Growing herbs

I love tea and I've been wanting to make my own tea blends for awhile. Recently I thought growing herbs for teas would be a great start since they're so easy to grow. So I planted them about a week ago and they're coming up nicely! I planted catnip, sage, thyme, cilantro, tarragon, and im trying out sunflowers.

I'm starting small, but I'm really excited. I'm going to school for biology currently in the hopes of pursuing botany further down the road. So I feel like this is a great project for me and I'm so excited to experiment!!

Has anyone else tried this or something similar? I'd love to hear your experiences with it!

good luck with your herbs! We do grow them too and one year, I did plant chamomile so I could make my own chamomile tea too. But, I realized it was easier to just buy chamomile tea bags already made up!

however, we do still grow herbs in pots in our farmhouse and planted in the ground at our river home.

Peppermint is a great and easy herb to grow too--but do make sure to keep it in a pot, as it is very invasive. But, if you like the smell of peppermint--(and it is great for keeping pests away) and if you like a peppermint leaf in your drink--this is something to consider.

Do you have a cat and is this why you planted catnip? Our neighbors in VT use to plant it in their yard and all the cats in town hung out there in their yard. sort of a cat plant bar there.

We also plant sage, thyme, rosemary and lavender at our river home. We never had much luck with cilantro--but I think it was due to the rabbits in the area more then anything else. We also did tarragon before too--but not lately. And, sunflowers are gorgeous and fun to grow! One great thing with all these herbs is that you can pick them, rinse them, then dry them and put them in freezer bags and pop into the freezer so when you're ready to cook in the winter--they are just like fresh again! Makes it easy!

Have fun growing your herbs! Nothing beats fresh herbs in your meals.

I grow basil and I just love it. Somehow I've managed to keep this one alive and kicking. I used to grow mint but it took over the entire garden so I'm careful with that now. Aloe was a very treasured plant that I used to grow at my other home. So many uses for Aloe regarding skin issues that I thought was quite nice to have at my reach. Now I pretty much just grow flowers.

Metra, that's a nice selection of herbs to start with.

We grow a lot of herbs, I add a few new herbs every spring. I always have basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, marjoram, parsley, sage, echinacea, chives (regular and garlic), mints (peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint in large planters), bee balm, dill, and a few others that I can't think of at the moment. We have raspberries as well, raspberry leaves are a nice addition to a cup of tea too.

This year I added - summer savory, tarragon, and lavender.

My favorite for tea is chocolate mint. It seems like I'm indulging when I drink a cup of that tea, because it really does taste like chocolate mint! YUM! I can't grow enough of it. LOL

Enjoy your fresh herbs and the lovely cups of tea that you'll have!

I often grow herbs. I'm not this year as I moved Mid-may which is when I would have wanted to have gotten all set up. I'm taking this year to observe the light where I live so that I have a better idea of what I can grow next year.

GotH said:

I grow basil and I just love it. Somehow I've managed to keep this one alive and kicking. I used to grow mint but it took over the entire garden so I'm careful with that now. Aloe was a very treasured plant that I used to grow at my other home. So many uses for Aloe regarding skin issues that I thought was quite nice to have at my reach. Now I pretty much just grow flowers.

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oh yes! Basil! another staple herb in our home. How did I forget htat? There is also a Lemon-Basil plant that smells divine! I just love to rub it on my fingers. mmmm. And, aloe too--though my aloe plant is going nuts in its pot and I need to break it apart and replant it in many pots. also a wonderful plant!

LoveLight&Peace said:

Metra, that's a nice selection of herbs to start with.

We grow a lot of herbs, I add a few new herbs every spring. I always have basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, marjoram, parsley, sage, echinacea, chives (regular and garlic), mints (peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint in large planters), bee balm, dill, and a few others that I can't think of at the moment. We have raspberries as well, raspberry leaves are a nice addition to a cup of tea too.

This year I added - summer savory, tarragon, and lavender.

My favorite for tea is chocolate mint. It seems like I'm indulging when I drink a cup of that tea, because it really does taste like chocolate mint! YUM! I can't grow enough of it. LOL

Enjoy your fresh herbs and the lovely cups of tea that you'll have!

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oooh chocolate mint, huh? I do think I've seen that before and smelled it. so many varities of mint. and, yes, we also do oregano--i forgot that one too. I don't believe I have ever herard of summer savory--is that just one herb or many? And, I never thought of using the rasberry leaves to flavor a drink! what a GREAT idea!! Thank you for the mentioning of this. I'll have to try that, for sure as I love the raspberry flavor.

This year I just have basil and cilantro in pots, and their growing like crazy. We're having a very wet spring and summer (AND I'm watering every day, too!) I put basil leaves on a sandwich just like lettuce. Yum! And dump some chopped cilantro into any beans or soup I run into.

For a while we had a giant rosemary bush in the yard. It just kept growing! But then it was too big, so it had to go.

Yes, mint will take over. We had it in a flower bed when I was a kid and always had to cut it back. It even grew up through the cracks in the sidewalk! We put the leaves in iced tea every day all summer.

You might want to keep the catnip away from the cats until it's grown some. We got some in a pot at a farmer's market years ago and put it in a window sill in the garage. Mouch the cat got into the garage, ate the plant down to the dirt, and that was the end of our catnip growing career!

Enjoy your herbs!

celticnoodle said:

oh yes! Basil! another staple herb in our home. How did I forget htat? There is also a Lemon-Basil plant that smells divine! I just love to rub it on my fingers. mmmm. And, aloe too--though my aloe plant is going nuts in its pot and I need to break it apart and replant it in many pots. also a wonderful plant!

oooh chocolate mint, huh? I do think I've seen that before and smelled it. so many varities of mint. and, yes, we also do oregano--i forgot that one too. I don't believe I have ever herard of summer savory--is that just one herb or many? And, I never thought of using the rasberry leaves to flavor a drink! what a GREAT idea!! Thank you for the mentioning of this. I'll have to try that, for sure as I love the raspberry flavor.

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Chocolate mint is fabulous! I'm thinking about adding another large planter of it. lol

Summer Savory is just one herb. It's very similar to Winter Savory but has a more delicate flavor. Not sure exactly how to describe it - kind of peppery like nasturtium (if you've ever tried that), with a thyme-like flavor as well.

You're welcome CN! Glad the raspberry leaves have sparked your interest. I've had them in tea blends, or frozen in ice cubes in a glass of water. Haven't tried raspberry leaf tea by itself though, now I might have to!

I should probably add that we also grow nasturtium, that's one that I couldn't think of earlier. Thanks for jogging my memory CN!

I have a chocolate mint in a pot on my kitchen windowsill, as well as a lemon balm plant (aka Melissa). Both are lovely in tea and lemon balm is an excellent herbal for upset tummies and colds and flu as well as an antidepressant and very calming! [emoji3]

I would love to grow more herbs but I've just started developing my green thumb so I'm not very confident! Plus I can't take up much more room on the windowsill as the cats sit up there!
I'm worried my 3yo would destroy plants in the backyard if I planted any. I had to move my cactus in a pot because he'd hit it with sticks!
I should plant some out in the front yard though.

A lot of weeds are herbs as well. Like Cleavers, last spring it was all through the front yard so I harvested heaps, dried at lot, juiced most of it and took a week long lymph cleanse! Its a nutritious green as well! Cleavers, aka Velcro plant, is a great lymphatic cleanser and is quite nice as a fresh tea, so refreshing!
There are heaps of weeds that are actually herbals and are nutritious and have amazing benefits!
They're easy to grow too! [emoji6]
(My thumb is pretty ungreen but I'm slowly learning!)

Its great to read so many people grow herbs. I love using herbs in cooking too. I really should get a proper herb garden started!

Sent from my R5 using Tapatalk

Sorry--its been a crazy time here.

LoveLight&Peace said:

Chocolate mint is fabulous! I'm thinking about adding another large planter of it. lol

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oh, yes. I am so wanting to grow more in pots. However, we're really not doing anymore until we are once again down to ONE home only. Its difficult enough with the way we travel--then add two homes to travel back and forth to and be on top of--our poor plants aren't very happy with us. I'm hoping the few we have still will continue to hang on. We have a gorgeous lily plant that we've had for about 10 to 12 years. When we went on our cruise a few mos. back--we came home and it was rather ill looking. Still recovering, poor dear.

Summer Savory is just one herb. It's very similar to Winter Savory but has a more delicate flavor. Not sure exactly how to describe it - kind of peppery like nasturtium (if you've ever tried that), with a thyme-like flavor as well.

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hmmm...it sounds like it would be great with stuffing--for the turkey or chicken. I will definitely consider this too! I LOVE HERBS!!!

You're welcome CN! Glad the raspberry leaves have sparked your interest. I've had them in tea blends, or frozen in ice cubes in a glass of water. Haven't tried raspberry leaf tea by itself though, now I might have to!

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oh yeah. Raspberry is my fave flavor anymore. It sounds delicious in water. Currently, I only add either lemon or oranges, have also made 'grape' flavored water - but the raspberry leaves sound wonderful in the water! or even ice tea or lemonade!

I should probably add that we also grow nasturtium, that's one that I couldn't think of earlier. Thanks for jogging my memory CN!

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