If I want to build an old school herb and medicinals garden, what should I put in it?

[ConfuciousSayWhat]

I've always wanted one. So I'm going to turn a corner of the garden into one. Any recommendations what to put in it? Anything old world or unusual I should look out for?

Definitely Chelsea Physic Garden! I also really like chervil...

Please be careful that you know exactly what you're growing and how to use it. Most stuff might be harmless but some of it can really make you ill.

I 'third' a visit to the Chelsea Physic Garden chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/ if anyone is in/near/visiting London; it's fabulous.

You can just about grow bergamot orange here (so long as you bring it inside for the winter). But I meant the herb, which has bright red flowers and is nice.

If you're actually worried about using plants, you also need to be careful with rosemary - the oil can be an irritant.

slippery - good to know.

Haven't rtft but put the mint in a pot, it takes over the world otherwise!

echinacea is a beautiful plant.

Following with interest. I've always fancied a witches garden....and since we moved house last autumn I now have space for one.

How can I keep slugs off my herb garden but still make it so they are edible?

green.thefuntimesguide.com/2009/08/natural_garden_slug_control.php

Some ideas there. ☺

Oh thanks Mouse, going to get some seeds next week so will see how we get on.

I've let my mum know about the Chelsea physic garden and we are planning a trip :-)

What about Prunella vulgaris (Self-heal)?

I have loads growing in my front lawn, seeds everywhere.

Confucious, there is a cafe/brasserie at the Chelsea Physic Garden - but according to a few other MNers, it's not so good these days.

If you fancy a nice lunch in Chelsea, go to The Surprise www.geronimo-inns.co.uk/london-the-surprise, which is about 5 minutes walk (if that) from the CPG.

Oh thanks fru

If you're going to try actually using some of the herbs then do your research carefully using modern texts. Some 'herbs' can make you really ill, including some recommended by old herbals.

I'm quite proud of my little 'physic garden'. It has mostly shrubs and perennial edible herbs like thymes, rosemary, myrtle, fennel, sweet cicely, lovage etc. plus toxic ones like foxgloves, wormwood and monkhood which are there for their looks only. Also have lots of roses and pruned fruit trees on the boundaries, and encourage self seeders like calendula, lemon balm, chamomile and feverfew to spread about randomly. It looks lovely and it is pretty low maintenance too

I was about to say the same...tansy for example is highly toxic

Place marking because you've done the thread I was going to do OP, thank you

Rue, and lovage

lovage is great, you can use it in salads and soup.

You can't pick rue in full sunlight though, so if you have small ones it needs to be out of reach (it's phytotoxic and the juice can bugger your skin up)

Oh OP,for the bees and the butterflies to beaver away all the long summer you must have purple toadflax ! A very naughty self setter once you have it.,but beautiful and drought resistant.
Linaria Purpurea.

Elderflower if you have room for a small tree/bit of hedging at the back. .sambucus is fantastic for colds other upper resp. problems or Elderflower cordial or sambucca if you prefer

Borage has beautiful tiny bright blue flowers, look amazing on a salad.

Bees, OP, you need bees!

Coming back to this thread does make me feel homesick for my own physic garden, left behind long ago. At the time, as I became more obsessed with plants, we had to evict the feathered occupants of the garden who ate everything in sight ...

But if I have the opportunity again beehives will be the first thing I install - pollination, honey and entertainment all in one.

You can also plant lavendar around roses for pest control, plus they are authentic for a physic garden.
If you plant Confrey can I recommend you use Bockings 14, which is a sterile strain. and dig the roots up every other spring, split them and only replant what you want. It can very easily get out of hand otherwise. he roots can go down 20 feet or more.
Dont forget Sage, and Poppies.

I have done this for my garden - everything in it is either edible or medicinal (although some of the medicinal plants stem from the days when pretty much anything was tried as a medicine!). Mine is still very much a work in progress - I have three raised beds and a large border, and am still really in the process of trialling things to see what works and what does not. I bung in a new plant every now and then, and if it does well I divide it and try to create some sort of planting scheme with it, and if it does not, then I let it die out.

This is pretty much my plant list - from memory:

Apple
Ginger rosemary
Houseleek
Chives
Garlic Chives
Oregano
Marjorum
Sage
Basil
Coriander
Strawberries
Winter savoury (I can grow this, but not summer savoury)
Hyssop
English mace
Curry plant
fever few
Chervil
Sorrel
Rocket
Clary Sage
Lemon balm
Lemon verbena
Liquorice
Horse radish
Goosberry
Salad burnet
Good King Henry
Prostrate raspberry
Mint (x types)
Holly
Winter honeysuckle
Primrose
Cowslips
Wild garlic
Ferns
Foxglove
Helebore
Standard Rosemary
Self-Heal
Jacob's Ladder
Monk's Hood
Fennel
Angelica
Borage
Wormwood
Field Scabius
Phlox
Meadow sweet
Sneezewort
Tea Tree
Myrtle
Caper bush
Ajuga
St John's wort
Rue
Pulsatilla (wood anemone)
Black Lillyturf
Peony
Snap dragon
Verbascum
Dog violet
Wild violets
Rose
Yew
Cherry
Lilly of the Valley
Comfrey
Lovage
Pennyroyal
White Horehound
Mallow
Hedge Germander
Pulmonaria
Hollyhock
Lavender
Bay
Jasmine
Thyme
Eucalyptus (dwarf variety)

I think that's about it! Don't ask me to recite all the medicinal uses, but I have looked them up before allowing it in my garden.

One of my favourite sites for buying plants is Hooks Green Herbs.

I forgot chamomile.

And
Lady's Mantle
Yarrow
Calendula