Chamomille (Matricaria recutita)

German chamomile grows from seeds sown directly in their garden ­location.

German chamomile grown in a garden

The seeds are very tiny—almost dust like—so the seed bed should be well-prepared. They can be scattered on the soil’s surface, then gently tamped down with the flat side of a hoe. Plant early in the spring, about the same time you would plant peas. The young seedlings will withstand a mild frost.

Seeds of Chamomile

 The seeds generally germinate in a week to ten days. Germination begins at temperatures of about 45° F. The plants grow slowly at first, and need to be kept well weeded. After four to five weeks, a growth spurt occurs, resulting in a rosette of leaves. Young seedlings, about 1 or 2 inches tall, are easily transplanted, but older ones do not survive this process.

If you plant around the first of June in the North, expect flowering in mid to late July or early August. Here in the southern Ozarks, self-sown plants complete their life cycle by mid-June. Blooms develop continuously, and once flowering commences, harvesting is possible every ten days to two weeks. 

When I was at the Sabbathday Lake, Maine, Shaker community back in the late seventies, we planted double rows of German chamomile 10 inches apart and harvested the flowers with a blueberry rake. Commercial growers in northern Europe get two to three cuttings of flowers during a season.