The Green Witch: Your Complete Guide to the Natural Magic of Herbs, Flowers, Essential Oils, and More - Arin Murphy-Hiscock 2017
Designing Your Garden
Keep a Green Witch Garden
Walking the Green Path
The urban green witch faces several challenges when it comes to gardening and creating a personal space in which to commune with nature. In a city or suburb, many people do not have an ideal space in which to lay out a garden. If you don’t have a strip of earth somewhere along the path to your front door, or if you’re bound to an apartment and have no land at all, you may be surprised to find out that you in fact have several options. Check with your city hall or environmental division to see if your city sponsors public garden space. You can apply for one of these garden plots, which are usually fenced off and protected, often for free or at a low rental cost. You may have to travel to it, but you can grow whatever you like within legal parameters.
If you prefer something closer to home, you can create a balcony or window garden. The container garden is the green witch’s answer to the challenge of limited space and high-rise or apartment living. One of the wonderful things about container gardening on a balcony or in a window is that if the containers or the plants themselves are small enough to move easily, you can always change your arrangement.
Keep notes in your journal on what plants respond well to the lighting and environment of your chosen garden space. Also keep notes on the evolution of your garden over the seasons. Next year, you can create a more successful garden or experiment with something completely new.
Your have several options in container gardening. You can set up a window box indoors on a windowsill, hang a window box outside your window, or grow plants in pots on your patio or balcony. A good rule is to use small containers in a small space. You can group them to create a larger arrangement, but huge planters tend to overwhelm small spaces. Likewise, don’t fill those small containers with large-leaved plants, which will also visually overwhelm the space. What you will be able to grow in those planters, however, depends on several factors. Here are some questions you must answer before you start planting:
✵ What will be the purpose of your garden? Do you intend to grow herbs to cook with or vegetables to eat? Is your garden to be a peaceful retreat, your personal connection to nature, your power place? If you plan well enough, you can create a sacred space where you can carry on your green witch dialogue with nature. Watering, weeding, and caring for a window box can be as rewarding as sitting in the middle of a national park.
✵ When will you be using your space? Will you be gardening or enjoying your space in the daytime or in the evening? Because some plants bloom and release their scent after dark, your plant selection can reflect your schedule.
✵ Realistically, how much time will you devote to maintaining your garden?
✵ What is your budget?
✵ Do you want your garden to reflect the style of the rest of your home? Do you want to do something dramatically different to contrast with your usual style?
Answering these questions and making a list of what you want to get out of gardening will help you determine what kind of garden to develop.
Once you have defined the purpose of your garden, you can begin to focus on how you will go about creating the garden. Make a wish list of all the plants you’d like to work with. The purpose of the garden will help you rule out certain types of plants and focus on others. Find out the ideal climate zone for each of the plants you want to grow. Some of your wish list will inevitably be crossed off because you don’t live in the right kind of climate. Read up carefully on the plants that remain on your list. Some will be easy to grow, whereas others will be challenging and energy consuming. Limits to the time and energy you have to devote to your garden will eliminate other plants on your wish list. Next, consider the projected height and diameter of plants you want. You will have to discard some because they will grow too tall or broad for your balcony or patio or containers. Remember, your containers have to be large enough to accommodate the roots of the plants you intend to grow in them.
Light and weather are two other important aspects of working with a small container garden. How much sunlight does your chosen garden space receive per day? What direction does it face? If you face north, stick with shade-loving varieties; if you face east, your garden will receive early-morning sunlight; if you face south, keep a close watch on your garden to ensure that the sun does not burn it or dry out every plant; if you face west, your garden will have the benefit of the warm afternoon sun. If you live on the second story or above, the wind will be harsher, which can play havoc with your plants. Anything extremely delicate will have to be sheltered. If you plant perennials, you will have to protect them during winter or during the fallow part of their cycle.
Artificial light is another consideration. If you intend to spend most of your time in your garden at night, you may wish to add a specialized lighting system to highlight your plants and allow you to see clearly. Hanging lanterns can create a very serene and relaxing atmosphere, but keep safety in mind. If you use candles or oil lamps, keep the wicks low and the flames well protected from the wind. Only use lanterns that have been designed for outdoor use, and keep them away from anything flammable.