Today Sharon at Casaubon's Book wrote about the importance of establishing Victory Gardens to meet the needs and challenges of our current world situation. This is something I feel very strongly about and want to support. I started organizing some of my thoughts about blogging about my garden back in November, but haven't done too much due to the time of year. It's still too early for me to do much in the garden (until next year anyway, starting to work on my four season garden) other than plot and plan, but it's getting close.
One of the things I'm thinking about is to not just having fruits, vegetables, and herbs for seasoning; but also herbs for other uses. Calendula is great for steeping in almond oil to use in hand balm recipes. This year I'm going to dry my mint for tea. It's good for cranky tummies. I'm also going to try making my own rose water from my rugosa roses. I should be able to use the rose water for cooking or as an astringent. Another herb I'm growing is comfry. Recently I've been reading about using it in compost (Gardening when it Counts, by Steve Solomon). And I'll definitely be growing lots of sage for the bees.
Pretty soon it will be time to start tomato plants indoors and start peas outdoors. I'll start lettuce and cole crops and radishes. I'll have sorrel to nibble on and rhubarb to cook soon too. These types of things really are the basis of a victory garden. But I think it's good to plan for a few useful herbs too.