This year, my husband Aaron and I finally started building the herbal garden I have been dreaming about since we bought our land three years ago.
When we first got the land, it was completely raw. No house, no water, no electricity, no septic, no utilities. The last few years have been focused almost entirely on building our home from the ground up, literally with our own hands. We did the plumbing, electrical, radiant floor heating, septic, walls, and all of the unglamorous details that had to happen before the land could feel livable.
Even in those early days, when our house was more of a glorified picnic shelter than an actual home, I was already dreaming about the garden. I would ask Aaron if maybe we could start building beds or planting medicinal herbs, and the answer was usually a very reasonable no. We were still deep in the process of making the house functional, and as much as I wanted the garden, we simply were not ready yet.
This spring, that finally changed. The house is not fully finished, but we had enough capacity to begin. Over the course of about two months, mostly working on weekends, we went from a raw piece of land with compact clay soil and hungry deer to the beginnings of a real garden ecosystem.
This blog post is an adaptation of the solo podcast episode for those who would rather read than listen. For those who want to listen: here is the link!
Starting an Herbal Garden with Observation
One thing I am genuinely grateful for in hindsight is that we did not rush into building the garden the first year we lived here. Waiting gave us time to observe the land.
We were able to see how the sun moves through the space, where the snow melts first, where water sits, how intense the afternoon heat can be, and how the deer travel through the property. We also had a few years to understand the soil, which is probably the most important piece of information we could have gathered.
Our soil is extremely compact clay. It is hard, dense, and not easy to grow in directly. When it gets wet, it turns into the stickiest mud I have ever dealt with. When it dries, it becomes incredibly compact again. We have mulched certain areas for years, hoping the wood chips would start to break things down and create more workable soil, but the change has been very slow.
Because of that, we knew that if we wanted anything to grow well this year, we needed raised beds.
Why We Chose Raised Beds for (some) Medicinal Herbs
Raised beds gave us the opportunity to create a better growing environment right away, rather than waiting years for the native soil to improve. We still want to build soil over time, but the raised beds gave us a place to bring in compost, topsoil, minerals, and better drainage so the plants could actually get established.
We built a mixture of more traditional wooden raised beds and landscape-style raised beds, where soil is mounded and shaped into the space with rock borders. The wooden beds were made from leftover wood from our house build, which I love. They are not perfect or polished. Some of the wood is a little warped and funky, but the beds have character, and they feel connected to the story of our home.
One thing Aaron reminded me of, and something worth mentioning, is to avoid using plywood or pressure-treated wood for garden beds if you are trying to grow an organic garden. Pressure-treated wood can contain chemicals that you probably do not want leaching into the same soil where you are growing food and medicine.
The design of the garden itself came from Aaron. The main wooden beds are laid out in a sun ray pattern, and the culinary and tea herb garden mirrors that shape with a crescent moon bed. Around the outside, we are beginning to establish more perennial plantings with medicinal shrubs, herbs, berries, asparagus, rhubarb, flowers, and trees. The long-term hope is that this area becomes more of a living ecosystem and food forest.
Working with Clay Soil, Drainage, and Amendments
Our first soil mix was a combination of local topsoil and compost from Table to Farm Compost in Durango. We added amendments like alfalfa meal, bone meal, glacial rock dust, and gypsum to help bring in minerals, support soil structure, and begin working with the clay-heavy nature of the soil.
Then we watered it in and immediately learned our first big lesson: the soil was not draining well.
The local topsoil still had a lot of clay in it, and once it was in the beds, it became clear that water was sitting longer than we wanted. Of course, by the time we realized this, we had already seeded some of the beds with beets, carrots, green onions, peas, lettuce, and radishes. So those beds became an experiment. We decided to let them be, see what happens, and adjust later if we need to.
For the beds we had not planted yet, we amended the soil further with sand and perlite. The difference was almost immediate. Those beds drained so much better, and it was a really clear reminder that no matter how much you plan, the garden will always teach you what it needs through the process.
Planning for Deer, Sun, and Water
Because we have so much deer pressure where we live, a fence was non-negotiable. The deer here will eat almost anything. We have planted things in the past that Aaron said he had never seen deer eat before, only to find them eaten down to nubs the next day.
Naturally, the deer made one final visit the night before we put the fence up. They walked through the raised beds, left hoof prints in the lettuce bed, and nibbled on a handful of plants. Thankfully, nothing was completely destroyed, and everything seems to be recovering. It mostly felt like they knew they were about to be locked out and wanted one last garden buffet.
We also had to think carefully about water. We live in a very dry climate, and hand watering everything every evening is not something I want to build my life around. It is time-consuming, inefficient, and in this climate, a lot of water is lost to evaporation before it can really penetrate deeply.
So we set up drip irrigation with multiple zones. Drip irrigation allows water to move slowly and deeply into the soil, which encourages deeper root growth and uses water more efficiently. We did have to adjust as we went. Some of the drip lines were not covering enough surface area, so we added emitters that act more like tiny low-to-the-ground sprinklers in certain places.
Again, it has all been a learning process.
Starting Seeds Indoors
I started quite a few seeds indoors this year, and instead of using the little black plastic seed trays I have used in the past, we used wooden seed-starting boxes Aaron built for me.
We burned the inside of the wood using a Japanese technique called shou sugi ban, which chars the surface and makes it more water resistant. Then I added a layer of sheep’s wool from a local farmer to the bottom of the boxes. The wool helps hold moisture, fills in gaps so soil does not leak everywhere, and slowly offers nutrients back to the plants.
On top of the wool, I added seed-starting mix. At first, the soil was extremely hydrophobic, so I watered it several times with soapy water and worked the moisture in with my hands until it was fully saturated. I wanted the seeds to have consistent moisture through germination.
Once planted, I only watered them with a spray bottle so the seeds and tiny seedlings would not get displaced. We kept them under grow lights during the day and turned the lights off at night.
This method worked really well for me. I had good germination and started brassicas, flowers, and a few medicinal herbs like marshmallow, hyssop, and nettle. I did not start every medicinal plant I wanted from seed, because I knew Crystal from Growing Creations Herb Farm would be bringing medicinal plant starts to our plant sale at Dancing Willow Herbs!
What We Planted in the Herbal Garden
The garden is a mix of food, medicine, flowers, and future perennial abundance.
For food, we focused on what we actually eat and what will store well. We planted beets, carrots, green onions, peas, beans, greens, culinary herbs, potatoes, onions, and lots of squash. Squash is one of my favorite storage crops, so we planted butternut, red kuri, delicata, spaghetti squash, zucchini, and yellow summer squash.
Potatoes and onions also felt important because they are the kind of crops that can feed us beyond the peak summer season. I love the idea of the garden not just being abundant in August, but continuing to nourish us into fall and winter.
For medicinal plants, I planted and am tending things like milky oats, valerian, elder, nettle, calendula, comfrey, violets, elecampane, echinacea, and more. I am especially excited to add more nervines and medicinal perennials from the plant sale.
This first year is mostly an experiment. I would love to eventually grow more herbs for the apothecary, especially calendula, because we use so much of it in our salves and I strongly prefer local calendula over what is available from larger herb suppliers. But I am not putting pressure on the garden to be productive in that way yet. This year is about getting things established, watching what thrives, learning from what does not, and building a foundation.
Growing Fresh Milky Oats
One of the things bringing me the most joy right now is the bed of oats I sowed for fresh milky oats.
They came up quickly, and I swear I can see a difference in their height between morning and evening. Watching them grow feels almost comical because they are so enthusiastic. It is one of those simple garden pleasures that makes the whole process feel worth it.
Milky oats are one of my favorite nervous system medicines. They are harvested during a very specific stage of the oat plant’s life cycle, when the fresh oat tops exude a milky latex when squeezed. That milky stage only lasts for a short window, and the plant needs to be harvested and processed fresh in order to preserve those constituents.
This is why I am always reminding people not to buy dried milky oats. Once dried, they are essentially oatstraw. Still a beautiful mineral-rich herb, but not the same medicine as fresh milky oats.
Fresh milky oats are deeply nourishing to the nervous system and are often considered a trophorestorative, meaning they help restore and rebuild depleted tissue or function over time. I think of them for people who feel frayed, stretched thin, wired but tired, overextended, or like their nervous system has been running on empty for too long.
It is a staple at Dancing Willow Herbs as a single herb tincture and in our most popular formula Peaceful Heart.
Creating a Garden for Beauty, Food, Medicine, and Community
While part of this garden is very practical, growing food we eat and herbs we use, another part of it is harder to measure.
I want a place where I can put my feet on the earth. I want to walk outside and harvest calendula, pick greens for dinner, gather flowers for the house, or make tea from plants I have tended since they were tiny. I want to know the plants not only as dried herbs in jars at the apothecary, but as living beings with personalities, growth patterns, preferences, and quirks.
There is something that happens when you grow a medicinal plant yourself. Even if you never make medicine from it, your relationship to that plant changes. You watch how it emerges, how it handles stress, what insects love it, how it smells in the heat, what it looks like in the morning compared to the evening. It becomes less of an abstract “herb” and more of a being you know.
Eventually, I would love to host classes in the garden. Maybe summer classes on nervines, tea blending, medicine making, or simply spending time with the plants in their living form. I also want to gather friends here, drink tea in the garden, host seasonal dinners, and make the space feel like a place of nourishment in every sense of the word.
We already hosted a Dancing Willow team dinner in the garden, even though the garden is still so young. I made beet-pickled deviled eggs, marinated olives with juniper, lemon and lavender, lemon balm cucumber lemonade, grilled chicken, roasted carrots, green chile buttermilk cornbread, spring salad with radishes, peas, asparagus and herbs, hibiscus pickled onions, and lemon posset served in lemon cups.
It felt so special to feed the people who hold so much with me and for me at the apothecary. Food is one of the ways I know how to express care. Beauty, nourishment, seasonal ingredients, herbs, and gathering around a table all feel like part of the same language.
That dinner inspired a Spring Garden Party Recipe Ebook, so if you want to create your own seasonal garden dinner, I gathered the recipes together for you!
What This First Season Is Teaching Me
The main thing this garden is teaching me so far is that you can plan and research and prepare, but the real learning happens once you begin.
The soil will tell you what it needs. The water will show you where it is not reaching. The deer will remind you that timing matters. The seeds will surprise you. Some things will thrive, some things will struggle, and some things will ask you to adjust your expectations entirely.
This year, I am trying to let the stakes be low. Of course, I have invested time and money and hope into this garden, so I do feel those little butterflies of wanting it to work. But more than anything, I want to stay in the spirit of experimentation. This is the first year. The foundation year. The year of learning the garden as much as growing the garden.
My hope is that by late summer, the space is fuller and more abundant, with flowers blooming, squash sprawling, calendula ready to harvest, and the first real sense of what this garden wants to become.
For now, I am just grateful to be at the beginning.
If you want to grow your own herbal garden be sure not to miss... our Medicinal Plant Sale!
June 5th, 6th & 7th from 11:00-4:00 at Dancing Willow Herbs!
We are so excited to host Growing Creations Herb Farm in sharing medicinal plant starts with the community! Crystal has been seeding and tending to these plant babies for months, so you all can fill your gardens with your favorite healing plants!
Some of the plants we will have: Marshmallow, Ashwagandha, Yerba Mansa, Astragalus, Asclepias tuberosa, Wood Betony, Calendula, German Chamomile, Self Heal, Holy Basil, Skullcap, Chinese Skullcap, Elecampane, Monarda, Blue Vervain, Jerusalem Artichoke, Clary Sage, Valerian, Motherwort & more! See you there!