How to Grow Wild Herbs

Gathering Wild Herb Plants

• 1

  Consult your regional wild plant or herb book for areas that the herb you are looking for might grow.

• 2

  Go to the site where your herb is most likely to grow. Look for the herb you wish to cultivate.

• 3

  Use your herbal or wild plant guide to confirm that you have found the plant you wish to cultivate. Many plants look similar but have drastically different properties and can even be poisonous.

• 4

  Collect seeds, take a cutting from the plant where there is new growth, or dig around the plant to remove a large part of the root system along with the plant.

• 5

  Place the plant in an appropriate container. Seeds can go in envelopes or small plastic bags. Cuttings should go in plastic bags with a bit of damp paper towel in them to keep them fresh. Whole plants should go into a small pot, preferably with some potting soil already inside.

Growing Wild Herbs from Seed

• 6

  Sow seeds directly into the ground. Consult a plant-growing manual for how deep the seeds should be, but usually it is between 1/4 and 1/2 inch depth.

• 7

  Water the seeds regularly. Do not let the planted area dry out until the seedlings have established themselves and are growing well.

• 8

  Thin the seedlings, if necessary, by pulling out seedlings that have grown too close together. Most seedlings require about 2 inches of separation between plants to thrive.

Growing Wild Herbs from Cuttings

• 9

  Trim the leaves away from the bottom third or half of the cutting. Remove any flowers or flower buds.

• 10

  Fill the bottom of a disposable container with rooting hormone so that the container bottom is just barely covered.

• 11

  Dip the end of the cutting in the rooting hormone.

• 12

  Insert the cutting into a growth medium, upright (leaves facing up). Growth medium is most commonly a mix of sand, peat and perlite. It should be sterile, drain well, and retain enough moisture that it doesn't have to be watered constantly. Cuttings should be spaced far enough apart to allow all leaves to receive sunlight.

• 13

  Put the cuttings, in the growth medium, in a container that will keep some moisture in but allow for air. A plastic bag with a few holes poked in it is one solution. Small plastic covers made for starting seedlings is another.

• 14

  Dispose of the used rooting hormone.

• 15

  Water the cuttings regularly.

• 16

  The cuttings should take root within a couple of weeks. The leaves of the cuttings should remain green and supple. If not, it is probable that the cutting has died.

• 17

  Transfer the rooted cutting to a small pot filled half full with potting soil, to allow the cutting to grow to a larger size so it will be more likely to survive.

• 18

  Plant the cutting in your garden once it has reached a decent size. Consult your herb or gardening book for the best light and soil conditions for your herb cutting. You may need to use instructions for a cultivated herb but that should work for a wild equivalent. Alternatively, if you have a space in your garden that is very similar to the light and soil conditions where the plant you took the cutting from was growing, plant your cutting there.

Transplanting Wild Herbs

• 19

  Find an area of your garden that has similar soil and sunlight to the area you removed the wild herb from.

• 20

  Dig a hole deep enough to contain the amount of root system still on the wild herb and about twice as wide as the plant itself.

• 21

  Place the plant in the hole.

• 22

  Fill in around the new plant with the dirt you have removed from the hole.

• 23

  Tamp the dirt down with your hands.

• 24

  Saturate the plant with water.

• 25

  Put approximately 1/4 cup of root growth stimulator around the base of the plant.