How to Start a Tea Garden: 10 Plants to Grow for Herbal Teas
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It has been 10 years since I first started growing herbs on my windowsill - the first plants that I ever tried to grow from seed! Since then, I have seen gardens come and go. One thing that has always been essential in my gardens has been herbs. Herbs are a wonderful addition to your garden as well as your kitchen. With their many benefits, in keeping pests away from your vegetables and inviting in wildlife to your garden, to adding beneficial nutrients to your diet as well as flavor to your meals, herbs are certainly a must-have for any gardener! In this post, you will learn how to grow an herbal tea garden as well 10 plants to grow for herbal teas.
why you should grow an herbal tea garden:
Are you a fan of tea? I have been writing about tea since I started this blog in 2015, but it’s really only in the last year that I have come to enjoy tea in my daily ritual. In the past, I almost only drank coffee. I can no longer have high amounts of caffeine due to medication that I take, so I switched over to drinking tea and have become even more dedicated to the art of tea brewing and drinking!
Tea is an incredibly beneficial drink to add into your diet. When you brew dried herbs and tea leaves with hot water, you extract polyphenols, which help protect your cells from damage. One thing that I have personally experienced is the power of tea to help heal common ailments such as a sore throat, seasonal allergies, bloating, and indigestion.
But why grow your own? If you enjoy gardening, growing your own herbs is fairly easy to include! By growing your own tea ingredients, you can ensure that you know how the plants were cared for, what was sprayed or not, and control how they are processed for drinking. Loose, whole leaf tea is incredibly better tasting than tea shavings found in most commercial tea bags.
tips for growing herbs:
Herbs can be incredibly easy to grow, depending on where you live. Like any garden plant, it can take some time to learn the needs of each individual plant. For the most part, herbs need to be grown in full sun and have plenty of water. Herbs can be grown in ground, raised beds, or even containers. Here are my top tips for growing herbs:
Buy from the greenhouse for an earlier harvest. Starting herbs from seed is one of the most difficult things you can try as an beginner gardener! For many herbs, their days to maturity, or the amount of days before you can harvest them, is around 80 to 180 days. This number begins when you plant your herbs in the ground, not when you start them in your seed tray. I highly suggest purchasing herbs from your local garden center to get a jumpstart on your harvest. By purchasing potted herbs, you save time and are able to get a harvest in the first year.
Grow in Raised Beds/Containers. The best herbs I have ever grown have been in my raised beds! They are lush and green and full of life. This is due to having the perfect soil mix, providing nutrients to my plants. I replenish the beds each spring and fall with potting mix and compost to continue the cycle into next year for my perennial herbs.
Cut them often. Want to keep your herbs producing for longer? Cut them often! It can be difficult to harvest from your plants, especially if you are apprehensive of damaging them. Herbs will only continue to produce their lush green leaves and flowers if they are picked. Just be sure to leave at least 1/3 of the plant behind so you do not accidentally kill it.
how to harvest and dry your herbs:
Harvesting Leaves and Flowers:
Different herbs have different harvesting requirements to allow for the plants to continue to produce lovely fresh stems for you. For all plants, it is best practice to only cut 1/3 of the plant and leave the rest to grow. Once the regrowth has begun, you can cut away the other parts and continue the practice.
There are different methods for picking, such as pinching or cutting. Some herbs are better suited for certain methods. For instance, herbs that require pinching are usually those that you are harvesting the flowers from like chamomile or dill. This is also a preferred method for softer stems like basil or sage. For woody stems, like thyme or oregano, you may want to get a clean pair of scissors to help cut away. Cutting back herbs will help them continue to grow bigger and bushier.
Drying Your Herbs:
Herbs can be dried in numerous ways, and the best one is up to you and the time that you have to do so! You can bundle herbs and air dry them by hanging them upside down from a rack. You can dry them on mesh screens like these herb drying racks, or you can dry them in a dehydrator or even in the oven or microwave.
storing your dried herbs & teas:
Once the herbs are dried, it is time to pack them away for storage. They are ready when there is no longer any moisture in the leaves or stems, and they should be very easily crumbled.
To store the herbs, usually you want to save the leaves. I pick off the leaves on my dried stem and then simply crumble them with my hands, a knife, or even a mortar and pestle. If you would like fully ground herbs, a coffee grinder works perfectly.
When the herbs have been processed to your liking, they can be stored in airtight containers. Mason jars or little bottles with lids work great! Then, store the jars in a darkened cupboard at around 60 to 70° F.
Freshly dried herbs will keep for use for about 2 years. Isn’t that amazing?
PLANTS TO GROW IN YOUR TEA GARDEN:
Chamomile:
Chamomile is one of my favorite herbs to grow. This tea is incredibly beneficial in so many areas, and it’s safe for children to drink as well! It’s mainly used for its calming effects, helping with digestion and soothing irritated skin.
Chamomile tea is mild, calming, and restorative. You can grow either German or Roman chamomile.
I have always grown German chamomile as it is easier to start and it produces more flowers. While it is considered a “false chamomile,” its flavor and benefits are the same. It is an annual that will reseed itself and grow new plants the following spring, often spreading throughout garden!
Chamomile should be avoided if you have allergies to other members of the Asteraceae family.
lavender:
Lavender is another herb often growing for its calming properties, and of course, for its unique fragrance. It adds a lovely floral flavor to tea.
I personally grow Munstead lavender as it can handle our harsh Iowa winters. It is a hardier variety that is a perennial in gardening zones with harsh winters. It also produces really beautiful, thick dark purple flower buds.
cornflower:
Centaurea cyanus, or Cornflower is also known commonly as Bachelor’s Buttons. These sweet little flowers have a history of being worn in the button holes of eligible bachelors in the 19th century.
It’s not commonly added to list for people to grow in their tea gardens, but I think it’s an easy flower to grow that can be used for making teas! It has a subtle sweet scent and flavor. It can be beneficial for relieving constipation, water retention, and bloating.
sage:
Garden sage is incredibly easy to grow and is wonderful for making teas among other uses! There are several different varieties of sage with different flavor profiles. Pineapple sage is one of my favorite varieties specifically for tea making!
Sage is an evergreen shrub that can grow as a perennial even in colder climates. Sage tea has a strong and robust flavor, which is not as appealing to many people. However, it’s wonderful for your health as it can help boost memory, ease hot flashes and night sweats from menopause, and reduces inflammation. However, it should be noted that sage is not recommended for drinking as tea if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
roses:
Roses are so lovely, aren’t they? They are a wonderful addition to your tea garden! You can use the dried petals or rosehips, which are the small fruit that grow after a rose has finished blooming and lost all of its petals.
Rose tea is, again, not necessarily a common tea that is drunk nowadays. It’s actually a diuretic, which can be good or bad depending on your body. Rosehips are one of the most concentrated sources of Vitamin C, and they have a tart flavor which makes them a wonderful ingredient for making jam, jelly, soup, or oil.
lemon balm:
When I was first learning about herbs, I remember reading that lemon balm was often referred to in modern times as the “Lemon Pledge Plant” because its fragrant leaves smell so similarly to the artificial lemon scent of home cleaning products. It really is rather strong!
Lemon balm, or Melissa officinalis, is part of the mint family. It is another beneficial herb that makes excellent tea. It is usually used to help promote a sense of calm and to reduce stress, and it adds a lovely lemon flavor to homemade tea blends.
Lemon balm will spread, so be cautious about where you plant it. I would recommend planting it in a large container so that it can become big and bushy and not spread throughout your garden!
mint:
Mint tea is one of my favorites! Its strong scent and flavor are intoxicating and delicious. There are so many different varieties of mint, it can be difficult to choose which one to plant! If you do decide to plant mint in your garden, make sure to keep it growing in a container because it will spread like wildfire and take over your garden. I have to tell you this as a Master Gardener!
I currently grow Apple Mint, Peppermint, Spearmint, and Chocolate Mint in my garden. They all have their different uses and flavors. Mint tea is refreshing and wonderful in the summer time. It will continue to grow and come back year after year.
Be cautious as mint contains high amounts of menthol, which can be dangerous for young children to ingest or use topically if taken in high amounts.
echinacea:
Echinacea purpurea, commonly known as the purple coneflower, makes a wonderful tea from its roots, leaves, and petals. This tea is certainly more popular amongst herbalist and those looking to boost their health through herbal infusions. As echinacea is native to the United States and southern Canada, it was used by the Native Americans for helping reduce swelling, supporting the immune system, and topical use. Today, its mostly revered for its benefits towards immune system health.
This plant is a perennial and will spread aggressively, so be careful where you decided to plant it. It also grows wildly throughout the United States, if you enjoy foraging!
Echinacea should be avoided if you have allergies to other members of the Asteraceae family.
calendula:
Calendula is one of favorite herbs to steep into tea! It’s not my favorite plant to grow and harvest as it has really sticky stems and flowers, but it’s well worth it for the benefits and flavor it adds to herbal teas and foods.
Calendula has antifungal and antimicrobial properties. This is helpful for preventing infection and healing injuries of body tissues. Historically, it was used to support healthy skin and calm an upset stomach.
Calendula should be avoided if you have allergies to other members of the Asteraceae family.
how to brew your homegrown tea:
To brew a cozy homemade loose leaf tea blend at home, there are some general rules to follow depending on the ingredients in your tea blend:
Begin with Filtered Water. If you can, filtered water tastes the best when brewing tea at home. The water you are using can affect the taste of your tea, but this is not a necessary step to make an excellent cup! Bring the water to a boil over the stove in a small saucepan or a kettle.
Place the Tea into the Kettle. Once the water has just started to boil, scoop your tea into your kettle. A good rule of thumb for measuring how much tea to use is around 1 teaspoon of tea per 8 oz (240 ml) water. Then, close the lid to let the tea steep. The amount of time the tea needs to steep will depend on the type of tea that it is.
Green and White Teas: 2-3 minutes
Black Teas: 3-5 minutes
Oolong: 4-8 minutes
Herbal and Floral Teas: 8-10 minutes
Strain the Tea. If you are using a kettle, you can simply serve the tea into your cup of choice. If you would like to use a tea pot, you will transfer the brewed tea to the tea pot and then serve.
final thoughts:
I hope that you enjoyed learning how to grow an herbal tea garden as well 10 beneficial plants to grow for herbal teas. Herbs are incredibly beneficial, and they make excellent ingredients for tea-making as well as adding to soups and stews, pasta dishes, and baked goods. It can be so lovely and calming to grow your own tea garden. I personally enjoy growing my own herbs for tea making for the scent of the fresh herbs wafting on the breeze and seeing all of the bees and butterflies that enjoy the flowers!
xoxo Kayla
