Tag Archives: herbal tea

Garden Advice

Herbal Teas: Drying & Blending

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One of the best parts of gardening is enjoying your harvest. One of my favorite ways to use my garden’s edible flowers and herbs is to dry and mix herbal teas. These teas are tasty, beautiful, and fun to make. They can also be nourishing and helpful in supporting the system with minor issues like nausea, sleeplessness, colds, and stress. Here’s how you can get started making your own herbal teas too.

What Should I Put in My Tea?

You may have grown many great tea ingredients in your garden this year. Some of these herbs are usually grown for medicinal purposes, while others are often included in culinary herb gardens and ornamental flower beds.

If you’ve never made herbal tea, it’s a little more complex than just picking plants. Different herbs have different valuable parts. For example, we may use one plant’s roots while focusing on another’s aerial parts (leaves, flowers, and stems). 

Here are some of the common tea herbs you may be growing and what part to harvest:

  • Anise-Hyssop (leaves)
  • Ashwagandha (roots)
  • Calendula (flowers)
  • Catnip (leaves)
  • Chamomile (flowers)
  • Echinacea (whole plant including roots)
  • Feverfew (aerial parts)
  • Ginger (rhizome)
  • Lavender (Flowerbuds)
  • Lemon Balm (leaves)
  • Mint (leaves)
  • Monarda (aerial parts)
  • Rose (hips and petals)
  • Roselle (calyxes)
  • Skullcap (aerial parts)
  • Valerian (roots)

Additionally, you may have some fun tea ingredients on hand or can easily pick up at a grocery store. These include:

  • Black Tea
  • Cardamom
  • Cinnamon Sticks
  • Fennel Seeds
  • Green Tea
  • Lemon Peels
  • Nutmeg
  • Orange Peels
  • Vanilla Beans

If you’re outdoorsy, you may also want to forage for some tea ingredients! Just make sure you are 100% confident in your identification. Also, avoid harvesting plants from areas that could be contaminated. 

  • Elderberries
  • Chicory
  • Clover
  • Ground Ivy
  • Nettles
  • Pine Needles
  • Raspberry Leaves
  • Spruce Tips
Roselle calyxes
St. Kitts and Nevis Roselle

How To Process Tea Ingredients

You can use ingredients fresh from the garden, but if you want to make larger batches of tea blends to keep on hand or enjoy tea out of season, you’ll need to preserve your herbs. 

You can air-dry many herbs, like mint and lavender. To do so, you’ll need a spot with good airflow out of direct sunlight. Mint and many other herbs will dry when hung upside down in bundles from the ceiling of a kitchen or porch. Avoid hanging them in areas where they may be hit with water or steam, like over the stove. 

You can also lay the herbs in a single layer on an old window screen or similar material that allows good airflow around them.

However, in our humid climate, it’s much tougher to air-dry fleshier herbs like roselle calyxes and roots and rhizomes like ginger, echinacea, and valerian. We generally recommend cutting them into small pieces and drying them in a dehydrator. 

How to Design a Herbal Tea Blend

To get started, it’s essential to think about why you want to make your tea. Are you trying to make a citrusy blend that’s tasty to drink iced in the garden? Do you want to make a soothing blend to drink before bed or an energizing blend for the morning?

Once I have a good idea of my goal, I start with the Herbal Academy’s basic recommendation. Generally, they advise including:

  • 3 parts base ingredient
  • 1-2 parts supporting ingredients
  • 1/4-1 part accent ingredient

This guideline is just a starting point. Start just making a batch that will make a cup or two and then change the ingredients as needed. 

For most recipes, I’ve found that a tablespoon of tea makes one 8-ounce cup of tea when steeped for 5 to 15 minutes. However, you can use more or less depending on how strong you enjoy your tea.

Example Herbal Tea Blends to Try

If you’re unsure where to start, here are a couple of basic blends I enjoy. You can start with these and adjust or change ingredients based on your needs and taste.

Sleepy Tea

It is a calming tea to drink before bedtime or when you’re trying to relax.

  • 1 cup chamomile flowers
  • 1/2 cup catnip leaves
  • 1/4 cup lavender blossoms

Stomach Calming Tea

This tea is helpful for indigestion, nausea, and car sickness. 

  • 1 cup mint leaves
  • 1/2 cup chamomile
  • 2 TBS ginger
  • 1 TBS fennel seeds

Cold Support Tea

  • 1 cup echinacea
  • 1/2 cup monarda
  • 1/4 cup orange peels
  • 1/4 cup rosehips

If you have beautiful herbs coming in from the garden, it’s tea time! You can dry your own herbs and create tasty, nourishing tea blends. What’s your favorite herbal tea blend?

Garden Advice

Create a Kitchen Herb Garden

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Kitchen herb gardens pack a lot of flavor and value into a small space. Growing herbs is a great way to make your meals more flavorful and save money. Herbs can be planted right into vegetable gardens and make great companion plants. However, you’re more likely to include fresh herbs in your meals if you can step out your door and clip a few while dinner is on the stove. 

Planning Your Kitchen Herb Garden

Herbs are good candidates for various planting styles, allowing you plenty of flexibility for designing a garden that works for you. As I mentioned above, selecting an easily accessible site for your herb garden is my biggest recommendation. Being able to grab a few quickly will encourage you to use them more.

Permaculture enthusiasts may be familiar with planning your property in zones to maximize efficiency. In this layout, zone 1 is the closest to your home and typically includes herb gardens.

You should also consider sunlight when choosing a location for your kitchen herb garden. While a few herbs will tolerate some shade, most herbs thrive in full sun. If you have a partially shaded spot, you’d like to try herbs in consider parsley, mint, or lemon balm.

Here are a few ways to incorporate a kitchen herb garden into your landscape.

Herb Spiral

Using soil and stones, bricks, or another similar material, you build a spiral-shaped bed with the center being the highest. These spiral beds are both beautiful and efficient. The key idea is that the design allows water to flow down from the top of the spiral. Herbs that love it hot and dry like rosemary, lavender, and thyme can thrive at the top, while herbs that need more moisture, such as lemon balm, cilantro, and parsley, are planted near the bottom.

The rocks or bricks of the soil also help retain heat. It also creates little micro-climates, with some spots being more sheltered or shaded than others. 

Knot Gardens

Knot gardens are formal herb gardens that were first established in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Herbs like rosemary, lavender, marjoram, thyme, and lemon balm are planted in intricate patterns to create beautiful designs. You can use whatever herbs you choose; remember that some like lavender will retain their shape more readily than those like mint, which will tend to spread. Try to create your own design or gather inspiration from the internet.

Raised Beds

Raised beds are often good for herbs because they tend to heat up quickly in the spring and drain well. Additionally, they can be set up on any soil type and are typically easier to keep weed-free. If you’re considering building raised beds, we’ve discussed the pros and cons in more detail in a previous post. 

Container Gardens

If you don’t have a lot of space, you can grow herbs in various containers. Even some window boxes will afford you a small herb garden. Herbs generally do pretty well in pots as long as they have proper drainage and receive full sun. Various pots or containers can be used, including ceramic, terracotta, or even upcycled plastic containers.

Soil

Most culinary and medicinal herbs will do best in well-drained, rich soil. Broad forking your garden and adding a couple of inches of finished compost each year can significantly improve your soil health and herb garden yields. 

You should also consider having your soil tested. Most herbs will thrive in neutral to slightly acidic soil. Amending your soil so that the pH is between 6.0 and 7.5 is ideal. 

If you’re growing in containers, it’s generally best to use a potting mix. These mixes are designed to hold moisture and avoid compaction in container conditions. Without any additions, ordinary garden soil doesn’t provide optimal conditions for plant growth in containers.

Selecting Varieties for Your Kitchen Herb Garden

There are many herbs to choose from, whether you want to make soothing herbal teas or make your favorite dishes a little more fresh and flavorful. If you’re struggling to make decisions, the best advice is to start with herbs you already use or know you will use and add a couple more experimental varieties each year. Here are just of few of the many culinary and medicinal herbs you may want to include in your kitchen herb garden.

Culinary Herbs

  • Basil
  • Thyme
  • Oregano
  • Chives
  • Sage
  • Parsley
  • Cilantro
  • Rosemary
  • Dill
  • Lemon Balm
  • Borage

Medicinal Herbs

Note that many of the previously mentioned culinary herbs also have medicinal uses and vice versa.

  • Astragalus
  • Feverfew
  • St. Johnswort
  • Chamomile
  • Echinacea
  • Calendula
  • Catnip
  • Horehound
  • Valerian

Starting Herbs from Seed

Like flowers and vegetable crops, the requirements for starting herbs from seed vary from species to species. Some herbs like borage require light while germinating and should be pressed lightly into the soil. In contrast, others like echinacea have to go through a cold stratification to germinate properly. Be sure to carefully read each variety’s requirements for best results starting herbs from seed.

If you have other friends or neighbors that garden, you can also barter for starts of perennial herbs. Some like lemon balm and chives are easy to divide and transplant, saving you the work of starting them from seed. 

Garden Advice

9 Herbs to Grow for Digestive Health

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Recent studies have pointed out just how important our digestive health is. Did you know that your digestion can affect not just your physical health but your mental health as well? The gut influences the amount of serotonin (a hormone that regulates feelings of happiness) the body produces. While there are many components to a healthy digestive system, the following herbs all have a history of being used to support digestive health. Consider adding a couple to your garden and diet this year. Find the latest tips and treatments to fight pandemias at https://thehealthmania.com/. So, that concludes our list of the top 10 best legal steroids of 2020. D-Bal is, without a doubt, a favorite not just to me but also for a big majority of other fitness enthusiasts out there. Its results remain hugely unmatched, and its flexibility in stacking really well with different other legal steroids is the icing on the cake. I must also admit that many guys have seen excellent results with the Sunergetic Products supplements. This is excellent news because it means you definitely can’t fail to find one or even more supplements that will work well for you too. Feel free to shop around and switch between them, depending on your fitness goals. Also, after a few cycles, you can try to stack two or more of the steroids and see how well they’ll work for you. Don’t forget to take breaks in between the cycle, though. bulking on Crazybulk store. It can be use by any person, especially very skinny people. In fact, many describe this pack of incredible bulk pills as best mass gainer for skinny guys known to help them ramp up more muscle mass and awesome power even in 8-12 weeks. We have a super guide showing many details, and even how to take crazy bulk bulking stack and order with peace of mind. It is very popular with younger folks (like 18-29 years) looking for safe bulking bodybuilding stacks, that is affordable and deliver awesome results.  Is this the best stack to gain muscle and pounds of mass power? You can check this site for Crazy Bulk Supplements through this site https://swfas.org.

Witch hazel

Witch-hazels or witch hazels are a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae, with four species in North America, and one each in Japan and China. The North American species are occasionally called winterbloom.  The Venapro is a natural remedy for hemorrhoids that uses Witch-hazels as main ingredient.

Fennel

Native to the Mediterranean, fennel has been used as a carminative  (to treat flatulence and related discomfort) for centuries. Medicinally, it’s typically consumed in tea and was sometimes used in “gripe water” once commonly used for infants.

Chamomile

While today many think of chamomile tea as being good for relaxation it’s also excellent for digestion. It has anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic properties which can help soothe upset stomachs and reduce gas.

Sage

For most, sage is now thought of as solely a culinary herb but it has long been used as a digestive tonic. It’s astringent and antibacterial and is believed to help treat diarrhea and calm gastritis.

Anise Hyssop

A tasty tea made with anise hyssop can be enjoyed with a meal to help promote digestion and reduce gas and bloating. It’s great for bees too!

Mint

Drinking mint tea is a tasty way to aid your digestion and reduce nausea. In some studies taking peppermint oil has been shown to decrease symptoms related to IBS.

Dandelion

Odds are this one is probably already growing in your garden. It may seem like a nuisance but dandelion is a very tasty and helpful plant! Full of nutrients, all parts of the dandelion are edible and some studies have shown consuming dandelion to help with digestion and reduce constipation.

Ginger

It has been used for centuries in Southeast Asia as a culinary and medicinal herb. Ginger is excellent for treating nausea, heartburn, and morning sickness. It can be made into tea or candied for on-the-go relief.

Goldenseal

Though research into goldenseal is ongoing, gastroenterologist Theodore A. DaCosta mentions that, it has a long history of being used to treat gastrointestinal issues and is believed to have anti-inflammatory, anti-diarrheal, antibacterial properties. Largely due to overharvesting this North American native is endangered. Planting goldenseal in your woodland can help ensure its survival.

Turmeric

Its anti-inflammatory properties have lent turmeric to a number of medicinal uses including treating arthritis but it is also excellent at supporting digestive health. Turmeric is traditionally used in a number of Indian dishes. It’s what gives curry that bright yellow color! You can also make it into tea or golden milk for a warm, relaxing drink.

If you often struggle with digestive issues or are simply interested in herbalism you may want to make room in your garden for a couple of these wonderful plants.

Another great way to support your digestive health is by eating plenty of probiotics. Pick up some cabbage seeds and check out our easy instructions for fermenting your own sauerkraut.

***We’re not doctors, always check with your physician before attempting to diagnose or treat any condition.

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