Most vegetable gardeners are keenly aware of the fact that what we put into our bodies truly matters. Growing a few medicinal herbs and plants is a great way to expand your garden. While herbs may not replace modern medicine hat can be used to treat some minor ailments and help keep us healthy.

You can create a separate herb garden or mix herbs into a vegetable and/or flower patch, potager style. Many medicinal herbs can actually help attract pollinators and deter pests! Some of these plants can also be grown in pots.

10 Healing Plants to Grow

Kapoor Tulsi/Holy Basil (O. sanctum) is a relative of common basil and just as delicious. It can be used as a culinary herb in pesto, salads, and other dishes. As a medicinal herb, it’s believed to have antimicrobial and adaptogenic (helps with energy and focus) properties.

The stems, leaves, flowers, and seeds can all be used to create teas either fresh or dried. Another way to use it is to create a tincture.

Holy Basil is an annual and like common basil can be started indoors or direct-seeded. It germinates best around 70°F and should be planted after your last frost.

Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) is an easy to grow ally for both people and wildlife. In addition to being medicinal, wild bergamot is useful for attracting pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds to your garden.

It was used by Native American peoples to treat digestive issues and to help treat infections. The steams, leaves, and flowers are all medicinal and can be used to create teas fresh or dried.

As a culinary herb both the leaves and flowers can be used as a garnish, added to salads, or to add unique flavor to other dishes.

Wild bergamot is perennial in zones 4-10. It does best in full sun to partial shade. Keep in mind that it can be vigorous and spread quickly.

Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea) is probably best known for its immune-boosting properties. It’s commonly used in teas and tinctures to help prevent or shorten colds and flus. Studies have demonstrated that echinacea has immunostimulant, bacteriostatic, and anti-viral activity.

While all echinacea varieties have medicinal benefits Echinacea purpurea is probably the easiest to grow. Unlike other varieties, purpurea seeds don’t require cold stratification. They’re perennial in zones 3-9 and can be started indoors or direct sown. Keep seedlings well weeded.

All parts of the plant including roots, leaves, and flowers can be used to create teas and tinctures. Learn more about growing and using echinacea here.

Mint (Mentha sp.) often gets a bad reputation for its uncanny ability to spread but it can be contained and is a worthwhile medicinal herb. When properly harvested and dried mint tea can be used throughout the winter.

It’s great as a calming nighttime tea, a soothing beverage to help calm upset stomachs, or a tea for coughs due to its calmative, expectorant, and spasmolytic properties. You can also use the tea in bathwater for soothing skin inflammation.

Mint can be started from seed, however, it produces plants that vary widely in flavor from spearmint to menthol mint to peppermint. We recommend starting more than you need in pots and then selecting your favorites to plant.

Mint is also easy to propagate from divisions. Just find a friend or neighbor with a clump they don’t mind sharing and use a sharp shovel to cut through a section of roots, separating a cluster for yourself. Planting mint in drier soil can help prevent it from spreading too much.

Garlic (Allium sativum) is a wonderful, dual-purpose addition to any garden. It can be used as a culinary or medicinal herb and helps to deter pests!

Garlic has been used as medicine for its  antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties for centuries. It’s often found in popular cold and flu remedies like fire cider.

Garlic should be planted in well-drained, loose soil. Using a garden fork before planting is a great idea with garlic. Avoiding damage to the husk as much as possible, separate the cloves. Plant them tip-up, 6 inches apart. They should be covered with about 1 1/2 inches of soil in southern climates and about 3-4 inches of soil in northern climates.

Mulch heavily (especially in northern climates) with leaves, straw, hay, grass clipping, etc. Keep garlic watered, weeded, and mulched for best results.

For more information check our post Beginners Guide to Growing Great Garlic, Perennial Onions, and Shallots.

Note that elephant garlic isn’t true garlic and may not have the same medicinal properties.

Aloe (Aloe vera; A. barbadensis) is so much more than a decorative houseplant. It’s a powerful medicinal plant that you can grow even if you’re an apartment dweller.

Aloe is great for treating mild skin issues like burns (including sunburn), rashes, abrasions, and stings. Just slice open a leaf and use the gel inside to rub on the affected area.

Aloe plants make lots of “babies” that can be easily be rooted in a new pot. Check with friends and family to see if you can get an aloe start.

Lavender (Lavandula vera) is another herb with a long history of medicinal use and for good reason. Lavender can be used to help treat anxiety, depression, stress-headaches, and digestive issues. It’s also wonderful for soothing minor skin irritations and burns.

Use lavender buds fresh or dried in teas or baths. In tea, it can have a strong flavor. It’s often blended with other calming herbs like chamomile or lemon balm. You can also sew dried buds into sachets for their calming, fresh scent and to deter moths and other insects.

Lavender is perennial in zones 5-10 and can be grown from seeds with a bit of effort. It can take up to 30 days to germinate and should be started in a slightly alkaline sterile medium. Transplant lavender into a bed with good drainage and wind protection. It can also be grown in pots.

Sage (Salvia officinalis) is astringent and antibacterial. It was traditionally used as a digestive or nerve tonic.

Typically it’s added to  a variety of dishes both for flavor and to aid with digestion. However, you can also use sage to create an oxymel which is a mixture of vinegar, honey, and herbs. Check out this recipe.

Sage is perennial in zone 4-10 and can be transplanted or direct-seeded. For apartment dwellers, sage is one of those awesome herbs that tolerates container life well.

Calendula (Calendula officinalis) is most often used for healing skin ointments. The flowers are full of resin that can be incorporated into other oils for treating rashes, burns, and dry skin.

It can also be taken orally as a tea or tincture for digestive issues. Additionally, the flowers are sometimes used as a substitute for saffron and can be used as a natural food dye.

Calendula is an easy to grow annual. Start indoors or direct seed, just be sure the seeds are cover because they need darkness to germinate. Calendula does best in full sun.

St. Johnswort (Hypericum perforatum) has Anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and anti-depressant properties. Unfortunately, drying degrades these properties so it must be used fresh or preserved in other ways.

St. Johnswort can be used as a tea, tincture, oil, or salve. This post covers all the ways that you can use this plant.

Transplant or direct seed in the spring or fall. St. Johnswort needs to be stratified and can take up to 30 days to germinate. It’s a hardy perennial that should be grown in full sun.

Grow a few of these herbs this year to start a medicine garden of your own! If you’re invested in learning more about herbal medicine check out The Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine or The Herbal Academy.

Our culture’s obsession with peanut butter is a relatively modern development but peanuts have been an important crop for more than 3000 years! For those who are unfamiliar, peanuts aren’t actually nuts. They’re a member of the legume family like peas and beans. Just like other legumes, they’re a handy crop because they fix nitrogen.

Peanuts are an important food crop because they’re high in protein, fat, B vitamins, and a variety of minerals. They also store well, lasting 10 months when kept in the shell in a cool and dry environment.

It Starts in Peru

Peanuts were probably first domesticated in Peru where archeologists have found peanut traces in pre-Columbian Peruvian mummy bundles. Peanut designs can also be found on a variety of Moche (a pre-Incan civilization) art and ceramics. One of the most impressive examples is a necklace with 20 gold and silver peanut replicas found in the burial of Lord of Sipán in the Reque Valley, a member of the Moche ruling elite.

Evidence suggests that peanuts were not a staple crop in Peru but had important ceremonial and economic value. From Peru peanuts were spread to Brazil where they became an important food source.

If you’re interested in further reading about the historical use of peanuts in Peru I highly recommend this article, Peanuts and Power in the Andes: The Social Archeology of Plant Remains from the Virú Valley, Peru.

West Africa & The Slave Trade

When the Spanish and Portuguese began to explore and colonize South America Peanuts had spread throughout the continent and as far north as Mexico. The Portuguese and Spanish spread peanuts to Europe and to West Africa where they quickly became an important food crop. The Bantu name for peanut is nguba which was later anglicized to goober.

Peanuts were brought to the Southern United States by slaves. They were sometimes the only food rationed to slaves captured in West Africa on the horrific Middle Passage voyage to the new world. In the United States slaves continued to grow peanuts. They were then grown commercially but were thought of as food for the poor, slaves, and livestock by upper and middle-class whites.

The Civil War

The outbreak of the Civil War saw a notable increase in the U.S. consumption of peanuts. Both Northern and Southern soldiers developed a taste for peanuts and after the Civil War they began to be sold as a snack especially in the cheaper seating sections at baseball games and circuses. This earned these sections the name, “the peanut gallery.”

Peanut Butter

The invention of peanut butter in the late 1800s also helped to popularize the peanut. The invention of peanut butter can be credited to at least 3 inventors including Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (creator of Kellogg cereal) who marketed it for people without teeth, Marcellus Gilmore Edson of Canada, and Dr. Ambrose Straub who patented a peanut butter machine.

Mechanization & George Washington Carver

Around 1900 mechanical equipment was invented to help speed up peanut planting, cultivating, harvesting, and processing helping make peanuts a more profitable crop. Just a few years later in 1903 botanist, George Washington Carver began experimenting with peanuts at the Tuskegee Institute. He played a large role in encouraging southern farmers to rotate their cotton fields with peanuts. This helps to preserve soil health, reduce pest and disease issues, and gave farmers another cash crop while they were struggling with the boll weevil.

WWI & WWII

When most people think of peanuts they think of food but peanuts are actually a source of glycerol which is used to make explosives. Peanuts were used during both World Wars for U.S. ammunition.

The U.S. peanut industry was further expanded during WWII after the Japanese captured Southeast Asia which had been a large source of vegetable oil. Farmers increased peanut crops to meet the new demand for U.S. vegetable oil.

Check out this article from Atlanta in 1942: Peanut Growers Meet War Demands.

Peanuts Today

Today the U.S. is the third-largest producer of peanuts just behind China and India. Peanuts have shifted from Peruvian ceremonial food to a major world crop. From PB&J sandwiches, to African peanut soup and spicy Indonesian peanut sauce the world has fallen in love with this awesome plant.

How to Grow Peanuts

There’s nothing like home roasted peanuts and peanut butter. To learn how to grow your own check out our Peanut Growing Guide or post Growing Peanuts at Home.

Pruning tomatoes is one of those subjects gardeners love to disagree on. While pruning isn’t absolutely necessary, especially for home-scale gardeners there may be some benefits.

The general idea with pruning tomatoes is that you’re eliminating less productive branches, encouraging the plant to put more energy into fruit rather than foliage and groing trees can help create a much comfortable and cozy space with the shade trees and air flow. It allows all the foliage to receive maximum sunlight for photosynthesis. When all the leaves receive adequate sunlight they produce more sugar which is used to produce fruit helping you achieve an earlier, larger harvest.

Pruning can also help increase your yields by helping protect your plant from fungal diseases like Verticillium wilt, Fusarium wilt, or Alternaria. It allows good air circulation through your plants’ leaves and keeps them away from the soil where many fungal and bacterial diseases overwinter.

Determinate Vs. Indeterminate

Tomatoes can be divided into two general categories, determinate and indeterminate. Determinate or bush tomatoes grow to a certain size and fruit all at once. This can be helpful if you’re growing storage tomatoes or want a bunch of tomatoes all at once to can or freeze. These types of tomatoes do not need to be pruned. In fact, pruning determinate tomatoes can reduce your harvest size. For a complete solution in garden tree care in PA for example, check out this Tree Service in Pittsburgh who have a varied service list.

Indeterminate or vining tomatoes continue growing and producing fruit throughout the entire growing season. They provide a steady supply of tomatoes until they’re killed by frost or disease. Indeterminate tomatoes are the type that benefit from pruning.

How to Prune Tomatoes

Always use a clean pair of shears or scissors and wash your hands. Also avoid pruning tomatoes when they’re wet or during the hottest part of the day. Moisture spreads disease and the heat can cause extra stress. Evening is an ideal time.

You also want to prune fairly often, trimming branches while they’re small. Pruning larger branches is more stressful for the plant.

When pruning tomatoes the first thing you to trim is any branches whose leaves are touching the soil. This is especially important if you struggle with one of the fungal diseases mentioned above. Check out our post, Tomato Tips: Preventing Fungal Diseases for more tips.

You also want to prune any “suckers” these are the sprouts that grow out of a “v” between a branch and the main stem. While these suckers will eventually become full size branches they typically don’t produce as much, decrease air circulation, and make it harder to keep your plant properly trellised. It’s best to prune them when they’re small and you can just pinch them off with your finger tips.

Most gardeners are busy and not looking for extra work but pruning just might be worth it. Adding this quick chore to your list can help you achieve better and earlier yields especially if you’ve struggled with disease in the past.