Planning a Cleaning Garden
October 21, 2009 by Linette Gerlach
Filed under Herbs
I’m allergic to many of the cleaners on the market, especially anything with a synthetic scent. Some just make me sneeze when I’m around them, others can have me a wreck for days if I breathe them in. One of the things I like to produce in my garden is some herbs and plants to make my own cleaners. I can use many of the organic cleaners out there, but it’s still cheaper to put together my own ingredients in many cases.
Some of the best plants you can plant for a cleaning garden include:
- Lavender has anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties, and I love the fragrance.
- Rosemary also has anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties, and is great for cutting grease.
- Sage is anti-fungal
- Lemon Verbena has a clean citrus scent (which is great for us Northerners that can’t grow the real thing), it also has mildly anti-bacterial properties.
- Sweet Woodruff has a clean smell, so it’s great to add to your herbal cleaning mixtures.
There are several others, but those are my favorites. If I lived in the southern growing zones I’d plant some lemon trees, but since I don’t I buy my lemons at the grocery store.
Image: istockphoto.com
A cleaning garden is a great idea. Not all of those plants are easy to grow in great quantity here. My sister in law in Virginia has Rosemary the size of medium shrubs, I’m so jealous.
Diana~ Same here, I love Rosemary, but I have to buy new plants every year. I’ve had limited success with overwintering it in my laundry room. Sometimes the plants make it, sometimes they don’t. I would love to have fresh Rosemary all year round.