Herbs are In!
April 6, 2008 by laura
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
This season, I am going to attempt to grow an indoor herb garden. I would really like to try to grow some medicinal herbs – just to see if there would be an improvement, if I grew them myself. Its a headspace thing! In order for me to understand how and why things work for me, I need to be involved in the whole process – and not just listen to someone else talk about it.
And so I am going to do a little experimenting with some herb growing. First step is to figure out what to grow. Not really easy, when there are so many things to grow. I suppose the first thing I should look into are herbs that can help with regular sleep.
I have come across 3 herbs (among many) that can help with general stress relief, and to help with sleep (that you can grow in an indoor garden).
Chammomile - an herb used for rest and relaxation – although a more bitter form can be used for digestive problems. Most often used in teas (at night-time). It is a very gentle herb to use, and should be looked to first. – I definitely plan to grow
some of this!
Passionflower – an herb used to coax restful sleep – without giving the sleep hangover in the mornings. Most often used in tea form. Sounds like a pretty good alternative, to many of the sleep inducing drugs out there.
Thirdly, I came across Lemon Balm – I am not very familiar with this herb, but apparently just the scent of this herb, has relaxation properties. That right there, sounds good enough for me. It is mostly used in teas.
This is the start to my herb garden. Like I said, I am still in the planning stages. But I am really excited about this little project.
Do you have an herb garden? If so, what do you grow – and why.
**Picture Source- flickr
Laura:
As someone who LOVES to cook, I eagerly planted an herb garden last year in our small backyard space.
Though many of the plants were eaten by neighborhood furry “friends”, the ones that survived were oregano, basil, sage, Italian parsley, dill, and, to my surprise, rosemary (which I heard was tough to grow from seed.)
This year, I plan on planting in pots (to keep the nibblers at bay) and hope to have a more expansive array of herbs and veggies on our back deck.
My partner is the green thumb in our house, and has established some parsely, thyme, and chives (as well as a bunch of veggies). We’re planning on getting more adventurous with some basil and perhaps coriander. As for medicinal herbs, none so far, but I’d like to try. Keep us posted on how it goes.
I think lavender is easy to grow…there’s some in our garden and I don’t think anyone ever does anything to it! It smells amazing and it helps with relaxation. When it flowers you can cut some and dry it by hanging it upside down somewhere warm. then you can simply hang it in your bedroom or make little sachets with of it. Lavender oil is lovely for a relaxing bath or an oil burner but I have no idea how you would make it! Dunno if you can eat it either, you’d want to look that one up! but it might be a nice one to add just for the fresh relaxing scent.
Angelique, that settles it! I am going to use you as my herbology advisor.
I don’t have much of a green thumb, but I am excited about this little project. That should count for something.
I am going to need loads of advice, so I am keeping you on standby.
Ellie,
mmmm I love coriander. Will definitely keep you updated on the progress.
Hopefully I will be able to dry the herbs and make my own teas. Would be very satisfying I think.
missmilki,
I am a big fan of lavender tea. Its so relaxing. And I once made lavender scones. So I am thinking you can eat it. But maybe that lavender was processed differently. I am not really sure. Bought it at some very over priced little tea shop…so who knows. I am really excited about this little project – and perhaps will keep a bit of an herb diary so you can all see how I am doing.