Make an Herbal Container Tea Garden

Herbal teas; also known as "tisanes" are a must-have for any tea drinker.  But if you live in a small space, you may not realize how easy it is to have a small tea garden with herbs.  Many herbs do quite well in containers and they make a great little display as well.  I like my herbs in containers because I can locate them wherever I want and not have to create an flower bed for them.  I also don't have to weed them either.  

I wouldn't recommend putting all your tea herbs in one small pot.  They will grow into beautiful large plants if you separate them and not stuff them into one spot.  Also, when you grow them all together, the more vigorous plants tend to overtake the smaller ones and you can potentially lose an herb this way. Even though those pots with several kinds of herbs look really cute - if you're growing your plants for harvest, this one pot/many herb method really doesn't work well.

                                             1. Start with the Basics.

There are quite a few herbs to choose for your tea garden and the list goes on and depending on what you like.  The basic herbs you will want to include for sure are the mints and chamomile.  When I started drinking herbals, chamomile was my first tea.  It wasn't my favorite but that was because I was drinking it in tea bags (yuk) and using older flowers from herb shops.  Growing your own is a totally different taste sensation.  The taste is fresher, brighter and all around better.  It easy to grow too.  I started mine in the fall in containers and let it overwinter.  It came up fine on its own and I didn't have to do anything really.  Or you can purchase a few plants to get your garden started.  If you leave a few flowers on the plant toward the end of the season, it will easily self-sow.  Just don't empty out the soil from the container. 

                2. Grow Herbs that Will be the Base Flavor for your Own Tea Blends.

For me that is the mints.  I have been growing two different peppermints as well as spearmint for years in pots.  I have found that the best way to keep the strains and flavor of peppermints pure and contained is to grow them this way.  I have a wonderful chocolate mint and a blue balsam mint.  I also keep the mints flavors intact by keeping them from flowering by keeping the leaves picked.  I harvest the top portion of the stem on each stalk and let them air dry or gently dry them in my dehydrator. 
Growing them in the containers makes it easy for me to keep them harvested regularly than if left in a garden bed where they tend to spread and it becomes easy to let them go.  By regularly harvesting the leaves and not letting them flower, they don't cross pollinate, set seed and produce a new diluted mint flavored plant as my other mints have.  

Growing mints and chamomile gives you two great flavor profiles in which to add in other herbs from the garden.  Especially if you are growing herbs for medicine.  Many of the medicinal herbs are bitter tasting by themselves so it's great to add mint and/or chamomile to flavor your own blend.  They also taste great by themselves.

 

3. There are lots of Herbs to Choose for Your Garden.

Besides the herbs mentioned above, there are some great herbs out there to add to your tea garden.  You can start with a few herbs and add some more each season.  I have grown Pineapple Sage, Lemon Balm, Hyssop and don't forget to add a Stevia plant to your garden.  These can grow in containers well and you can use the leaves fresh or dried to sweeten your teas.  I often add dry stevia leaves to my tea blends to naturally sweeten them.  Be adventurous in your tea herbs too, lemon thyme and lemon basil can be refreshing as a tea too.

                      4. Remember to Feed your Container Herbs and Water 
                                                      Them Regularly.
 
Because these plants are living in pots you need to make sure to use a fish emulsion or other organic food once or twice in the summer.  I find I don't need to do much except water the pots if they look a bit wilt-y.  If the summer is really hot, I often move them to a part shade location until they begin to perk up a bit.  Mints tend to like some shade and this is a bonus to growing in containers.

So don't let a lack of space limit you from making your own herbal teas.  Even if you have smaller pots on a patio space or porch, just make sure they get some decent sun and keep them watered for your own fresh teas.  You'll definitely taste the difference.

Blessings!!

What are your favorite tea herbs?

More posts on growing plants in containers:  Container Plant How-To's and How to Plant a Cottage-Style Window Box


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Windowsill Herb Garden

 

I was perusing Pinterest in October and found a pin about starting certain herbs from cuttings.  I was very intrigued especially since Rosemary was mentioned as one of them and I ALWAYS buy a new plant every year as they don't winter over where I live.  I have tried and tried to keep them through the winter, even getting them through until early Spring, only to have a late freeze "do them in."  I tried keeping them inside too, but after discarding many Rosemary "corpses" early winter, I gave up.

However, it is known universally that true gardeners never really give up, we only replant.  So, I figured I would try again by trying this method of  taking cuttings and see if I could keep them alive over winter.

 

So I was amazed and shocked to find that the Rosemary seems to happily root themselves in a bit of water.  Just take a clipping of a stem down to the woody part.  Remove the lower leaves and place in container...that's it.  Insta-Rosemary plants...well, give or take a week or two.  However, if you are patient, they will root.  And as you can see mine did.  

And then I planted two out of five of them.  They did well for awhile and then the inevitable came...

more herbal carnage. 

I couldn't show you a picture, because a dead plant is a disgrace to a gardener, even if it's only on a windowsill.

So, I started another cutting and it's happily rooted in water.  Where it's going to stay for now.

I also brought in the "mother plant."  And she's alive and even growing.  

I am fiercely trying to ignore her and only water when I see branches wilt as overwatering is a fast death sentence to Rosemary.

 

This parsley is actually not a cutting but a plant I started in late fall.  I don't think it's going to grow much bigger but I'm determined to keep it alive as I love its leaves.

 

My basil cuttings?  I only had one casualty and that was due to over or under watering...not sure which one it was.  However, the others rooted and were planted and are doing pretty well so far.

I have five more to plant, but am moving slowly on the planting as I don't want to lose any of them and they are still happy in their water.

I even managed to start a few peppermints from the plants in late November or early December.  Two out of five survived but they are making it.

I only have eastern windows, so anything that makes it will have to be especially hardy.

So, this is my winter garden.  Humble but happy.  A happy garden sight for white snowy days.  And the scent is a delicious reminder of outdoor summertime meals.

What's your favorite herb to cook with in the winter?  Blessings! 

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Peppermint: An Essential Herb

If there is one herb that gains world wide attention at this time of the year it would have to be the ever refreshing herb peppermint.  Its name alone is plastered on tons of products from candy canes to Peppermint Lattes.  But most of us don't envision the nice green plant on your screen but rather a red and white candy stick.  No problem.  Peppermint is only too happy to share it's intensely rich menthol oil in candies, breath mints and ice cream.  But don't relegate this valuable herb to the dessert table only; it's health benefits are numerous and make this a valuable plant for the garden.

Let's go over some ways that peppermint is great for you.  "Peppermint oil comprises vitamins A and C, omega-3 fatty acids, and minerals including potassium, manganese, iron, magnesium, calcium, and copper. The numerous health benefits of peppermint oil include its ability to treat several health problems. "(source)

What this translates to is that peppermint is said to cure indigestion as well as a few other conditions.  For indigestion, a good old cup of peppermint tea after dinner will help with this.  If you don't have tea, then a few drops of oil in some water will do this too.  Peppermint is also able to dispel gas, help with stomach spasms and great overall for general stomach upsets.  It's also being studied for its effects on Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  Hmmm, wonder if this is why most stomach aids have a peppermint flavor?

Peppermint also helps the respiratory system.  It acts as an expectorant to help clear the respiratory tract.  It can also help with sinusitis, asthma and bronchitis.  A good strong cup of English Breakfast tea with peppermint leaves would be a huge help with opening up the lung passages for easier breathing.  In our family, my husband Todd would use this to help with any congestion he may have due to colds or asthma.  The caffeine in the black tea (or coffee) is a bronchodilator.

Just the aroma of a hot cup of peppermint tea can help relieve stress, headaches and help with colds.  That's one amazing cup of tea!  So how do you grow this worthy garden plant? 

Well, mints are generally unfussy plants to grow.  They can handle part shade and mine actually prefer to be in filtered sun or sheltered during late afternoon heat.  I also find that they like the ground fairly moist.  Mint does spread so I have my drinking peppermints in pots.  Peppermint is not nearly as invasive as some of the other mint varieties, but it's hard to remove once it's established.  Besides my potted mints, I have peppermint in the garden that I've been growing for over a decade.  I don't use it for anything except for the bees.  They love mint and I don't let my potted mint flower.  If it does, it tends to send forth seed that is mixed with other mints and it loses it's pure flavor. To keep the flavor pure, trim off any flowers so the plants can't set seed.  They will continue to propagate underground via their root system.  I've been growing an intensely flavored peppermint as well as chocolate mint and they have held onto their delicious oils using this method.

Dried peppermint leaves

Mints can also handle being indoors on a window sill.  As long as they have some sunlight, you'll be able to get some delicious fresh leaves to use as tea or to add to some desserts.  You can always transplant them in the spring (after frost) outside.  
Thinking about buying a plant next year?  First see if you have a friend who may grow it.  I didn't buy either of my plants.  I got one from my sister-in-law who lives four hours away.  Once I smelled the plant, I knew I wanted one too.  So, I cut some branches and wrapped them in damp paper towel and put them in a baggie.  When we got home, I put the cuttings in some water until they rooted and then planted them.  You can see the results in the first three peppermint pictures above.  The chocolate mint came from a friend's herb garden from their tea house.  Lovely...

Vanilla Mint Medley Blend

Since it's the holiday season, here's a delicious tea blend that everyone will enjoy.  It's so simple and if you package up some and put it in a vintage tin; it'll be a great stocking stuffer.
I made a blend of Vanilla Black Tea, Pure Peppermint, and Chocolate Mint.  Simply use 2 parts of black tea to 1 part of mint. (1 part means 1 tsp or 1 cup. It's only a ratio to measure your tea with...one teaspoon of peppermint to 2 tsp of vanilla tea.) This way the mint won't be too overpowering for the tea.  Not only is the peppermint good for your body, the black tea has its own health benefits as well.  After all, I drink tea not only as medicine, but because it tastes so good.  This tastes pretty close to a peppermint patty in a cup, so  you, your friends and family will love it!

Well, sit back and enjoy a cup of peppermint tea or the Vanilla Mint Medley.  It not only tastes wonderful, it's great for you too.

If you don't have your own peppermint, you can find it at Mountain Rose Herbs. Or you can buy a high quality peppermint oil and put a few drops in any tea or water to get the same healing properties.

 

Information gathered from these sources: 5 Health Benefits of Peppermint 

Mint: Different Varieties

Health Benefits of Peppermint Tea

Want to know more about bulk tea?  Check out these posts...Bulk Loose Tea: Three Reasons Why to Buy and Reviewing My Favorite Tea Steepers

What do you use peppermint for?  Blessings!! 

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All Things New

Forsythia

Spring is in full swing and thought I'd take some photos of some of the amazing life that is popping up around me.

First up is some gorgeous forsythia I managed to snap a photo of while on a neighborhood walk.  It blooms first and then the leaves come out later.  These are just about done blooming so I'm glad I was able to capture the intensity of the yellow flowers.  My camera battery was dead and I didn't think I was able to capture this shot.  But, somehow the picture took before the  camera shut off...yeah!

The birthing of chives

I actually got this picture a few weeks ago during that amazing warm spell we had.  I've already been able to use some of these chives on a couple of baked potatoes.  I'm looking forward to using more of them and making some chive blossom vinegar from their flowers...that'll be a later blog.

When you harvest your chives, make sure to cut from the bottom of the plant to get the whole chive.  Otherwise, they'll just be dead halfway up.  The chives will quickly put out new leaves from the area you have cut from.  

I have had these chives in a large pot by my side door for years now.  They do wonderfully in containers and I've actually re-potted them several times.  I put them in a pot right outside my side door because my other ones were planted a little further away and I was always too lazy to go get them.  Having them only a few steps away encourages my frequent use of them.

Blue Balsam Peppermint

Hands down, this Blue Balsam Peppermint variety is by far the best tasting peppermint out there.  I grabbed some starts from my sister-in-law's herb garden four hours away from here about six years ago.  Mints are some of the easiest plants to start.  I simply cut a few good sections of the stem making sure it had some root hairs coming out of it. Since I was visiting so far away, before I left, I wrapped the stems in very damp paper towels and put them in a baggie.  Five hours later, I simply placed them in water when I got home and planted in loose soil once they had rooted some more.  Wha-la!  Peppermint plants!  Not only a great plant but also a great memory of my sister-in-law and of the graduation party that day.  

This peppermint makes the world's best cup of tea and I never seem to have enough during the winter time, where it's super refreshing flavor is a wonder and comfort, especially if I or my family is suffering from a stuffy nose.  

Hope you enjoyed the photos.  On this Good Friday,  hope you're able to discover and enjoy some of the mystery and wonders of the things being birthed around you...Happy Easter to all!