THe Chamomile Year

The Chamomile year in the UK starts in the Autumn with either new plantings or a tidying up of the existing plantations ready for the winter.

If new plantations are being laid down then 'modules' of chamomile plants will have been started some weeks earlier and the thousands of small plants are set with a multi-row planter.

Chamomile has a vigourous rooting system and plants will soon establish and develop in all but the most freezing conditions.

By early Spring the new plants will have become established and rapidly grow to form new rows of developing 'rosettes' of chamomile. Now, both root and stem growth is rapid.

Mature plantations, that have been thoroughly mowed back after the harvest will sprout new vegetative growth in the autumn and all through the winter

With a mixture of inter-row cultivation and hand weeding the plantation is kept clean during the early Spring.
The mature plantation will soon spread from its dense rows to a complete ground cover of vegetation which will, in the most part, suppress all new weed growth. The new plantations, in a good year, will soon catch up.

As the day lengthens the plants are triggered into their flowering phase and upward growth accelerates with individual flower buds held on the tip of the now upward-turning flower stems. Like many of the Compositae or Daisy ( 'Day's Eyes' ) family, Chamomile is very light sensitive, following the sun during the course of the day and closing the flower at night or during dull or rainy weather.

In common with many 'wild' plants, chamomile will flower over a period of weeks during the summer allowing good days to be targeted for harvesting and bad spells of weather to be avoided. At any given moment some parts of the same plant will be in bud, some in flower and some already setting seed. Choosing the right moment to cut requires considerable skill and judgement and an intimate knowledge of both the wayward UK climate and the local growing environment. Both the feathery leaves and the flower are aromatic and contain oil, with the mature flower containing the most.

During the long mid-summer days of July and August the harvest and distillation is continuous from the moment the flowers loose their dew covering on sunny mornings, until darkness falls. 'Cutting ahead' is adjusted, depending on the weather, so that plant material arrives at the still in its mobile retorts in perfect condition.
This is the 'Just in Time' system pioneered and developed by The English Chamomile Company over the last ten years.

After the harvest the rows are cleaned and if necessary harrowed and within weeks the september rains will have stimulated a re-greening of the plantation ready for the next year's growth.

Harvest must take place during sunshine, but ideally not in great heat, conditions that are more likely in the mild maritme Summers in the UK than in more Continental or Medditerranean climates.

The English Chamomile Company has its plantations distributed over a variety of locations, again enabling us to time harvest at the optimum moment for any particular field.
The use of a mobile distillation system allows this 'rapid response' to be fully effective.