Home generalMugwort in the herb garden - cultivation and care

Mugwort in the herb garden - cultivation and care

  • Short profile - mugwort
  • The care of mugwort
    • Location
    • plant substrate
    • plants
    • Pouring and fertilizing
    • To cut
    • overwinter
    • multiply
    • Diseases and pests
    • Harvest of mugwort

Mugwort is a typical herb and spice plant. One uses the leaves mainly for seasoning fat meat dishes, but also for medical purposes, mainly in folk medicine. Artemisia vulgaris is a rather simple plant that grows almost everywhere in the sun, as long as the soil is not too moist. The care is simple, the plant needs almost no. What has to be considered, we have researched for you. Inform yourself!

Mugwort is a herb that should not be missing in any herb garden. It is ideal for seasoning greasy foods such as the Christmas goose and also helps with indigestion, but also in other diseases. The spice should be dosed quite sparingly, because the taste is very intense and slightly bitter. The care is easy. The plants manage well almost without attention, they have almost no work with them. Only self-sowing should be prevented. What should be noted, read in the following text.

Short profile - mugwort

  • Common mugwort, common mugwort, also called spice mugwort
  • Also popularly broom weed, flyweed, gooseweed, woman's cabbage
  • Typical spice plant, also used as herb
  • Botanically closely related to wormwood
  • Asteraceae, aster family
  • A European and an Asian variety, with minor distinctions
  • Perennial herbaceous plant, between 60 and 200 cm high
  • Thrives on rubbish dumps, fallow land, on roadsides, embankments, on hills, everywhere on open spaces
  • Mostly upright stems, edgy
  • Usually richly branched
  • Fiederteilige, dark green leaves
  • Rispige inflorescences in gray yellow
  • Bloom from July to September
  • Growing in nature often on roadsides and on forest meadows

The care of mugwort

Mugwort is not really delicious, but it does well. The plant tastes a bit bitter. After opening the flowers, the bitter substances increase sharply, so that the parts are then no longer edible. As a rule, the shoot tips are cut as long as the flower baskets are still closed. The flower buds themselves are also used. Up to and including root, all parts of the plant can be used. Harvest time is from June / July to September. The contained bitter substances stimulate the formation of gastric juice and bile and thus support the digestion. Artemisia vulgaris goes well with fat, heavy meat dishes
Not every person can handle mugwort. His pollen are known triggers of allergic reactions, in some allergic people of quite some extent.

Tip: pregnant women should refrain from the use of mugwort, as an intolerance of the unborn child can not be excluded.

The location should be as sunny and warm as possible, the plant substrate permeable and loose. Plenty of humus is cheap. Also, the lime may be quite high. When planting directly is not much to consider. The planting distance must be observed so that the stems can develop well. It is recommended to mulch the soil. This is favorable for the soil life. Watering is important only at the beginning until the mugwort has grown properly. Later, the plants get along well with heat and drought. Only with long-lasting dryness should be occasionally poured. Fertilizer is not absolutely necessary. For very nutrient-poor soils, compost helps, which is incorporated. If you use fertilizer, you must be careful that you do not overfertilize. That harms the plants. You just have to cut to harvest. In addition, the entire plant is cut off just above the ground in spring. Mugwort is absolutely hardy, needs no protection. Propagation occurs by sowing or dividing the root. Diseases and pests are rare. On the contrary, Artemisia vulgaris protects other plants from pests, for example, cabbage in front of the cabbage white.

Location

Mugwort is one of the native wild plants and is accordingly adaptable. The plants like the sun, but also come with light shade. Important is a warm place. Artemisia vulgaris suits many plants and protects them from pests. The adaptable plants are clear almost everywhere.

  • Dry, warm and sunny
  • Can be well full sun
  • Until light partial shade, not darker, because without sufficient sun, the essential oils can not unfold

plant substrate

The plant substrate must be permeable. Favorable are humus and lime in the soil. Many nutrients are not needed, the plants are clear even with quite poor soil. Basically, it does every garden floor, as long as it is not too humid.

  • Absolutely permeable soil, the plants have no problem with very dry and sandy soil
  • Favorable is a humus rich soil
  • Mugwort likes calcareous substrate
  • For very meager soils, it is advisable to mix compost or some clay

plants

When planting is not much to consider. The frugal plants do not make many claims. Practical is to mulch the soil after planting, so it does not dry out so quickly and it is very good for soil life.

  • Planting distance at least 60 cm
  • Put in water before planting so that the bales can be well-fed.
  • Do not plant too deep, just as they were in the pot.
  • Mulch the ground afterwards

Pouring and fertilizing

Mugwort does not need a lot of water. The plants cope with dryness much better than with wetness. It also does not necessarily have to be fertilized. However, composting promotes the growth and resilience of plants.

  • Pour little
  • After planting, until growing, should be watered regularly
  • Additional watering is needed later only in case of prolonged drought
  • There is no fertilizer required
  • It is ideal to mulch the soil in spring and autumn
  • In addition, compost can be incorporated regularly
  • An oversupply with fertilizer has a rather disadvantageous effect on the plants.

To cut

You do not have to cut much with mugwort. It is cut off once a year just above the ground. In addition, it should be plastered to prevent self-sowing. Nothing else to do.

  • Remove withered inflorescences so that the mugwort can not multiply massively by self-sowing.
  • It is important to cut the flower spikes before seed maturity.
  • They can be used as tea or for cooking.
  • Cut off at the end of February / beginning of March, before budding, just above the ground

overwinter

Mugwort is absolutely hardy, even without protection. It is often recommended to cut off the plants as early as autumn. I advise against it. It is better to cut in early spring. Then the plants can still absorb all existing nutrients from the flowering and dead parts.

multiply

Propagation occurs by sowing or dividing the root. From April can be sown directly in the field. The cultivation succeeds easily, the germination rate is high. However, the plants also sow themselves and then lush. You have to take care and cut off the seeds before they mature.

sowing

  • Sow in warm water from February (use flat planters, seed germinate best in potting soil)
  • Alternatively sow in the field from April (area must be free of weeds, incorporate humus)
  • Light germinators, so seeds only minimally cover with earth, better just squeeze and not cover at all
  • Keep the soil slightly damp, preferably with a water sprayer (when planting in a planter)
  • A warm and bright, but not sunny location favors germination
  • Do not place over a heater
  • Germination time about 14 to 25 days
  • Pike at a seedling size of 15 cm
  • When planting outdoors, add horn chips under the soil

Division of the root

  • In spring or autumn
  • Divide the meaty rhizomes into equal sections as far as possible
  • Lay horizontally in the ground and cover 4 to 5 cm with soil
  • From time to pour, then develop within a few months, new plants from it

Diseases and pests

Mugwort is one of the plants that barely have to cope with diseases and pests, quite the contrary, the plant is grown to protect other plants from pests. Mugwort likes to be placed between cabbages, but also between other vegetables. Thus, aphids, cabbage whites, fleas and shield bugs can be kept away.

  • Wet soil can cause root rot. This disease is caused by soil fungi. Poor appearance and foul odors are signs of infestation. There are no remedies for these pathogens. If the roots are not over-attacked, planting in drier soil can be helpful.

Harvest of mugwort

Mugwort is one of the plants in which all parts are used, even the rootstock. Harvested before opening the flowers. The stems and leaves can be dried. Keep the dried parts airtight and store in a dark place to preserve the aromas.

  • As a rule, the flower buds are usually harvested. They are dried and rubbed and then well packed.
  • Leaves and stems are too bitter for many, but they also have their fans.

Tip:
During flowering the leaves become even more bitter and then they are no longer suitable for consumption. They would make the food inedible.

  • Mugwort is freshly harvested and used from June until September
  • Dried, the herb can be used all year round.

How is mugwort used as a medicinal plant ">

In mugwort, the undersides of the leaves are covered with whitish, fluffy hair, not in wormwood.

Tips for quick readers:

  • Typical herbal and spice plant
  • Also used as a medicinal plant
  • Not for pregnant women
  • Location - dry, warm and sunny
  • Plant substrate - permeable, humic, calcareous
  • In no case too wet
  • Plant - distance of at least 60 cm
  • Watering - until it grows, otherwise they get along well with dryness
  • Fertilize - maximum with compost
  • Avoid over-fertilization
  • Cutting - to harvest
  • Cut off just above the ground in spring
  • Hibernate - easily
  • Growing - sowing indoors and outdoors
  • Division of rhizomes also possible
  • Diseases - very rare
  • If there is too much moisture - root rot due to soil fungus
  • Harvest from June to September
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