If you are thinking about planting an herb garden this spring, why not include some medicinal herbs. Here's one you are probably familiar with, but you might not know what a handy plant it is to have around to keep you healthy.


http://articles.mercola.com/si...

We love oregano and use it all the time here. Another thing that's great about it is that it is evergreen for us, so we always have fresh oregano 365 days out of the year. We never dry it, we just harvest it when we need it.

I use a lot of oregano but I have yet to use any that Ive grown myself. Mission for this summer! I had no idea though that it was this good for our health.

It even takes the carcinogens out the barbecue

"One study found that adding an antioxidant-rich spice blend that included oregano to meat prior to cooking reduced the level of malondialdehyde (a chemical marker for oxidation) in the meat by 71 percent and levels in participants' urine by 49 percent.14 The researchers used a blend of:

Cloves Cinnamon Oregano Rosemary
Ginger Black pepper Paprika Garlic powder

You can easily recreate this simply by mixing the dry spices together and rubbing them onto the meat before you quickly sear it, or add them to your marinade."

Just got a few different types of oregano seeds the other day, gives me a little more incentive to get those guys going! Thinking about trying a large herb spiral right outside of my sons room. He loves to harvest all the little leaves so I bet he would love to see them from his room.

We love our herb spiral!

We have interns (mostly pre-med students) in town who are involved in programs supporting out- patients who live on a farm outside of town. This spring they wanted to build raised beds. I linked your herb spiral, Dave, so they are considering building something like that out at the farm for "the ladies" who live there. I can't wait to see what they come up with.

This year I am trying Wild Zaatar Oregano. It says it takes 2-4 weeks to germinate, but mine came up in 6 days with a covered container on top of my grow lights. It is supposed to taste like a combination between thyme, marjoram, and oregano. It is hardy to zone 6.

Oh, and it is native to Israel and Jordan and is said to have been around since Biblical times.

When we traveled to Israel and the Middle East, I tried many different edibles and herbs such as that. Wonderful! Thanks for reminding me, Reid. I'm going to get some for this year. Where did you purchase yours?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: we love our herb spiral! It's been the very best thing I've ever built for our gardens. We've thought about building a second one. It took 2 weeks of solid work every day so it wasn't a project for the faint of heart, but wow is it a great garden bed design.

@SongofJoy I purchased mine from Baker Creek.

Thank you, @Anderwood, I'll check there.

Using bamboo for an herb spiral might conserve a little on the labor.

http://permaculturenews.org/20...

How long do you think the bamboo would last?

Right. But it could mean a start while you are working on a bigger more permanent spiral?
I am doing something like this with 3-4 inch lengths of trash trees I am cutting down. I plan to just push the wood into the bed at the end of the season, and pile on more leaves and compost.

Im not sure how long the bamboo would last. It is often used as a construction material. I think it would last at least a season.

Well, I hate to be a negative nellie over this but if I was building an herb spiral with the intention of growing perennial herbs and vegetables, I'd want it to last more than a season or two. The labor is high no matter what material you're using so doing it once with poor materials, and then later doing it over again with better ones seems like an inefficient strategy.

"negative nellie" is the voice of experience!

Here is some information on bamboo edging. They do recommend using preservative -- petroleum based products (which you might not want around your plants) or hemp oil. And they dont say anything about the longevity of construction involving soil contact.

http://www.bamboo-inspiration....