How to Start Your Own Tea Garden
Plant these herbs for an at-home harvest and brew up your own blend.
The first garden Eric and I ever started together was an herb garden, which couldn’t even really be called a “garden” – it was more of a large planter. The summer before our senior year of college we found temporary jobs and moved into a tiny loft apartment on Cape Cod. The apartment was above the garage of a family home. The owners of the house kept a beautiful vegetable garden and would offer us tomatoes and cucumbers all summer long.
On the deck of this apartment, we placed a large railing planter and filled it with herbs that thrived in the warm ocean air. After work, we’d clip herbs for cooking and steep them to make iced tea – often packed for beach picnics where we enjoyed an evening swim. It was small and simple, but we found so much joy in that little “garden”.
We’ve obviously expanded our operation quite a bit since then. Now our herbs are spread throughout our large kitchen garden, used as companion plants for fruits and vegetables.
If you have a good sunny spot and well-draining soil, herbs are incredibly easy to care for and tend to tolerate heat well. Many of them can be quite aggressive and will quickly take over if planted directly in the ground or in a large bed, so if you’re new to gardening or don’t have a ton of time to devote to it, planting individual herbs in small pots is the perfect way to enjoy all the benefits with less maintenance. Plus, they look beautiful when displayed as a collection on a table, patio, or plant stand.
Make a statement by mixing-and-matching pots for an eclectic cottage garden feel or use a unified set for an elegant statement – just be sure the pots have adequate drainage holes.
Here are some herbs we’d recommend planting specifically for a tea garden:
Sweet mint, strawberry mint, peppermint, catmint, lemon balm, lavender, pineapple sage, bee balm, chamomile
Add basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano and chives to round it out for a full culinary garden.
Place the potted herbs in a sunny spot, make sure they get adequate water, and as soon as they’re established (you’ve noticed growth) you can start harvesting leaves and flowers for steeping. Enjoy!
Resources:
Watch our Tea with Kids Tutorial on YouTube to learn how to steep your own cup.
Here’s a list of products we love to elevate the whole experience: The Herb Garden Edit