As I’ve often been asked what herbs would be good and easy to grow for a medicine garden I thought I’d do a little on that question today.  Here are some of my favorite herbs to grow.  Many of them are multitaskers, which is great if you don’t have much gardening space.  All of them are easy to grow and require little care once they’re established.  Be forewarned, however.  Once you start mucking about in the garden you may find it hard to leave there.  Medicine plants have such a wonderful energy and they’re so willing to help us.  They’re a pleasure to be around.

Here’s my short list of herbs and a little bit about each.  All are perennials and so don’t require re-sowing or replanting every year.  All are hardy and tough plants requiring little care.  In fact, if you give them too much compost or fertilizer, they won’t be as medicinally active.

• Lemon Balm (Melissa officinialis):  Aside from lemon balm’s nervine properties dicusse in an earlier article, it also a potent anti-viral (a specific against the herpes virus) and is a good febrifuge (fever-reducing herb).  Its gentleness and pleasant taste make it a good choice for children.  As stated earlier, it makes a great herbal honey (= instant tea) and herbal vinegar.  For fever reduction it’s best taken as a tea.  I dry it or preserve it in honey or vinegar.  You can grow it from seed or buy the plants.  Harvest it during flowering.  It does self-sow, so you will have new plants the next spring.
• Peppermint (Mentha x piperita):  Peppermint is cooling like lemon balm but it is also energizing.  It’s great iced on a hot summer afternoon.  Because it’s cooling, it does make a good febrifuge; one that’s especially good for “hot” fevers (the kind that makes you kick off the covers).  Peppermint is also carminative (good for the digestion), making it an excellent choice for upset tummies and nausea.  Served hot, it helps decongest a stuffy head (the menthol in the peppermint does it).  I preserve this in honey and dry it for teas.  Buy a plant; do not grow peppermint from seed.  Plants made from cuttings especially are more medicinally active.
• Sage (Salvia officinialis):  Yes, regular garden sage.  Sage is the primo sore throat herb.  I like it preserved in honey for sore throat.  I take it and give it to my kids by the spoonful for sore throat.  Sage also dries up bodily secretions (think mucus, perspiration).  Sage tea is the traditional remedy to dry up breast milk and shut down lactation so keep that in mind if you’re nursing and don’t drink it.  I’ve found a tablespoon of sage honey to be okay.   I dry some and preserve a lot in honey.  It grows well from seed.  Becasue it’s a culinary herb it’s easy to find as a potted plant.
• Catnip or catmint (Nepeta cataria): Catmint is a good herb for cooling fever and promoting sleep.  I find it works especially well if you’re the kind of person who can’t sleep well with a fever.  Catnip really helps here.  It’s a great herb to calm down overtired kids.  It also makes a really good pesto.  Simply substitute it for basil in your pesto recipe.  Catmint is a little bitter as a tea, so for the kids I give them plenty of honey with it or make a glycerite with it.  I’ve raised enough this year to make catmint honey with it.  Dry it, make a glycerite with it or preserve it in honey.  You can make an insect repellent of a tincture of catmint with 100 proof vodka.It grows well from seed or you can get a potted plant.  Kitties do love it, though!
• Hyssop (Hyssopus officinialis):  Hyssop is another great anti-viral.  It works by blocking the replication of the virus and bolsters the immune system.  Traditionally hyssop was used for colds and coughs.  It does make a good cough syrup.  Hyssop is a lovely plant to grow.  It’s bushy and may have either pink, white or purple flowers. I especially like preserving this in honey.  It’s great to give out by the spoonful.  I also dry it for tea.   I recommend buying a plant.  Hyssop’s a little hard to start from seed.
• Comfrey (Symphytum officinalis x Uplandica):  Often known as Russian Comfrey.  Comfrey is an excellent vulnerary herb, meaning that it’s great for bruises, burns, cuts, wounds, sprains, strains - even broken bones.  Now, it won’t set your broken bone, definitely have a doctor do that!  However, once your bone is set comfrey will help the fracture heal up quickly and strongly.  Comfrey heals burns and wouns without scarring.  Make sure the wound is very clean, though, or the comfrey may cause the skin to heal up over any infection in the wound.  Comfrey leaves  are also edible and make a super mineral rich vinegar.  Comfrey’s huge roots go deep into the subsoil to bring up minerals.  It’s leaves can even be used as a mineral-rich mulch in the veg garden or added to the compost pile.  I dry comfrey leaves but mainly infuse the leaves and the root in olive oil for salves.  The x Uplandica variety is not fertile and does not produce seeds and so, does not spread unless you dig it up.  If you do dig it up, a new comfrey plant will spring up from each little piece of root left in the dirt.  Because the comfrey is sterile you must purchase a plant.  The plants are lovely and dark green with bell-like multi-colored flowers. Pretty.
• White Yarrow (Achillea millefolium):  Yarrow used to be called “soldier’s wound wort”.  Yarrow has antimicrobial, anesthetic and styptic properties (it stops bleeding).  It’s great for skinned knees or kitchen knife slips.  Use the leaves fresh - macerate them either in your mouth or with a mortar and pestle - and apply to the wound.  The dried herb works well, too.  Simply sprinkle powdered dry herb on the wound.  I quickly stopped the bleeding from a bad slip of the kitchen knife this past winter.  Check out herbalist Matthew Wood’s The Book of Herbal Wisdomfor a great story about yarrow and a very bad chainsaw wound.  Yarrow is also a febrifuge that is especially good for “cold” fevers - the kind where you’re chilling and can’t get warm.  It is very bitter but does make a pretty good herbal honey.  I’ve read that it’s also good for regulating women’s menstrual cycles.   I dry yarrow, make herbal honey with it and tincture it in 100-proof vodka.  The tincture makes a fairly good insect repellent.  Yarrow can be grown from seed or purchased as a potted plant.  Make sure to get the white yarrow.  The ornamental colored yarrows do not make good medicine.  I have heard and read that they are either ineffective or poisonous. 

There, a short list of easily grown garden herbs that can serve you well.  If planted in the spring you could grow enough to harvest some of each of them by fall.   Next time I’ll talk about some herbs that require a little more skill or time to grow and process.

Stressed out?  Unable to sleep?  Let Lemon Balm Help You.

I’ve seen in print and heard from other people that St. John’s Wort has been recommended to them for sleeplessness.  I thought this was really whacky, as I know St. John’s Wort, Hypericum perforatum, and the one thing it’s not going to do is help you sleep!  Give you a good kick in the pants, maybe, or help you fight a nasty viral infection, certainly soothe your burns and cuts -  but lull you to sleep?  Ha!

For sleeplessness and to ease general stress, I recommend lemon balm or, as it was known in earlier times, simply balm.  In fact, “balm” is what it is listed under even in Maude Grieves’  A Modern Herbal, which was first published in 1931.  Lemon balm’s taxonomic name is Melissa officinalis.  “Melissa” relates to the Greek word for bee because bees love the balm.  The ”officinialis” part relates to the fact that lemon balm was an official medicine during medieval times ( the officinalis realtes to the “office” where they kept the medicine in monasteries).  Balm has been used for many ailments over time.  In fact, Paracelcus said that it was the only herb one would ever need. 

One thing lemon balm is good at it relaxing a person and in modern times lemon balm has won acclaim primarily as a nervine.  A nervine is a substance, in this case an herb, that calms and soothes the nervous system, making the person relax.  Nervines often help you sleep, too, due to that relaxing action.   In 1990 the German Commission E approved lemon balm for sleeplessness due to nervous tension.  It’s gentle enough for children as well.  The nervine action of lemon balm also helps in cases of depression, especially depression due to stress.  Here’s a quote from the 16th century herbalist Gerard regarding lemon balm: “Bawme makes the heart merry and joyfull, and strengthens the vitall spirits.”   Sounds pretty good - and tastes good, too!

A secondary action of lemon balm is its carminative and antispasmodic action.  Antispasmodic means it helps in cases of spasming muscles and carminative concerns the digestive tract.  Think stomach cramps (your stomach is a muscle) and you can see where lemon balm would help.  I’ve found it helpful in cases of skeletal muscles spasms due to tension and anxiety, and here, it’s clear to see lemon balm would help in that kind of situation.  It eases the tension in the nervous system, allowing the body to relax and relax the muscles as well.  And, I’m going to say it again, it tastes so yummy!

Lemon balm has cooling actions as well, just like other members of the mint family.  This makes it a good choice for low fevers due to viral infections (it has antiviral properties, too) or as an iced tea to cool you down on a hot summer day.

So, here we have a wonderful herb that tastes good and does many things for you easily.  I think lemon balm is overlooked because it’s common and easy to get; not at all fashionable, trendy or exotic.  It’s extremely easy to grow and looks and smells lovely in the garden.  Lemon balm likes full sun, like most mints and herbs.  It will spread via seeds.  That’s no problem, though, because then you’ll have more to plant somewhere else or share with your friends.  And, of course, it attracts bees, our great pollinating friends. 

So, the next time you can’t sleep or are stressed out, sit down with a nice cup of lemon balm tea.  Enjoy its lemony flavor and aroma, sweeten it with some local honey and relax.

Here are more ways to enjoy lemon balm:

Lemon Balm Honey or Lemon Balm Vinegar(see below for instructions).  Both are really tasty.  Lemon balm honey is an “instant” tea - pour boiling water over a spoonful of honey and herb and drink.  No steeping time.  I use the lemon balm honey to sweeten my lemon balm tea and get a double dose of lemon balm.  Lemon balm vinegar is great in a vinegarette.

Lemon Balm Cordial - from Adele Dawson’s Herbs, Partners in Life:  “A fine home-made liqueur can be made by taking two handfuls of crushed Melissa leaves, putting them in a glass jar or crock, pouring over them a fifth of vodka, three-quarters of a cup of honey, and a grated lemon peel.  Shake well and let stand for a week.  Strain, bottle, and test your character by waiting three weeks before using.” p. 153.  Using this basic recipe you can use just about any herb to make a cordial or aperitif.  Dandelion flowers even.  See Susun Weed’s Wise Woman Herbal Healing Wise for that recipe.  Cordials are excellent served with sparkling mineral water or plain seltzer and ice. 

Lemon Balm Ale.  Check out Stephen Harrod Buhner’s Sacred and Healing Beers for more on making this and other pleasant herbal beers.  It’s only recently that hops became the only herb used in beers and ales.  I’ve made it and it’s absolutely delicious, and, of course, very relaxing!

Lemon Balm Foot Bath.  Make a standard infusion (1 ounce of herb by weight to 4 cups of boiling water; let steep at least 4 hours; strain).  Warm up and pour into a suitable foot bath container.  I use a $2 plastic dishpan from Walmart.  Add enough warm/hot water to cover your feet nicely.  Sea salt/mineral salts/epsom salts are optional.  Immerse feet, sit back  and relax.  Nice.

Lemon Balm Syrup.  Make a standard infusion (see above or the posting on infusions).  Strain and put into a pot on the stove.  Reduce volume slowly by half.  No boiling or simmering here, just let it steam and evaporate.  You’ll have between 2 and 1 1/2 cups of liquid left.  Add between 3/4 and 1 cup of honey to hot infusion.  Stir well and put into a glass jar or bottle.  Keep this in the fridge.  It’ll last about 3 months, if it’s not all used up first!  This syrup is great to take as is by the spoonful for stress or use in tea  to sweeten (especially nice in black tea or added to a glass of oatstraw infusion) or to add to mineral or seltzer water.

Lemon Balm Jelly.  Seriously.  I made a batch of this last year.  It was great on scones.  The basic recipe is lots of fresh lemon balm (I mean lots of it, about 4 - 6 ounces).  Put it all in a pot with 4 cups of water to make a strong infusion.  Then follow the recipe on Pomona’s Pectin for jelly (not jam).  Sweeten as you wish.  Last year I used sucanat.  This year I’ll probably use organic sugar so the lemon balm flavor is stronger.  Sucanat has a rather strong flavor.