How to Grow Herbs for Tea
Herbal teas provide a delicious, caffeine-free alternative for both hot tea and iced tea. Purchased herbal teas can be expensive, but most plants used in herbal teas are hardy plants that are simple to grow in any garden or pots. You can grow your own herbs for herbal tea following these steps. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Seeds or plants for tea, such as mint, lemon balm, bee balm. Trowel Compost, or a bag of composted cow manure Pots and potting soil, OR Garden location for planting
Instructions
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How to Grow Herbs for Tea
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Assess your available garden space for a site to grow tea herbs. Select a site with as much sun as possible, although most herbs are hardy and thrive in less than full sun. Prepare the site by removing all existing vegetation and turning in a few shovels full of compost or composted cow manure; although tea herbs will grow in less-than-ideal soil, providing nutrients through compost will help them thrive for years to come.
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Contain tea herbs that have a tendency to spread--mint, lemon balm, clover--by growing them in pots, or sinking large containers into the ground. Harvest these spreading herbs frequently to keep their spreading nature under control as well as to replenish your tea supply.
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Purchase sturdy plants for your herb tea garden from a reputable local garden center, or seek divisions of herb plants from other gardeners in your neighborhood or through your local garden club. Loosen the soil around your planting site with a trowel. Spread the plant's roots out and cover with about an inch of soil, then water in thoroughly. Water regularly for about a week after first planting; after that, tea herbs need only be watered sparingly in the driest times.
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Start small when planting your herb tea garden. Choose a limited number of varieties which you are certain you will like as hot or iced tea, such as mints or lemon balm. Add more varieties as you become comfortable with maintaining your herbal tea patch. Consider medicinal herbs like raspberry leaf, edible flowers to complement iced tea such as violas, or savory flavors like sage and thyme for hot tea or borage and salad burnet for iced teas.
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Harvest tea herbs by cutting the stems with scissors or pruners, just above a place where side-branches are sprouting from the main stem. For tea from fresh leaves, use three to four times the amount necessary when using dried leaves. To dry your tea herbs, bundle the stems with rubber bands and hang them in an airy location or spread the stems out in layers in a dehydrator. Drying tea herbs in a dehydrator takes only a few hours; hanging them to dry can take several days to several weeks. Strip the dried leaves from the stems into glass storage jars with snug-sealing lids.
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Tips & Warnings
Use compost or a foliar feed of a seaweed-based nutrient enhancement rather than chemical fertilizers on your tea herbs to bolster healthy growth and ensure that they are safe for consumption. Tea herbs are naturally insect-resistant so there is no need to spray them with pesticides.
Harvest your herbal tea plants carefully; make sure you have harvested only the variety of herb you have selected for tea and not weeds or other plant species that have grown up amidst your herbs. Be certain you have accurately identified the herbs you pick for tea. Some plant species may be toxic. Consult a field guide, herbal text, or knowledgeable botanist prior to consumption if you have any doubt as to a plant's identification. Don't use chemical fertilizers or weed killers on your tea herbs, and wash them thoroughly before drying for consumption.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Cindy Hill
