How do you get started?

I am a beginner witch who is interested in herbalism and was wondering if anyone knew of any good sources or tips that might help me get started. I am thinking of starting a herb garden on my window sill but I don't know which herbs are useful and whether they would be able to survive the cold weather. Any help or advice would be much appreciated.
Lily

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Here's a few good websites with a lot of information.

https://wicca.com/celtic/herbal/magickal0.htm

http://www.thewayofthewitch.com/herbal-healing.html

Hi Lily!

So glad you messaged us on this topic. It can be hard to know where to start. Here are some ideas I have for you and you can take what you like and leave the rest :).

- Some great basic herbs to start with in my opinion are common ones you can find easily. I found a lot of success in finding herbs at garden centers, grocery stores, local greenhouses, farmer's markets and so on. Some easy ones to start with are thyme, basil, oregano, and sage.

-In the future when I move out, I want to install some grow lights on a shelf. There are garden towers you can buy but they are pricey. Mr. EastCoastMan on Youtube has a great tutorial using a Walmart shelf and some grow lights he bought online (available at places like hardware stores, home building stores like Home Depot or Kent). I live in Canada so it is very cold where I am at for most herbs to live outdoors. So I like indoor gardening

-Research your plants and understand the environment they like. My lavender for example likes a dry environment with lots of sun. So I let it dry out between waterings and move the plant around my house to give it maximum sunlight. Since the sun 'rises' in the east, I put the plant on a window sill at the back of the house. Then in the afternoon I move the plant to the window sill in the front of the house to get the western sun.

-Use resources like Youtube and Pinterest for ideas and for additional expert advice. Also you can find videos on how to dry and use herbs.

-There are great books you can order like kitchen scrap gardens, indoor/urban gardening, outdoor gardening, etc. If you do not want to buy the books you can check out your library's website for what they have available.

-There are lots of books out there and youtube videos on the magick of herbs. White Witch Parlour does great videos on magickal uses for certain herbs. Go check her out if you wish she is great.

-As for determining usefulness of herbs it all depends on what you need or would use. I love lavender and dried lavender is so expensive. So I bought some English Lavender I found at my grocery store's pop-up Garden centre. It will three years for it to fully grow but I am committed! I use lavender for tea and spells. I love sage and basil for cooking. Basil is great for a prosperity bath I do.

You can private message me if you wish and we can discuss more about spells. There are a lot of resources online and even on this website that can guide you on the uses of herbs. From there you can decide what you need or would use.