however herbs such as mint; oregano; sage and lavender were used during medieval times for a variety of reasons, often relating to either culinary, medicinal, magical or household uses. Nettle is another highly popular herb often used in cooking and teas and it’s also claimed that it was used in Ancient Egypt to cure back pain and Roman soldiers used it to keep warm. As it’s Latin name comes from the word ‘uro’ which means ‘to burn’ - they must have been very cold!
Calendula is another herbaceous plant whose petals were often used in tinctures and remedies due to it’s anti-inflammatory properties. Used to heal wounds and burns, it’s also used today as a pretty plant. (And I know thanks to my husband and late nights playing The Witcher games, that this one pops up a lot!)
Nettle and yarrow were often used together to ward of evil spirits - both technically herbs, they were often thought to be used in witchcraft rituals - but many used them to ward off evil spirits! Lots of herbs have had multiple uses over the years and very often overlap when it comes to what they were used for in the household.
Medieval medicine often related to what is are called the ‘Four Humours’ - relating to the four elements. If somebody became ill, it was a physician’s job to use medicine to restore the balance, with each ‘humour’ responding to specific remedies. Invented in Ancient Greece - the belief was that a person’s body is made up of four liquids: phlegm, blood, yellow bile and black bile. Restoring any of these humours could be known to improve illness or even a mood imbalance. Herbal remedies where believed to be one way to restore the balance of humours.
A medieval monastery wasn’t complete without the land to cultivate a garden for plants and herbs, with the monks often working the land hard to ensure a healthy crop of many varieties, such as sage and chamomile (sleepy tea, anyone?!) as well as lots of others I hadn’t even heard of!
But it wasn’t just the monks! Ancient Egyptians and Romans also loved this stuff. The ‘Mandragora Officinarum’ (yes - the Mandrake, any Potter fans?!) Have their roots (geddit?!) in both Wicca and Odinism (Norse beliefs). Used in superstitious practices over the centuries, (and genuinely believed to scream when uprooted!) these human-like plants are hallucinogenic, but were used as form of anaesthesia in ancient times. Too much would most likely cause serious health risks such as mania and even death by poisoning, they do however contain ‘hyosciamine’ - which is still used today to sedate patients before operations!
Bringing it back to one of our most commonly used herbs, and one we think you should start your collection off with - rosemary. Rosemary was very popular in Ancient Egyptian, Roman and Greek history. ‘Rosaries Officinalis’ even has links to the Virgin Mary (the ‘Rose of Mary’). In the Middle Ages it was thought of as a love charm and often worn at weddings, hence why it was used as a key ingredient in love potions! Medieval monks (of course!) used it as a digestive aid, as well as applying it externally for various pains and sores. They also believed it increased appetite - perhaps that’s why we still use it for seasoning today! A perfect herb for the kitchen windowsill! (It’s also thought to boost memory! But we can’t remember where we heard that…)
And finally as I type this, one of my feline pals is after attention and making her presence known - so I have to mention the infamous catnip! ‘Nepeta Cataria’ is a herb used to attract house cats and pollinators. Sometimes used in cooking or teas, some have even been known to smoke it! (Perhaps because of its relaxant qualities?!) It was also used by monks to treat fevers, colds and colic! (You don't get that on prescription these days!)
So really, it’s all quite exciting - helpful herbs we’ve tended to for thousands of years and magical potions all at your fingertips! (And you can probably get them in the supermarket if you’d like to ease yourself in to this fantastical world!) But there is plenty more out there to discover if this is something you’re interested in! Now I need to clear my search history!
Thanks so much for stopping by, and if you've got this far, we hope you found it interesting!
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The Pretty Odd Team x
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