Catnip
If you have a cat, growing catnip can be a challenge, and the best way to grow it is in a hanging basket or anywhere else that kitty can’t destroy it.
If you don’t have a cat, it is an easy herb to grow, and needs very little care.
It is a mild sedative and one of the few herbs that is suitable for children.
Make an infusion and drink it in the evening. It is calming and helps treat insomnia, especially if it is caused by irritability or tension. Other uses are for indigestion, colic and flatulence.
Like chickweed, catnip stops itchy skin and, as it grows all year, it is more readily available than chickweed which only thrives in cooler weather.
Make an infusion and use it as a wash or combine it with calendula in a healing cream. A strong infusion will also help with an itchy scalp.
It makes a pleasant herbal tea which I prefer cold rather than hot. Try this recipe for a Catnip Cooler which is delicious on a hot day.
The young shoots and flowers can be added to salads, and leaves used in marinades.
If you are eating them in a salad use the very young ones as the older ones are tougher.
The chemical responsible for the euphoric effect is nepetalactone, which is an effective insect repellent, especially for cockroaches and fleas.
It is supposed to deter rats, but I’m not sure if that is because it attracts so many cats that the rats stay away.
You can make toys or fill little bags of catnip for your kitty. I don’t bother as Sid destroys the bag and I end up picking bits of material up. Instead, I dry it and keep in in a glass jar with a tight lid which keeps the aroma in. He gets about a teaspoon at a time, once or twice a week, which he rolls in and then eats. I don’t think you can overdose a cat, but he needs to come out of cloud cuckoo land at some time!
Some Interesting Facts
Big cats, such as lions, jaguars and tigers, also love catnip.
Early Americans believed that consuming the roots made even the kindest person mean and it was for this reason that the hangman ate the roots before executions.
Until Chinese tea was introduced and became freely available, the most popular beverage in England was Catnip tea.
The botanical name, Nepeta is derived from the Ancient Etruscan town Nepete, where it was used extensively as a medicinal herb.
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