Home growing botanicals

[tandemcart]

Hi All!

I like to think of myself as a pretty decent green thumb and try to grow all sorts of things. To date I have grown Carolina reaper chillies (and eaten one ) barley and rye (added to a bourbon and a little to a beer), wine grapes, hazelnuts with truffles in the roots and on the list goes into common veggies.

But my main question is what does everyone grow as far as botanicals are concerned?

I have almost the whole suite of citrus on my section, which is easy enough in New Zealand.

It seems though, that there are something not commonly grown at home anywhere. Like grains of paradise.

I would quite like to (one day) be able to do a fully seasonal gin from my back yard. Juniper, bay leaves, cardomom, lemon, GoP etc.

What does everyone grow at home for use in booze?

[NZChris]

I grow as much as I can for gin, Absinthe, rum and others and also gather as much as I can from river banks and roadsides. Neighbors and mates have useful botanicals and I buy some at local markets.

In NZ, it's almost impossible to make a gin from only locally grown ingredients, but the climate is ok for growing most Absinthe botanicals and I have done a nearly 100% local version, only having to top up the anise seeds because my crop wasn't as successful as I'd hoped.

[pope]

Petite absinthe is the big one for me, I have had a hard time finding it online in the past (but have found some since planting my own). I have a few other gin botanicals, bay, chamomile, lavender, and lots of citrus. Wish I had the climate for spices. Wild harvesting is what I’m really interested in, need to get a proper field guide and get out there!

[Saltbush Bill]

Ive tried a few times to get grains of paradise to grow. To date the seeds haven't germinated.
I suspect that the imported seeds are treated in some way that prevents germination.
Ive also given seed to someone who grows vegetable , herb and spice seedlings for a living.
They were also unsuccessful.
I have harvested heaps of coriander seed at times and used it in my Gin.

[tandemcart]

Interesting that the grains of paradise never seemed to take! A quick Google for any real information at all yeilded nothing particularly useful. Tried various common and the scientific name to no avail.

Just to try my own hand at it (expecting very little) I think I will try some of the seeds and see what happens. I suspect however that since they are similar to ginger, they probably are propagated via rizome.

[NZChris]

I've just put some GoP seeds in water to pre-soak them.

[VintDist]

Hi,

Sorry for joining this discussion so late in, but yes grow fresh stuff yourself if you can.

Example - I do gin a fair bit and standard Juniper from the average supermarket is complete rubbish. Most of the big commercial gin producers use Slovenian or Croatian Juniper - it's in a different league. Cheap rubbish gives harsh almost metallic flavours, but decent quality stuff is incredibly fragrant. If in doubt grow your own. I am.

[NZChris]

Growing your own Juniper here in NZ will be a long process. AFAIK there are only about half a dozen trees and none of them are close enough to another one for any chance of pollination.

[cayars]

Growing your own Juniper here in NZ will be a long process. AFAIK there are only about half a dozen trees and none of them are close enough to another one for any chance of pollination.

Chris I happen to remember reading about this and did a quick search and found them. Couple of cool articles on the Juniperus communis hunt in NZ and what one distillery is trying to do. I learned a couple of things reading it about the ratio of male to female trees needed, etc.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/381 ... ree-supply
https://www.junogin.co.nz/wp-content/up ... nksBiz.pdf

[NZChris]

I had read that too and had tracked down the locations of a couple of trees, but haven't visited them. Today, I started preparing 70 seeds for germination, plus sowed coriander and anise.

[Saltbush Bill]

Stick to buying Juniper from shops that have it in bulk , not the prepackaged rubbish that supermarkets have and you shouldn't have any problems with quality.
If the dried berrys dont feel reasonably soft and sticky when squashed between thumb and forefinger leave them in the shop.

[NZChris]

I haven't seen juniper in Kiwi supermarkets. I get mine out of bulk bins in an Asian store that seems to have a high turnover. Sometimes I had strings of sap 6" long when I was digging the seeds out. I'm having a hard time rinsing the sap off the seeds. I'll give some a sandpapering on the offchance that it might give them a 'hurry up'.

[tandemcart]

I'm super glad there have been a good few responses thus far!

I am looking for some short and long term plants for growing and then distilling with (hopefully some with nice flowers to appease the wife!)

I would be really interested to hear if there has been anyone successful at growing grains of paradise. Or even someone who has aged some Orris root from the Iris plant.

[NZChris]

The Orris root I'm using now is from my garden in 2014.

[tandemcart]

NZChris, that's really cool!

I read that the aging is for slow oxidation of the root its self. Changing how everything tastes and the "fixative" properties in the gin itself.

How do you find the Orris root affects your gin? And have you tried it "fresh"?

[NZChris]

The first time I used Orris it was fresh. I don't know that I've done a gin without it since then, or if it made a fantastic difference the first time I used it fresh. The aroma sure does improve with age though.

I threw my jar of 2017 out last week because it had gone moldy. It's the first time that has happened and it's not a big deal as I still have plenty of 2014 & 15 and I should be able to get a good sized harvest next March.

Angelica is flowering now. I quite often use the seeds in gin. The roots go in most of my gins.

[VintDist]

Hi again all,

I agree with absolutely with Saltbush Bill. Whilst I have 3 wild Juniper bushes growing for 2-3 years they have yet to produce berries, so I'm sitting patiently. Until then I only buy berries that are a bit 'squishy' as these are way more fragrant and aromatic.

Cheers

Vint

[The Baker]

'Myoporum insulare, commonly known as common boobialla, native juniper or blueberry tree[1] is a flowering plant in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to coastal areas of Australia. It is a shrub or small tree which grows on dunes and coastal cliffs, is very salt tolerant and widely used in horticulture.

Bush tucker
The purple fruit is edible,[16] and is good for making jams and jellies.' Wikipedia

'BUSH TUCKER
Fruit - raw or cooked. Great for jams, jellies and preserves, Juicy and sweet, The fruit is about 6mm in diameter. Aromatic, juniper-like qualities makes Boobialla an exciting local botanical for essential oils and gin. ' Edible Oz

Seeds available.

Don't know anything personally about this plant except that we had a hedge of it when I was a kid.

Geoff

[cayars]

I had read that too and had tracked down the locations of a couple of trees, but haven't visited them. Today, I started preparing 70 seeds for germination, plus sowed coriander and anise.

How much space in the yard do you and others have dedicated for gardening your botanicals?

[pope]

70 seeds definitely sounds like a lot of space, depending on the varieties. I’ve thought about doing some guerrilla planting, mostly for fermentables but it would be cool to do the same with some perennial herbs!

[NZChris]

The 70 seeds are in a 6" pot for at least the next six months

If I get a good strike, I'll worry about what to do with them then.

[pope]

Sounds like good planning. I need to get a potting bench going and get a bunch of seeds started, I have wild fennel, prickly pear, and wild rose hips sitting around, I'd love to also start splitting up my petite absinthe rhizomes and increasing the spread of that lovely little one. Neighbor has a big yard with nothing growing, it comes up as weeds in the spring and I'd much rather be staring a big field of wild opportunities.