Planting a Medicinal Garden

Grow Your Own Medicine Cabinet

As I write this, I am getting over the throes of a nasty head cold. What better time than now to plan a simple medicinal garden?

The following plants would be great additions for an all-purpose medicinal garden. All are fairly easy to grow in either a traditional garden or in a container garden:

Aloe vera: Buy established plants and transplant. Good for treating minor burns and scrapes: just break a leaf and apply the serum to the affected area. 

Calendula: Buy established plants and transplant, or sow from seed. Made into an infusion, calendula is a good all-purpose antiseptic wash; you can also make a balm.

Cayenne: Buy established plants and transplant, or sow from seed. Good ingested as a cold remedy and can also be made into a cream to relieve muscle aches. Caution: when handling any hot peppers, wear gloves. Trust me on this one.

Chamomile: Sow from seed. Made into a tea, chamomile is good for treating stomach upset and for inducing sleep. 

Ginger root: Buy the root and cut it up; plant each piece. Ginger root is the number one treatment for nausea and is good for stomach upset. 

Echinacea: Buy established plants and transplant,  or directly sow the seed. Use the root as a decoction at the first sign of a cold. 

Feverfew: Buy established plants and transplant. This herb is great for fevers as well as headaches, even relieving migraines for some people. 

Lavender: Buy established plants and transplant. This herb prefers a slightly alkaline soil, so it's best to plant it in its own container or planter box. Made into an oil or infusion, lavender can be used to heal cuts, stings, and burns, as well as insomnia and not a few other woes. 

Lemon balm: Buy established plants and transplant, or sow directly from seed. This member of the mint family is great for cold relief as well as digestive complaints. 

Mint, especially peppermint: Buy established plants and transplant, or sow directly from seed. This herb is great for relieving gas and stomach upset, as well as relieving muscle pain when made into a balm. 

Rosemary: Buy established plants and transplant. Made into an infusion, this herb is wonderful for digestive issues and headaches. 

Sage: Buy established plants and transplant. Sore throat relief and alleviation of hot flashes are but two of sage's gifts. 

By User:Mattes (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Medicinal Container Garden of My Dreams

If you want to consult an herbal handbook, I recommend the following books:

Culpepper's Complete Herbal: A Book of Natural Remedies for Ancient Ills.

Walter Last's The Natural Way to Heal: 65 Ways to Create Superior Health.

The New Age Herbalist: How to Use Herbs for Healing, Nutrition, Body Care, and Relaxation.

500 Formulas for Aromatherapy: Mixing Essential Oils for Everyday Use.

Check out the Autumn Abundance Sale going on at Sol Luna Enterprises: enjoy 25% off on orders of $25 and over. The coupon code is FALLSAVINGS. This sale lasts through October 31, 2015, so don’t miss out!


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Sage: Herb of the Month

Sage: A Wise Herb

Each month, I pick an herb somewhat arbitrarily but usually one that suggests the month's season. Sage, or salvia officinalis, is the herb of honor for October 2014.

Sage is a shrubby herb that traditionally has grey-green, slightly fuzzy leaves, but some cultivated varieties include purple sage and red sage. It has a slightly peppery scent and flavor. Sage grows in the U.S. Hardiness zones of 5-9, so this is one flexible herb.

Sage is one of the easy-to-grow herbs: you can start this herb from seed or from established plants. Give sage a nice sunny spot in the garden or herb box, water it occasionally, and this perennial will reward you with savory leaves for culinary or medicinal purposes.

By aomorikuma (Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P2) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen, sage can be used in stuffing, to season poultry, or added to many sausage recipes. Sage can also be made into a tea in order to treat, naturally, a laundry list of ailments, including sore throat, gastrointestinal upset, and fever. Sage, as a tea, or even sniffing the leaves, is also reputed to help improve memory.

Sage can also be burned to cleanse the area of negative energy. You will often find bundled sage sticks sold for this purpose.

And now for some "sage" advice: I recently experienced the Radiant Goddess E-Course, offered by Leonie Dawson's Amazing Life + Biz Academy, and it has been a life-changer. This e-course has been an empowering tool physically, mentally, and emotionally, and I highly recommend it. Disclosure: The Amazing Biz + Life Academy links are affiliate links. I only use affiliate links for products and services that I genuinely and wholeheartedly endorse.