Worth knowing:
Lemon Balm is a long-lasting, up to one meter tall plant that produces small, beautiful, white-coloured blossoms from June until September. The herb has a lemon scent that comes out particularly strong when the leaves are crushed between the fingers. In the first German herbal book from the 15th century, the Lemon Balm is already mentioned as an excellent herbal remedy for woman’s disorders, which gave it also the name womans herb or mothers herb in colloquial language.
Natural Location:
The wild variety of the Lemon Balm has its natural habitat in the Mediterranean region. Since the Middle Ages it is often be cultivated in cloister gardens.
Cultivation:
After the ice saints, you can sow the Lemon Balm outdoors in the garden bed or in a tub. Seed propagation indoors is possible throughout the year. However, a pre-cultivation in February and planting out later on, would be ideal. Spread the fine seeds onto moist potting compost and put just a little compost earth on top. Cover the seed container with clear film to prevent the earth from drying out, but don’t forget to make some holes in the clear film and take it every second or third day completely off for about 2 hours. That way you avoid mold formation on your potting compost. Place the seed container somewhere bright and warm with a temperature between 20°C and 25°Celsius and keep the earth moist, but not wet. It will take two to four weeks until germination, and in May you can plant the small seedlings out.
Place:
Lemon Balm prefers a sunny and wind-protected place with sufficient humidity.
Care:
In the first year, you shouldn’t harvest the plant too strong. The best times for harvesting would be in June, beginning of August and end of September. The leaves should be dried quickly, but not in the sunlight. Dried leaves take on a dark colour and can be stored for up to one year - properly sealed, but not in a metal box. Yellow leaves should be taken out.
During the winter:
The Lemon Balm is sufficient frost-hard in outdoor cultivation. Tub plants, however, should get some protection during winter.
Picture credits:
- © © 1. Franz Eugen Köhler 2. Plenuska - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © Franz Eugen Köhler - Public Domain - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/
- © Plenuska - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0 - -
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