My Witchy Garden & How to Start Your Own

Why You Should Have a Garden

As mentioned above, herbs are often used in witchcraft for their correspondences and use in natural magick. Likewise, growing herbs allows you to develop a deeper connection to your herbs as well as a better understanding of their energies.

On a more practical note, growing herbs is a great way to guarantee freshness – instead of purchasing store-bought ones. But most of all, it’s a great way to save money!

In my last post, I mentioned that gardening can be eco-friendly as well. There are several reasons for this. The most well-known being that plants produce oxygen while breaking down carbon dioxide. Additionally, growing herbs, fruits, and vegetables reduce the carbon footprint created when they are shipped from farms that aren’t local.

Not only that but gardening provides an opportunity to engage in other eco-friendly activities such as composting and collecting rainwater.

Gardening in Magickal Practice

Certainly, gardening has several practical benefits but it also opens a door to new magickal and spiritual activities within your craft.

Firstly, your garden is the perfect touchstone for nature. By tending to the plants in your garden, you connect to the natural world and are able to enrich your understanding of not only the natural world but also your own individual environment.

Best of all, your garden can serve as a sacred space for meditation, connection with the divine, and even a space for spells and rituals.

Tending to the plants in your garden even becomes its own meditation of sorts.

Personally, some of my plants are dedicated to specific deities. It feels extra rewarding to harvest these fruits and herbs that were grown by hand and give them as an offering.

How to Start Your Garden

Honestly, when I first set out to start my garden I felt overwhelmed. While it may seem that way at first, I hope I can show you that it’s not that bad. And on the flip side, if you’re thinking you can’t start a garden – I think you can. Even if you don’t have a yard, you can still start your own witchy garden!

If there isn’t a spot outside that can be used, I’d recommend looking into starting a windowsill garden. Alternatively, just a few small planters and pots near a window with good lighting is more than enough to get started!

Planning Your Garden

The biggest factor when it comes to planning a garden is location. When growing plants outside there are a few key things to learn: your USDA plant hardiness zone, what soil type you have, the amount of light that your garden will receive, and how well water drains here.

The type of soil in my garden is probably the biggest issue I ran into when I started planning. Although light plays a big role, soil type doesn’t really change anywhere in your yard.

Luckily, soil can be amended. However, this process can be tedious, time-consuming, and sometimes expensive. But depending on the challenges you encounter there are several different ways around them.

Garden Soil Types and How to Amend Them

Soil type is based on its composition. Primarily, this is broken down into four categories: sandy, silt, clay, and loam.

• Sandy Soil – Sandy soil tends to drain quickly and doesn’t seem to hold onto nutrients for long. If you decide to amend this soil I recommend adding humus, peat moss, or compost to raise the nitrogen level and increase nutrients.
• Silt Soil – This type of soil is rather slippery and can feel like flour. It holds onto moisture and nutrients longer than sandy soil. If it needs amending, compost is an easy way to revitalize it.
• Clay- Clay soils are heavy soils that hold their shape when mushed together. This soil is heavily present in my yard and can be difficult to work with. It tends to drain slowly and can crack when dry in the summer. Additionally, water tends to stand for long periods of time on this soil. However, coarse sand, compost, and peat moss can add drainage and improve soil texture.
• Loam – Loam is a fertile well-draining soil made of equal parts clay, silt, and sand, with rich amounts of organic matter. If this is the soil present in your yard then you can probably grow with ease!

Besides soil type, pH is another thing to consider in your soil. There are testing kits available for cheap that can help you determine this. But most plants prefer to be in a relatively neutral zone.

If the pH is low, lime (as in limestone) or wood ash can be added to make it more alkaline.

Alternatively, high pH soil can be improved and made more acidic with peat moss or coffee grounds.

My Experience

Personally, the soil in my yard is primarily composed of clay. So even though I have plenty of light, most of the plants I wanted to grow, prefer better draining soil.

As a result, I’ve been building raised garden beds. Raised beds are the perfect solution to draining issues and are a wonderful way to establish your garden.

But instead of purchasing wood, I’ve been using stacked logs from wood that was cut down in my yard. Not only has this used up excess wood that would’ve been burned, but the wood helps absorb water from the soil. And as the logs decompose, the soil becomes enriched with the organic matter!

Raised garden bed using old wooden logs. Bark has been used as a mulch to get rid of the grass. (As you can see I have more work to do)

Although amending soil is tedious, if there are plants you really want to grow, this can help make that possible. However, you may wish to stick to plants that grow well in the soil type you already have.

If you don’t know where you want to start gardening or are deciding from a few different spots; why not meditate in each spot and see if the local land spirits have anything to say!

Selecting Your Plants

Once you’ve found the ideal location for your garden, the next step is to start planning what you want to grow! Now, I highly recommend starting small so that you don’t become overwhelmed or struggle to keep up with your plants.

Of course, I didn’t follow that advice and had more seedlings than I had space established. While I have the space available, I’ve had to do a lot of work to set up more garden beds for them.

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite plants for a witch’s garden and their growing conditions:

Some plants for your Witchy Garden

• Sage (Garden Sage)

  Did you know that white sage, which is used to make smudge sticks that are sold in stores, is over-harvested? Not only that but sage smudging is a Native American practice. I’ve been guilty of using white sage smudge-sticks. At the time, I didn’t know how important white sage was to Native American tribes, nor that it was over-harvested. I don’t want to be participating in cultural appropriation of closed cultures. So now that I know better, I’m growing my own garden sage to use for cleansing. I love the smell and garden sage is quite similar! Garden sage prefers full sun in well-draining soil.

• Lavender

  A wonderful herb for relaxation and meditation. It’s also a beautiful and colorful flowering herb. Lavender repels several garden pests, but is also a great pollinator for bees! Lavender prefers full sun in well-draining soil, it can be grown year-round indoors.

• Rosemary 

  Rosemary has numerous magickal associations. But it also goes really well with roast meats and has a lovely aromatic flavor. Like lavender and sage, it prefers full sun and well-draining soil. Why not grow the three together?

• Roses 

  Every part of the rose has unique uses in spells and rituals. Roses come in a variety of colors and are a staple flower in many gardens. They do well in full sun and rich soil that is moist but drains well.

• Sunflowers

   Sunflowers grow well in various conditions, of course, they need full sun. Some taller species, such as the ones I have (which may grow to 12 feet tall) need to be staked to protect against the wind. They seem to do well in my soil. They’re a great decoration for various sabbats and the seeds can be harvested to grow more the following year or have a delicious snack!

• Chamomile

   Chamomile has been used for so long to make teas to help people sleep. In a sachet with some lavender, you could have a lovely spell for restful sleep and peaceful dreams. Chamomile has little daisy-like flowers and can grow in full to partial sunlight.

• Basil

   Basil is an annual herb, where the other herbs I’ve listed are considered perennial. However, when grown indoors, if you pinch off the flowering buds, you can keep growing basil year-round. A great herb for success and prosperity magick, it also goes great for kitchen witchcraft in cooking!

• Thyme

   Another herb with plenty of great uses in the craft. Thyme is a lovely aromatic herb to grow! Thyme needs full-sun outdoors or a nice bright window indoors as well as well-draining neutral Ph soil.

• Marigolds

   Marigolds are such an interesting looking flower in my opinion. Marigolds are great sabbat decorations! They need full sun but will grow in a wide variety of soils when cared for properly.

• Strawberries

   Any fruit or veggie that you’d like to grow is perfect for a witch’s garden. While I’d love to have an apple tree one day, I’m starting with strawberries. Strawberries are notorious for holding onto pesticides, but in an organic witch’s garden, this isn’t a problem! They’re associated with Freya, a goddess I work with, but are a wonderful summer snack and are so fun to grow and harvest. Strawberries require full sun and will handle different soil types but seem to thrive in best in loam.

Most of all, it’s always easiest to find out what plants grow in the conditions you can most easily supply based on soil and climate zone.

Turning your Garden into Sacred Space

Frankly, in my opinion, any garden is already a magickal place. Magick is a natural part of the world and thus its presence is strongest in nature! But we can make that connection stronger in our gardens by turning them into a place for magick and meditation!

Outdoor gardens are probably a bit more versatile than indoor ones, but some of these ideas should be applicable to both.

Ways to Design a Witchy Garden

• Incorporate symbols of the four elements: In each direction of the garden, you may wish to grow plants associated with a particular element. But you could also include elemental decorations:
  • A large stone to represent mountains and the element of earth.
  • Wind chimes for air.
  • A small fire-pit/brazier or golden garden decor for fire.
  • A small water feature such as a birdbath for the element of water.
• Why not honor your deities or the divine in your garden? Whether it’s a fancy outdoor statue that represents your deity or some of their symbols, this can greatly personalize your garden. If you work with a deity associated with the earth, agriculture, or a related subject, what about dedicated your garden to them?
• Another great idea is to turn your garden or part of the space into a fairy garden! While everyone has different feelings about the Fae this is a great way of respecting them and saying thanks without of course saying thanks! Additionally, this can also be used as a way of honoring other local nature spirits.
• Build a space for an outdoor altar! If you want to cast spells or perform rituals in your garden, you may wish to use an old tree stump/log as a natural altar table. Likewise, a big flat stone can serve the same purpose.

Honor Nature with Witchy Garden Design

Another way to really turn your garden into a witch’s dream is to turn it into a safe-haven for nature. More specifically, turning your garden into a pollinator’s dream!

Now, I’m not suggesting that you need to go out and become a bee-keeper. While that’d be pretty cool, there are easier ways to help save the bees!

• Firstly, go organic in your garden. Most pesticides, even the so-called ‘organic ones’ are toxic to bees and other helpful garden friends! Honestly, there’s no good reason to use these chemicals to stop pests like aphids or slugs when you also kill the beneficial bugs who keep your soil healthy. Plus these chemicals typically remain in the soil, thus entering the plant, as well as yourself. Instead, plenty of plants actually do a great job of repelling particular pests. Meanwhile, there are organic at-home solutions to other pesky problems!
• Create homes for local wildlife! Bees, butterflies, and pollinators need places to set up shop. There’s plenty of things that are probably already present in your yard that you should keep so that these guys can thrive.
• Give them some food and water! For butterflies and hummingbirds, you can add feeders in your garden for them to enjoy! Likewise, bees and butterflies need water just like birds. A lovely little bird-bath or basin for rain-water will help them all enjoy a good drink. I saw someone include clear marbles in a small dish so that bees and butterflies can land on it. That may be something to look into!
• Most of all, fill your garden with some plants that attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds! Honestly, this is a great way to help save the bee population, honor nature, but also it just looks magickal! Some plants to include are:
  • Lavender
  • Marigold
  • Oregano
  • Purple Coneflower
  • Sage
  • Shasta Daisies
  • Milkweed (caterpillars)
  • Nettle (caterpillars)
  • Thistle (caterpillars)
  • Begonias
  • Bee Balm
  • Lily
  • Zinnia
  • Basil
  • Sunflower
  • Raspberry
  • Strawberry

As well as so many others!

Other Witchy Garden Ideas

As mentioned previously, growing plants dedicated to deities is a fantastic way to invite magick into gardening. But you can also do the same for particular sabbats!

For example, I am growing sunflowers for Litha and the harvest sabbats. 

Here are a few plants for the sabbats to try growing:

• Imbolc: A great time to plant seeds to grow indoors; it might be a little early for seeds that will be transplanted outdoors. Basil, chamomile, ginger, and lavender are other common herbs for the sabbat.
• Ostara: Dandelions, Daffodils, Tulips, and any budding greenery!
• Beltane: Clover, Daisy, Lilac, Lily of the Valley, Marigolds, Rose and most flowers as Beltane is the height of spring.
• Litha: Chamomile, lavender, lily, rose, sunflowers, and many more.
• Lammas: Basil, marigold, rosemary, grapevines.
• Mabon: Gourds and pumpkins, marigolds, milkweed, pomegranate, and sunflowers.
• Samhain: Pumpkins, of course! Marigolds, chrysanthemums, apples, and pomegranates. 

Gardening with the lunar cycle

If you want to make gardening part of your spiritual practice you could base your gardening cycle on the lunar cycle.

As such, the New moon would be a great time to get started. The waxing moon phase is dedicated to new growth – and you could use spells to promote this. The full moon and waning moon would be times for harvesting as well as pruning and pulling weeds!

However, another way to use the moon would be to use full moon water to feed your plants!

Gardening is already magickal

Folk magick and the key themes of the wheel of the year are heavily focused on agriculture. In it of itself, this is a great reminder of how gardening can be spiritual. But you can utilize the focus on fertility in witchcraft to perform spells that promote growth with your plants! 

It’s a simple way to help make sure your plants grow big and strong. As you tend to them you are already backing up the spell with physical work.

The last way I like to make gardening more witchy is to make food from what is grown in the garden for “cakes and ale” in traditional rituals. Moreover, these foods can be made based on sabbat recipes or as offerings for deity.

If you are over 21 (or of legal drinking age in your country of residence) you might find it fun to make mead or wine from what you grow in the garden!

This is something I’m considering trying. My uncle used to micro-brew beer and has most of the tools I’d need. If I do brew successfully, I’ll be sure to let you know how!

Caring for Your Plants

Obviously, after selecting plants and putting seeds in the ground, they aren’t done. All plants need care such as food, water, and light. They also need to be pruned and checked for pests.

A great way to prevent weeds and pests is to use mulch. Otherwise, it depends on the particular pest you’re dealing with.

Organic Fertilizing: Compost!

All plants need nutrients in order to grow and remain healthy. Nutrients or food as I called it is most often referred to as fertilizer. Some people go to the store and buy whatever brand of fertilizer catches their attention. But there’s an opportunity to do something different and save money!

That something is composting!

For those who don’t know, composting is a way to reduce waste and trash.

Compost is defined as organic matter which has decomposed in the process referred to as composting. This process recycles organic materials that would otherwise be considered waste and instead produces a soil conditioner.

Truthfully, I had no idea what composting was until a couple of months ago. But now it’s one of my favorite ways of being eco-friendlier.

How it works

When organic waste products are thrown in the trash, they end up in a landfill where they undergo anaerobic decomposition. However, when composted properly these materials undergo aerobic decomposition.

When anaerobic decomposition occurs, it produces the greenhouse gas methane as a major byproduct. Methane is considered significantly worse for the environment than carbon dioxide. Thankfully, aerobic decomposition mainly produces carbon dioxide.

Although it results in greenhouse gases no matter what, when you compost you are able to reduce the harm done by decomposition. Additionally, that waste is now recycled and used to benefit the environment!

Through composting, food scraps, grass clippings, leaves, and other biodegradable materials are broken down into the perfect fertilizer.

So instead of buying a chemical fertilizer, composting allows you to reduce your carbon footprint. And by utilizing waste you save money that would otherwise be spent on fertilizer.

How to Start Composting

There are several ways to start a compost pile or bin – I suggest checking out the EPA’s webpage here.

Personally, I used a spare garbage can and drilled holes into it for aeration and drainage.

How to Get it Right

When filling a compost bin it’s important to use the right ratio of materials. There are carbon-based materials, referred to as browns. As well as greens, which are nitrogen-based.

The ratio I read in different studies was 25:1 carbon to nitrogen. But most of these sources said that a 3:1 ratio works just as well and is easier to recognize.  If there’s too much carbon, decomposition is rather slow. However, too much nitrogen will result in a bad odor. Personally, good compost just smells like the soil. It’s a sweet earthy scent that isn’t too strong. 

Additionally, you’ll need to be cautious about what you attempt to compost. Not everything is cut out for the bin! For example, any paper that isn’t glossy is compostable. But colored inks may have heavy metals in them. So black and white ink is fine. Likewise, greasy foods, meat, and fats should be avoided as they produce a strong odor and attract vermin.

Typically, the compost needs to be aerated (or turned) at least once a week. It also needs to remain moist. But not soaked and not dry in order to speed up decomposition. If you follow these steps, compost could be ready in as little as a month or two!

What to Compost

Rain Water

Lastly, I want to mention collecting rainwater in order to feed your plants. When collecting rainwater, you reduce your water use and water bill. But more importantly, tap water frequently has chloride compounds or treatment chemicals in them.

A rain barrel allows you to collect and store rainwater instead of using tap water! This water is perfect for your garden! If you cannot purchase or make a rain barrel, you may want to use a filter to make sure your water isn’t too harsh. Especially with indoor plants!

Conclusion

Honestly, I wish every pagan and witch could have a garden. While I know that not everyone is able to, I hope that this has helped you learn more about gardening.

Your garden is the perfect spot to connect to the sacred. So why not give it a try!

Please be sure to let me know how your gardening experience goes. What plants are you growing? Do you have any advice you’d like to share? Let me know in the comments below or share with me on social media!