Freshly Brewed Herbal Tea, Growing Right Outside Your Door

Herbal teas are refreshing. They can alleviate a number of maladies. And they are really easy to grow and brew. Here’s a simple plan to grow your own herbs for a great tasting, tummy soothing tea. The best part is that these plants are so easy to grow, everyone except the blackest of thumbs should be able to handle them.

From back to front: Lemon Verbena, Chamomile, and Peppermint

The plan for this container design couldn’t be easier. You need three pots. One 12, one 10, and one 8 inch pot. You also need three plants, lemon verbena, chamomile, and spearmint. Even people like me, who aren’t very good at math, can figure out that all that’s left to do is pot up one plant in each container.

You can grow chamomile and spearmint easily from seed or use transplants if you wish. Lemon verbena is really hard to grow from seed, it’s best to save yourself the headache and buy a transplant.

Give them full sun (at least six hours of direct sunlight). Water the peppermint and lemon verbena whenever the top inch of soil is dry, let the chamomile totally dry out between watering.

To harvest for use in an herbal tea, snip off some leaves from the spearmint and verbena plants and the flowers from the chamomile. Dry them on a clean screen, or hang them to dry. When they’re totally dry, store the herbs in a clean, dry jar with a air tight lid.

Lemony Chamomile-Spearmint Tea

• 1 teaspoon dried chamomile
• 1/2 teaspoon dried lemon verbena
• 1/2 teaspoon spearmint
• 1 teaspoon honey, optional

Place all herbs in a tea ball and steep in a cup of hot water for 5-7 minutes. Remove the tea ball and sweeten tea with honey, if desired.

Check out this cute tea ball with convenient silicone drip tray, if you’re in need of a new one (or your first!).

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