Making a Medicinal Herb Garden: From A to Z

Some people start growing medicinal herbs because it is a nice hobby, while others do it to have natural things for their health, and also many people enjoy the nice smells and the beauty of these plants.

So a medicinal herb garden is not just a place with plants, but it is a small home pharmacy, and there are some tips, even with usage of a free plant identifier app for iPhone to make your own green place where every plant will be useful.

Popular Herbs: Your First Helpers

It is best to start with the most common herbs that are not difficult to grow, because they grow easily and do not need a lot of care, and they have many uses in the home.

• Mint: This is one of the most well-known herbs, and it has a strong, fresh smell and a nice taste, and there are many types like peppermint, spearmint, and apple mint.

So mint grows very fast, and for this reason you need to give it a separate place or plant it in a pot so it does not take over the whole garden, and its leaves are used to make tea, drinks, desserts, and salads, and mint also helps with stomach problems and has a calming effect.

• Melissa: People often mix it up with mint because they look similar, but melissa has a soft lemon smell, and it is a calming thing that helps with not sleeping and with being stressed.

 It is not difficult to grow and it grows easily.

• Chamomile: It is known for its healing powers, and its flowers are a natural way to clean things and stop swelling, and chamomile tea makes you feel calm and helps with colds and stomach problems, and chamomile is also used a lot in things for skin and hair.

• Sage: This plant with soft leaves has a strong, spicy smell and a slightly bitter taste, and is often used in cooking, especially when you cook meat and fish, and sage is also a strong thing for cleaning.

And sage tea is used to help with a sore throat, but it is important to remember that sage is very strong, so you should not use too much of it.

Modern Apps for Gardeners

To make taking care of plants even easier and better, you can use apps that can help you find out what a plant is from a picture, find diseases, and even make a plan for watering.

Growing: How to Take Care of Each Type

Even though these herbs are easy to grow, each one has its own special needs that are important to know so you get a lot of plants that keep their good properties.

• Mint and Melissa: Both of these herbs like wet, good soil, and they prefer a place with a little sun, but they can also grow in full sun. 

Do not let the soil get dry, so to stop them from growing too much, it is best to plant them in pots that are put in the ground, because this stops their roots from going everywhere, and you can easily grow them by taking a part of the plant or by planting a small branch.

• Chamomile: Chamomile likes places with a lot of sun, and it needs light soil that water can go through well, so you can grow it from seeds that you plant right into the ground in the early spring, and chamomile does not like to have too much water.

You should water it not too much but all the time, especially on hot days, and it grows well in soil that is not rich, but for more flowers you can add a little bit of compost.

• Sage: It grows well in dry, and even rocky, soil, because too much water is very bad for it, and it does well with dry weather, and it is better to not give it enough water than to give it too much, and sage is a plant that grows for many years.

So you can plant it once and have it for a long time, and in the spring it is good to cut it a little to make it look nice and to help new parts grow.

Harvesting and Drying: Rules for Keeping Good Properties

For herbs to keep their good properties, it is very important to harvest them and dry them the right way.

• Mint and Melissa: You should cut the leaves and the tops of the plants before they start to flower, because that is when they have the most good oils, and you can do this many times in the summer, and you should dry them in a place that has good air but no sun, and you can tie them in bunches or put them on a net.

• Chamomile: You should only pick the flowers that are fully open, and you should dry them on a net or on paper in the shade.

The flowers do not get stuck together, so you need to move them around sometimes.

• Sage: You should pick the leaves before or during the flowering time, and you can dry them on the branches or separately, by putting them in a thin layer.

General drying rules: Herbs need to be dried quickly so they do not rot and lose their color, but the air must not be too hot so that the oils do not fly away, and a good place is a room with good air flow.

Keeping them: You should keep the dried herbs in closed containers like glass jars or metal boxes in a dark and dry place.

Using Them at Home: Teas, Drinks, and Cooking

Medicinal herbs are not just for health, but they are also very good to add to drinks and food.

• Mint and Melissa:

• Tea: You should pour hot water over fresh or dried leaves and let it sit for a while, and this tea is very good for making you feel fresh and calm.

• Drinks: You should add the leaves to lemonades, fruit drinks, and other drinks.

• Cooking: You should use them in salads, sauces, and to make desserts look nice.

• Chamomile:

• Tea: You should put 1-2 small spoons of dried flowers in a cup of hot water, and let it sit for 10 minutes, and this is very good for helping you sleep and for helping with swelling.

• Use: Strong chamomile tea can be used to help a sore throat, to clean cuts, and as a product for your skin.

• Sage:

• Tea: You should pour a cup of hot water over 1 small spoon of dried leaves, and you can drink it for a cold or to help a sore throat.

• Cooking: Fresh or dried sage leaves are very good to add to food with chicken, pork, and vegetables.

General advice: Fresh herbs smell and taste stronger, but dried herbs are good because you can keep them and use them to make tea at any time of the year.

Ideas for How It Can Look

• A spiral flowerbed: This is a very good and pretty idea, and a spiral flowerbed lets you have different places with different weather, so in the top part where the soil is more dry and warm, you can plant sage, and in the bottom part where it is more wet, you can plant mint and melissa.

• Raised beds: This is a very good way to do it because beds that are made with wood or bricks let you easily control the soil, and they stop the plants from growing too much, and they are also easy to take care of because you do not have to bend down a lot.

• Borders: You can use medicinal herbs as borders along the paths, and this is not only pretty but also lets you enjoy the smell every time you walk.

• A pot garden: If you do not have a garden, you can grow all of these herbs in pots on your balcony or on a deck.

• Putting them with flowers: Many medicinal herbs, like chamomile or echinacea, have pretty flowers, so you can put them together with other plants to make nice and colorful places.

• Good neighbors: Some herbs are good for their neighbors, for example, mint and melissa can stop some bugs, and chamomile can make vegetables planted nearby taste better.

Labels: You should not forget to use labels with the names of the plants, because this not only makes your garden look nice but also helps you and your guests know what the plants are.