A Smart Trick for Harvesting Chamomile

I’ve found it kind of hard to harvest chamomile. You either have to cut each flower off one by one or cut the top 1/3 off the plant and then sort through and cut long stems off. Now, granted, all parts of the chamomile are beneficial but I really like just the flowers–they are prettier and if you’re using a tea ball, the stems can sometimes be bothersome.

This is the perfect tool

Then I saw this blueberry rake in a garden magazine and I thought “Perfect for chamomile!” But

it was $72! Yes, you read that right–$72 for that. I saw a few other models, but none of them was cheaper than $40.

Then I found this one on Amazon. Granted, it’s plastic but I actually like the tines better than the pointy metal ones. Better yet, it only costs $18. When

I bought it last year it was on sale for $12, so if you’re not in a hurry, you might want to wait to see if it goes on sale.  You might also find one at a local garden center for the same or less.

The verdict is in

Today I used my blueberry rake and harvested a LOT of chamomile. It worked just as slick as ice. There were a few stems that got tangled into the flower and a few flowers that slipped through the tines, but I got about 85% of the flowers with very little work and a fraction of the time. I harvested as much in just today’s picking as I did all of last year.

If you’re serious about wanting to plant and harvest chamomile, this handy little tool will make it a lot easier.