In article
,
"Livy" wrote:

Hello from down under. I am a new member and would like to start a herb
garden that has the common herbs, like basil, chives, thyme, mint, parsley,
rosemary, bay tree. But I would like to include other herbs for health and
well being. I have read their are alchemy gardens. But when I goggle this
I cannot find a list. Any suggestions.
Regards.
Livy

A tip I just picked up from one of your countrymen (woman actually) is
to set your browser to some other nationality. Alchemical gardening
(Google, U.S. setting) brought up several hits on Google,
http://www.triad-publishing.com/stone20c.html for example.
The URL for my Google Search was
http://www.google.com/search?client=...arden&ie=UT F
-8&oe=UTF-8 .

Until the discussion went toward "Biodynamic", the concepts in general
came under the rubric of "organic gardening", i.e., building soil.
I afraid that I find biodynamic to be similar to "Rasputinesque"
gardening with its claims of spirituality, a fraud (but that's just my
opinion).

For information on gardening in general, you can get that at rec.garden,
and rec.garden.edible with all the fun of a Sat. night brawl.

If you are looking for medicinal herbs, I'd try Holistic Online.
http://www.holisticonline.com/Remedi...h_Problems.htm
lists medical problems. Clicking on the problem will take you to a
number of solutions, one of which will be herbal. These will give you
some ideas of plants that you can grow to help yourself. I, for example,
use Prunella vulgaris to controll high blood pressure, instead of my
allopathic medicine.

You will find the following books helpful:

1) A no non-sense book with basic information.
"Vegetable Gardener' Bible" by Edward C. Smith.
http://www.amazon.com/Vegetable-Gard...Gardening/dp/1
580172121/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206815454&sr=1-1

2) Maximizing garden production (unfortunately it doesn't talk about
lasagna gardening [no dig])
"How to Grow More Vegetables" by John Jeavons
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/...=search-alias%
3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=How+to+Grow+More+Vegetables&x=0&y=0

3) The nuts and bolts of how healthy soil can help you garden.
Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web
Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis
http://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Microb.../dp/0881927775
/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206815176&sr= 1-1

4) A fascinating book that explains, in a round about fashion, why we
want organic food, and not "factory" food. Doesn't even get in to the
morass of "Franken Food".
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
http://www.amazon.com/Omnivores-Dile...ls/dp/01430385
83/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206815576&sr=1-1

And lastly a book brought to my attention by Bill (one of our posters),
which I haven't read yet but which has excellent reviews
"Gaia's Garden" A guide to Home-Scale Permaculture today.
By Toby Hemenway
ISBN 1-890132-52-7
http://www.amazon.com/Gaias-Garden-S...ulture/dp/1603
580298/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247155485&sr=1-1
Product Description
The first edition of Gaia¹s Garden, sparked the imagination of America¹s
home gardeners, introducing permaculture¹s central message: Working with
Nature, not against her, results in more beautiful, abundant, and
forgiving gardens. This extensively revised and expanded second edition
broadens the reach and depth of the permaculture approach for urban and
suburban growers.

Many people mistakenly think that ecological gardening‹which involves
growing a wide range of edible and other useful plants‹can take place
only on a large, multiacre scale. As Hemenway demonstrates, it¹s fun and
easy to create a ³backyard ecosystem² by assembling communities of
plants that can work cooperatively and perform a variety of functions,
including:
€ Building and maintaining soil fertility and structure
€ Catching and conserving water in the landscape
€ Providing habitat for beneficial insects, birds, and animals
€ Growing an edible ³forest² that yields seasonal fruits, nuts, and
other foods
This revised and updated edition also features a new chapter on urban
permaculture, designed especially for people in cities and suburbs who
have very limited growing space. Whatever size yard or garden you have
to work with, you can apply basic permaculture principles to make it
more diverse, more natural, more productive, and more beautiful. Best of
all, once it¹s established, an ecological garden will reduce or
eliminate most of the backbreaking work that¹s needed to maintain the
typical lawn and garden.
-------
"Outlines a revolutionary course for the future of gardening and
agriculture."--Dr. John Todd, founder of The New Alchemy Institute
(Refers to the first edition of Gaia¹s Garden)

Now, if you are like many of us, you have about 8 weeks to decide what
you are going to grow, and where you are going to grow it, before you
start germinating seeds.

Now, just try and keep your fingers clean ;O)
--

- Billy

There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who
learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and
find out for themselves.
Will Rogers

http://countercurrents.org/roberts020709.htm
http://www.tomdispatch.com/p/zinn