Growing Tea Herbs

It is such a buzz growing tea herbs. Just think, planting the seeds and nurturing your plant and then the delight of harvesting those first leaves and making a pot of tea. Even better if you can share it with a friend.

Growing tea herbs is no different to growing other herbs and, of course, the added advantage is that you can use most of them in your cooking as well.

Four of the easiest and best herbs to grow are:

Mint. This is a favourite and easy to grow, although if you are putting it into the garden make sure it is contained otherwise it will run rampant. Mint likes semi-sun and lots of water especially during the dry months of summer. You can use mint also in your cooking, it’s great with new, baby potatoes.

Lemon Balm. This is a herb similar to mint but with a beautiful lemony flavour. The difference is that it likes a dryer soil but like mint, likes some shade. It makes a delicious tea and also can be used as a culinary herb especially on fish.

Sage. The common sage makes a very aromatic tea and is especially lovely if you add some spices, orange or lemon slices to it. Although an easy plant to grow it can get root rot rather quickly so make sure it has well drained soil and full sun.

Chamomile. This is a popular herb tea drink especially before going to bed as it helps the body to relax. This is a plant that needs to have full sun and well drained soil. It is the flowers you use for tea, although some commercial teas do use the leaves. But there is a culinary use for the leaves - especially with Roman Chamomile and that is to chop them up and put them with butter or sour cream you can then put it on top of baked potatoes.

Note: One thing to be aware of is that if you have an allergy to ragweed or chrysanthemums you may also have an allergy to chamomile.

Making the Tea

Once your herbs have grown you are ready to harvest and make that first brew.

Begin by gathering a handful of fresh leaves. You will need to crush them and you will need about 3 teaspoons per cup. Put them into the teapot and pour in the boiling water. Allow the tea to "steep" for a few minutes before serving. You can add honey if you need to, but a slice of lemon or orange just seems to add that lovely touch.

Note: It’s really good if your teapot has a diffuser, if not use a tea strainer as you pour.

For herbs that are seasonal or will die off over winter a good idea is to harvest the excess leaves and dry them. This way you will have tea all year round without having to buy the commercially boxed variety!

To find out how to dry your herbs go Click Here

And that’s it. I’m sure you will enjoy not only growing tea herbs but sipping and enjoying the fruits of your labour.