Grow Your Own Herbal Tea Garden
Do you love herbal tea? Do you buy most of your herbs from the store or online? Consider growing an herb or a few herbs that you like to drink! The difference between homegrown and store bought herbs can be astounding and you don't need much space to grow them, a windowsill or patio can be plenty.
Here's some easy-to-grow herbal tea favorites to try:
1. Holy Basil/Tulsi: Easy to grow as long as you have a warm, sunny spot for it. There are several varieties you can choose, but Ocimum africanum or temperate tulsi is a variety that reseeds itself in temperate climates, it's the easiest to grow and germinates well. Temperate tulsi has a bubblegum-like flavor where other tulsis taste more clove-like thanks to their higher eugenol content. Directly sow your tulsi seeds after the last frost, full sun and average to moist soil is the way to thriving tulsi plants. Plant them 1-1.5 feet apart, they'll grow 1-2 feet tall and likely reseed. Harvest your tulsi all summer long until the first frost.
2. Mint: Mints vary widely in flavors and habits, there are over 600 mint varieties! In general mint is very easy to grow (maybe TOO easy, they can grow out of control and spread if you don't contain them). If you know someone already growing mint it's very easy to propagate your own plant from theirs. Mints are comforting herbs that help soothe and warm the digestive system. Mint prefers lots of water and sun and grows about 1 foot tall, it will die back in the winter but rise again in spring. You can harvest it all season long and the leaves change flavor as the plant flowers! You can experiment with tasting your mint throughout the season and see what flavor you like best.
3. Anise Hyssop: Super easy to germinate from seed, grows quickly, is easy to harvest, has a sweet minty-anise-licorice flavor that makes a delicious iced tea, AND it's beautiful plant that attracts pollinators! It's hard to think of much more to ask for in an herb. Anise hyssop's purple flower stalks are irresistible to honeybees, painted lady and monarch butterflies, and hummingbirds. Germination is easier if you stratify your seeds and sprinkle the seeds right on the surface of the soil and very gently tap them in. Plant them out after the last frost in a sunny spot, they'll grow 1-2 feet tall and can be planted about 8 inches apart. Anise hyssop is an annual that self-sows and will come back as a short-lived perennial. Harvest all season long and pinch off the tips in early summer to keep the plant producing tender leaves for your tea.
4. Lemon Balm: Another one in the mint family but with a bright lemony flavor with earthy and sweet tones. Lemon balm is a perennial that grows in hearty patches, and depending on your growing zone may produce leaves year-round. The winter leaves are smaller but extra strong in lemony flavor. You can grow lemon balm from seed or if you know someone growing it it's very easy to divide and quickly grows more plants. It can grow in full sun, part shade, and full shade but grows best in a spot that gets morning sun and afternoon shade. In late winter snip off the old flowering stalks to the base of the plant so it can grow new in the spring.
5. Chamomile: Dainty daisy-like flowers and feathery stems, chamomile is a gentle and calming herb for tea. It grows more slowly than other herbs so give yourself time and space for chamomile. Start your seeds a month before the last frost or buy plants from a local nursery. Chamomile likes full sun and needs to be planted about 1 foot apart. It'll grow about 1.5 feet tall and is an annual but can self-sow. You can also take ripe seed heads and crush them between your fingers over the garden bed/container to increase the plant babies the following year.
6. Lemongrass: A refreshing and flavorful herb, lemongrass grows well from divisions from established plants. An annual in temperate climates that, but lemongrass can be kept alive year round by growing it in a container you bring indoors for the winter. Lemongrass grows a lot in one year if you water it frequently and keep it in a warm sunny spot, so it being an annual doesn't matter too much for your harvests. You can take cuttings for tea all summer long until the first frost.
7. Red Clover: Frequently found growing wild, red clover is also very easy to grow for yourself. It flowers around May and you can harvest straight through until the first frost. If you leave some flowers unpicked every few feet the red clovers will reseed for next year. Red clovers have a densely fingered root system that can strangle other herbs if you try to companion plant. Give red clover space to grow freely or treat it as groundcover and a cover crop to help your soil.
8. Elderberry: A much larger herb, elder is actually an herbal shrubby tree... and it does like to spread. Likely not feasible for smaller spaces, but fresh elderberry tea is so tasty and healthy I had to include it. Both elderflowers and elderberries can be harvested for tea so multiple seasons of gifts from this tree! Plant elder in damp soil with full sun, someplace like a sunny bank of a creek or pond would be perfect. Elder grows well from cuttings, you can just stick cuttings (12in long or so) in the ground about 3 feet apart and pretty soon you'll have a grove of elder trees bearing loads of fruit. One season is all it takes. You can cut the entire area of shrubs back to 6 inches each winter to keep the grove young and fresh for fruit.
Drink your weeds too! While you grow your herbal tea garden, nature will likely gift you lots of weeds that also make great herbal teas. Dandelion, violet, plantain, and mullein are just a few that commonly pop up. It's free herbal tea!
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