How to Grow Chamomile for Beginners Easy and Fast
If you are a gardener that also likes to drink tea, then you might want to learn how to grow chamomile. This herb is very easy to grow as it requires very low maintenance as long as you fulfill all of the requirements.
How to Grow Chamomile for Beginners Easy and Fast
Choose the right variety There are various chamomile varieties that you can grow in your garden. To choose the right variety, then you need to first know what you need the chamomile for. If you want to have chamomile for tea then you should try to plant German chamomile and common chamomile. They are very easy to grow as you can plant them in your garden, as borders around your vegetables, in a planter box or in a container. They will produce flowers that are very aromatic so you can use it to make your tea. Meanwhile if you want to use it as a chamomile lawn then you can plant common chamomile or Flore Pleno which are dwarf varieties. So, it can be used to fill in gaps around gravel, paving or in small plots. There’s also another variety called Treneague which does not produce flowers and is only used as ornament.
Start sowing You can grow some varieties such as the German chamomile by sowing them from seeds. But the common chamomile is usually available as seedling so you should check your local gardening store to see if they have some. You can sow the seeds indoors or outdoors. If you sow it outside then you need to make sure to protect the seedling as some garden pests such as snails and slugs like to eat them. If you sow them indoors then you can do it in spring. Use a sewing tray then cover it using vermiculite to protect it. Once it is large enough you can then plant them in their own container.
Choose the right spot Before you start learning how to grow chamomile then the first thing that you need to do is to choose the right spot. Chamomiles need a lot of sunlight so you need to choose a spot in your garden that is well lit. Make sure that the soil is well drained and if you use a container then you need to use multi-purpose soil that does not contain peat compost. For the size, you should get at least a container 1 feet wide as they will not dry fast.
Plant your chamomile Before you transplant the seedling then you need to first clean the soil thoroughly. Plug all of the weeds since chamomile actually can’t compete with the weeds. When transplanting the seedling you need to give small space between each plant for around 4 inches wide. Chamomile is pretty small so if you have large space to fill, then you might need a large amount of seedlings. So, if you do not want to plant too many seedlings, you can start small then divide the mature plants later to transplant it elsewhere.
Take care of your plants The best thing about learning how to grow chamomile is that this plant only requires minimum maintenance. So, you only need to make sure to water the plant when the soil is dry, especially during summer. If you grow them inside a container then you need to water them more frequently as usually containers dry out quicker. But make sure that the pot has enough drainage so it would not be waterlogged.
Harvest your plant Once you see new flowers open then you need to harvest them immediately. Do not forget to plug out the deadhead so new flowers can grow.
As you can see, learning how to grow chamomile is very easy if you just follow all of these things we mention above.