I love tea and it’s time to start planning my garden. I am looking forward to making my own tea blends at harvest time.
Do you want to add herbs to your garden this year but want to add ones that are more useful than just adding flavor to your food? Growing your own teas and medicinal herbs is a great way to get more value for your garden space. Many great tea herbs like mint can be used to help repel unwanted insects from your garden while providing you with a great beverage you can dry and save for use all year long.
Growing your own tea is a great way to save money and get the best quality product for your family. If you like to garden it is well worth the time and effort.
Grow teas you already know you love
When you decide to start your tea garden you need to decide on what you'll grow. The best way to do this is to take the time to take a look at the teas your family already loves. Take a look at your tea cabinet and find out which of those herbs can easily grow where you live to help figure out what you should grow in your garden to get the most from it.
Stick with organic gardening techniques
Because of how you intend to ingest your tea from your herb garden you need to consider the safest growing processes. Teas are a form of herbal medicine and just like when you chose to grow a medicinal herb garden you should practice organic gardening. This means you want to start with a base of organic soil and avoid using any non-organic pest or weed control and use organic fertilizers like fresh compost from your own bin or rabbit waste.
Do not over-fertilize your tea herbs
For the best flavorful teas, you want to avoid over-fertilizing your herb plant. If you over-fertilize you will end up with larger plants that have a more watered-down flavor that will not taste as great leaving you disappointed. Instead, stick to mild fertilizers like adding fresh compost when you plant your garden and then let it be. If you choose to fertilize, stop within 6 weeks of harvesting to allow for the plant's growth to slow down and the flavor to deepen.
When you overwater your herb plants you leave a theme with less flavor than is ideal. Instead, take the time to reduce your watering by using the deep watering method and then tapering off the watering of your tea garden within the last few weeks of growth before you harvest.
Harvest most herbs before the bloom
Unless you are growing a herb for the flower to use in your homegrown teas take the time to harvest your herbs before they flower or bolt because this can leave an unpleasant and even bitter flavor to your teas. If you are growing the herb for the flower you want to allow the flower to grow and mature but not to go to seed before harvesting.
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