Marshmallow – Herb garden

Marshmallow is a tall perennial (3-4 ft.), covered with large pink flowers in late summer. The leaves have the texture of velvet, with the lower leaves being circular, 3-5 lobed, toothed and 1 1/4 to 3 1/4 inches wide. The upper leaves are ovate to lanceolate, pointed, lobed and toothed. It has woolly stems and several spreading, leafy branches. The flowers are generally solitary, 1-2 inches across, borne from the upper leaf axils, five pink or white,obovate, notched petals. Flowers July through September.

Culinary Uses:

Eat fresh seeds alone or sprinkled like nuts on salads; toss flowers on salads; mix young leaves into salads and add to oil and vinegar; steam leaves and serve as a vegetable. Some Middle Eastern peoples boil marshmallow and then fry it with onions and butter. A confection made from the herb was the inspiration for the candy called marshmallow.

Scientific name: Althaea officinalis

Common name:  Marshmallow

How to grow and maintain marshmallow:

Climate:

Marshmallow is plant of continental climate. It develops especially well in soft climatic conditions, and it is not sensitive to low temperatures during winter. The optimal conditions for its development are in areas where the annual precipitation exceeds 600mm.

Soil:

To cultivate the white marsh mallow, the selection of the soil for plantation is a vital step towards success. Its yield-rate is the highest in black-dirt soils that have a light mechanical composition and in all other soils that have a good mechanical composition. With this it is desirable that the underground flowing water is channeled towards the marshmallow’s active root area. We must not plant white marshmallow in soils with heavy mechanical composure. The white marsh mallow’s highest yield-rates are in rich soils. To plant the white marsh mallow, we can use soils which are periodically flooded. The white marsh mallow can survive under water without any damages for 10-15 days.

Fertilization:

The parcel planted with white marshmallow should not be directly fertilized with organic fertilizer; it suffices that the previous culture was cultivated with organic fertilizer.

Harvesting:

From the white marsh mallow, we take advantage of their roots, leafs and flowers. The root is taken out/ harvested during the first year and the second year of the cultivation and it should be done either during the first year in autumn or the following year in spring. During the third year, the root of the marsh mallow starts to lose weight and quality and that’s why it is preferred that the white marsh mallow should be cultivated only as a two year plant.