This post about growing a medicinal herb garden has been sponsored by True Leaf Market. All opinions are my own.
Growing your own medicinal herbs right in the backyard means you always have natural home remedies on hand for minor ailments. What are the best medicinal herbs to have on hand? And how do you grow a natural herb garden so that it thrives? Here are a few tips on growing medicinal plants as well as quick peak at a the True Leaf Market Herb Garden Seeds I received to try.
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What is a medicinal garden?
So, what is a medicinal herb garden exactly? Basically, it is when you are growing your own herbs for your own herbal home remedies. Having your own backyard herb garden filled with medicinal plants is incredibly beneficial.
From scraped knees to nasal congestion, there are hundreds of small ailments that can be treated with natural home remedies. And growing a medicinal herb garden right in your own backyard means that you never have to worry if your ‘medicine’ is out of date or missing from your medicine cabinet. Just head into your nearby herbal remedies garden and start picking!
What are the best medicinal herbs to grow?
How do you know the best medicinal plants to include in your backyard garden? Here are 10 medicinal plants and their uses to help you get started. (You will find MANY of these medicinal herb garden must haves in the True Leaf Market herb garden kit that I received!)
Chamomile:
If you are looking for calming herbs, chamomile is very popular. It is commonly used to relieve anxiety and encourage relaxation. Chamomile is also used for wound healing and to reduce inflammation or swelling.
Echinacea:
This medicinal plant is often used to boost immunity and to treat or prevent colds and flu.
Feverfew:
The most common uses for feverfew include treating arthritis and preventing migraines.
Rosemary:
Usually used for it’s culinary benefits, it also contains substances that are useful to improve digestion and increase circulation. Check out my post on the uses for rosemary besides cooking, but here are just a few:
- Fire starter
- Hair rinse
- Aromatherapy
- Cat repellent in the garden
- Sore throat aid
Lavender:
Most often used for relaxation and improved sleep, it is an anti inflammatory herb with antiseptic properties. Check out these lavender DIY’s on my site:
- Lavender Aromatherapy Dough Use your fresh lavender in a homemade play-dough for both kids and adults.
- Lavender Oatmeal Bath Bombs A great way to unwind after a stressful day.
- Easy Lavender Shortbread Cookie Recipe Culinary lavender can be used for cookies, healthy chocolate bark and so much more.
Thyme:
If you are growing a medicinal herb garden, don’t forget to plant thyme! Classically, this herb is used to help heal superficial wounds.
Mint:
This medicinal herb is incredibly beneficial! Headaches, skin irritations, nausea, pain, diarrhea and bloating are some of the many symptoms that it helps alleviate. Check out these mint growing tips for more info.
Fennel:
This is one of the best medicinal herbs ever! Great to relieve cough, it is also used to boost breast milk production in lactating women. I used it when my son was nursing and really found it very beneficial! It is also very tasty as a tea.
Coriander:
Coriander is usually thought of as a culinary herb, however, it is said to improve digestion and regulate menstrual cycles.
Lemon balm:
Lemon balm is often used to help relieve stress and ward off insects! Check out my post on the many uses of lemon balm for more information.
How do I make my herb garden successful?
Growing a medicinal herb garden is done in many ways. If you want year round access to therapeutic plants, grow your medicinal herbs in a greenhouse. Many medicinal plants are annuals, or perennials that will die back in the winter. Want medicinal herbs to grow indoors? Plant thyme, parsley, sage and Saint John’s Wort.
Most herbs, both culinary and medicinal in nature, want a lot of sun and well drained soil. Harvest them regularly, either by cutting stems and stalks (like mint, sage, basil, and rosemary) or picking the flowers (cone-flowers, sunflowers, chamomile, etc). This encourages more growth than if you just let them grow undisturbed.
Plan to start from seed? Check out True Leaf Market. They offer a wide variety of medicinal plant seeds and a ton of info on how to grow a medicinal herb garden.
True Leaf Market Medicinal Seed Starter Kit
The True Leaf Market medicinal seed starting kit contains just about everything you need to grow your own medicinal plants. They offer a huge selection of herb seeds (both in the kit and alone). The seed starting kit comes with soil pellets, grow trays, a watering tray, seeds, a cover and plant markers. This makes it very easy to start your medicinal herb garden!
Don’t want to start seeds indoors? Plant them directly in the ground instead. Wait until the mornings are not too cool (generally over 50 degrees) and sow seeds directly in the ground.
Our Medicinal Herb Garden Project
I mostly planted the herb sees directly in the ground, since I was interested in growing herbs outside, . We have an area in our back yard that is overgrown and needed a bit of TLC. I removed the rocks that outlined the bed, turned the soil, and added some organic soil amendments.
It’s very important when growing a medicinal herb garden to grow your plants without pesticides! Mushroom compost, cow manure, or your own homemade compost are all great organic soil amendments for medicinal plants.
Once the soil was turned and fertilized, I rearranged the rocks, planted the seeds, and now I WAIT. Yes, herb gardening from seed requires a bit of patience.
Some of the medicinal herbs I received as seeds were already growing in my backyard garden. Like the purple coneflower and mint. But, I turned the seeds into the soil nearby to help them spread, grow and THRIVE even more.
Growing a Medicinal Herb Garden? Read these posts, too
Like this post about growing a medicinal herb garden? Want to grow herbs successfully? Do you need tips on preserving fresh herbs for use year round? Here are a few more posts to read that may help.
- How to Preserve Fresh Herbs Using fresh herbs straight from the garden is a summer delicacy when it comes to cooking, however,those fresh herbs don’t last long.
- Essential Herbs for DIY Beauty Products Fresh herbs not only make your homemade beauty products smell good, they also have a number of therapeutic properties as well.
- How to Grow Thyme I definitely recommend learning how to grow thyme in a backyard herb garden, even if you are a total beginner when it comes to gardening.
Growing herbs is incredibly easy. Most pests really don’t care for them, making them simple to grow, even for the beginner gardener. Get started planting now that the weather is warm. Buy some seeds and grab a shovel. Choose medicinal plants that will do YOUR family the most good. However, remember to skip the pesticides.
We are patiently waiting for our seeds to sprout. However, once they do, I will be ready! I have a dehydrator, muslin tea bags, and herb scissors to make harvesting and drying herbs easier.
If you enjoy growing flowers, check out my tips for how to grow sunflowers for another fun garden project.
Disclaimer: This content provides generic information only. It is in NO WAY a substitute for a qualified medical opinion. Always consult your own doctor for more information.
Diane is a professional blogger and nationally certified pharmacy technician at Good Pill Pharmacy. She earned her BS in Microbiology at the University of New Hampshire and has worked in cancer research, academics, and biotechnology. Concern over the growing incidence of human disease and the birth of her children led her to begin living a more natural life. She quickly realized that the information she was learning along the way could be beneficial to many others and started blogging and freelance writing to share this knowledge with others. Learn more about her HERE.
I love growing herbs but your suggestions were more well rounded the 4 I usually stick with. I love the medicinal flowers you mentioned and I think I will try echinacea this year!