Cultivate milk thistle in a home garden.
Milk thistle has the appearance of a common thistle and possesses healing attributes that make it an accepted herbal remedy. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center website, milk thistle can act as an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory agent, able to improve both liver and gall bladder maladies. Cultivate milk thistle in a home garden by growing this plant in a sunny and dry landscape area. With little coaxing, the milk thistle plants will thrive and spread.
Instructions
1. Prepare the sunny growing area in the early spring after the final spring frost. Loosen the soil with the garden spade down to a depth of three to four inches, and then rake the soil surface smooth with the rake.
2. Plant the milk thistle seeds 12 inches apart in rows between four and five feet apart. Cover the milk thistle seeds with ½-inch of soil.
3. Provide a light and even watering of the milk thistle seeds immediately after you finish planting them to moisten the soil. Keep the soil from drying out between watering while the seeds germinate. The milk thistle seeds will take between one and three weeks to germinate.
4. Thin the milk thistle seedlings when they reach heights of approximately four inches. Remove the weakest seedlings to leave the milk thistle seedlings spaced two feet apart along the rows.
5. Harvest milk thistle when the flowers dry on the stems (in late summer or early autumn). Pick the dry flowers while wearing gloves to protect your hands from sharp prickers and thorns.
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