Tea Garden for Natural Herbal

Creating a tea garden is an important part of your life to living a natural lifestyle, many herbs offer nutrients and may help mental health. Having a tea garden can be therapeutic for some people, and not just a simple collection of plants but for some a step towards self-sufficiency. Herbs like chamomile, lemon balm, mint and more herbs provide ingredients for calming teas, and bring peace to the gardener while also purpose for the garden. When having a garden there are many steps to having a successful tea garden, this includes planning for the herb, planting and caring, and to harvest herbs.

The Purpose Of A Tea Garden

Gardens have a purpose and gardener’s create them with reason, the reasons can be different between others. Gardens are a space where beauty meets function offering a meditative environment and a place to harvest herbs for teas. Harvesting certain herbs can help with relaxation, digestion, sleep and more. Fresh ingredients are always a great choice instead of ingredients that have aged while being stored, having fresh ingredients will bring more nutrients from the herb and give a quality taste in tea’s.

Starting A Tea Garden

Creating a tea garden begins with choosing the right garden location, most tea herbs thrive in locations that provide full sunlight or partial shade and will need 5-6 hours of sunlight per day. Designing the garden may be a challenge but with research of the herb, this challenge will become meditation while creating the garden. Herbs can begin in pots and then transferred to soil. This reason is to control the herb essential needs to grow, then when the herb is mature it can be planted outside. Beginning with seeds and using a heater with grow lights to germinate is a great idea, allows you to control the environment and when the herb is ready to be potted or added to the soil. This is very time consuming, compared to purchasing mature plants and planting them. This step will make the garden look much more of a garden than germinating seedlings, this gives gardener’s a visual of their garden and is recommended. When creating a garden its important to be knowledgeable of the herb and the steps it takes to grow, plants can get a disease, be burnt, or have soggy roots, and more without proper care. Caring for your herbs by providing fertilized soil is a major step in beginning a tea garden, the soil will bring nutrients to the herb helping it grow healthy without flaws.

Herbs

The main herbs to begin growing is chamomile, lemon balm, and mint for a tea garden. Chamomile grows best in full sunlight and blooms with daisy like flowers, harvest when open and dry thoroughly for storage. This herb is commonly used for relaxation such as calming and sleep-inducing effects. Lemon Balm grows in full to partial sunlight and will take over the soil if allowed, this can create a problem if you are planning to plant more herbs. Pruning and harvesting are important, pruning encourages bushy growth and harvesting before flowering gives best flavor and medicinal potency. This herb offers a bright, citrusy aroma that is uplifting and mildly sedative. It’s excellent for anxiety, digestion, and insomnia, like chamomile. Mint is easy to grow, it’s best kept in containers to manage it’s growth. This herb prefers moist, rich soil and partial sun but adapts well to many environments, there are different types of mint like spearmint, peppermint, apple mint, chocolate mint and more. Each offers its own unique taste and medicinal use, typically revolving around respiratory health, digestion, and mental clarity.

Herbs To Plant

• Lavender – Great for stress
• Calendula – Boost Immunity and digestion
• Rosemary – Improves memory and focus
• Thyme – Powerful antiseptic and respiratory aid
• Stevia – Natural sweetener that is sugar free

Creating Tea

Creating tea begins with the harvesting of herbs, and be dried quickly in a well ventilated, shaded place. Drying racks in a dark room, to preserve color, potency, and flavor. Once fully dry, herbs should be stored in airtight containers away from light and heat. Glass jars with tight lids work well. When the herbs have dried, make your own creation blend of herbs. This blend will determine the taste of tea, and give added benefits of all herbs used in the blend. Brewing the herbs is a simple technique and can be done within minutes, providing natural benefits in minutes. Have your herbal blend ready because first add a tablespoon or two of herbs to a pot and boil herbs, cover the pot and let the herbs sit for 5-10 minutes. This method is called steeping, when you allow herbs to sit in boiling water. Strain the tea, removing herbs and being drinkable.

Tea Gardens And How They Change The Environment

Gardens create a ecosystem for butterflies, bees, and other pollinators, they also offer refuge for wildlife. This is something that you may benefit from and a reason you have a pest around, but in the end you have a garden and you can gather herbs from to enjoy it’s beauty. Natural herbs have shown us they offer nutrients when boiled for tea’s, and may be therapeutic for some. We learned that herbs have their own personalities and benefits when growing. When creating blends or growing herbs for a garden you want to be knowledgeable of the herb, eliminating any errors that can be made while handling the herb.