Garden guru Jane HERBS ARE THE BEST MEDICINE!

The Kiwi writer shares her favourite recipes for living a healthy life

- Wendyl Nissen

Jane Wrigglesworth, 55, is a well-known gardening writer who has just released her first book, The Everyday Herbalist.

How would you sum yourself up in four words?

I’d say flowers, herbs, sustainability and creativity.

You’ve recently become a naturopath – what led you to that?

I’m in my fi nal year of studying, so I’m doing a few clinics before I graduate. When I was about 10 years old, we visited a herb farm and I remember the guide telling us about all the different herbs. Even at that age, I was fascinated that you could have herbs for headaches or herbs for coughs and colds, or herbs for first aid and beauty. So that was kind of what started me off and I came away with a herb book, which I still have to this day. But then when I was 37, I was really sick and had a bleeding stomach, and I had all sorts of problems like a gut imbalance of good and bad bacteria, insomnia, diarrhoea and no medicine seemed to work. So I turned to herbs and they seemed to restore my health and that was a real eye-opener for me.

Your new book The Everyday Herbalist gives us an easy-to-access guide to growing herbs, and using them for health and wellbeing. What is your favourite herb and why?

I love chamomile. It's one of my absolute favourites because it's so versatile. It's anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and antispasmodic, so if you've got cramps going on in your stomach, it's good for that. It's also an antimicrobial and a mild sedative as well.

Of all the recipes in your book, which one do you share most often?