Well-drained, ideally neutral to alkaline soil in full sun with shelter in cold areas as it rarely survives prolonged freezing Melissa: So, today I am excited because you have questions about one of my favorite topics, which I probably say about every homestead topic because in the moment I'm completely excited about each one of them, but that is growing a cottage medicinal herb garden. So, what do you have, if anything right now? Do you have any type of cottage garden or herbs already in the yard or are we starting totally from scratch?

Traditionally, lemon balm has been used to reduce fevers and treat colds by inducing sweating; calm the digestive tract; relieve spasms related to cramps and headaches; and overcome insomnia. Recent research has confirmed lemon balm’s ability to calm anxiety, relieve spasms, and inhibit the growth of fungi and bacteria. The German government allows preparations of lemon balm to be labeled as treatments for insomnia related to nervous conditions and gastrointestinal spasms. So, if you're worried about what maybe at not growing or not just producing or whatnot, he really favored the Echinacea purpurea because he said he really didn't notice any difference as far as treating patients and using it in effectiveness. But he did notice a big in the yield and the growth habits. He found the Echinacea purpurea to just be a lot easier and just a lot hardier. So, you could maybe even try one of each and just kind of see. I just put in, I had a harder time finding Echinacea augustifolia. I think where I actually did finally find it was from Strictly Medicinal Seeds, because locally at our nurseries, whenever I would go and look for Echinacea, I could only find the purpurea. And so, that's what I had put in. Once you’ve chosen your herbs and prepared your land, it is time to introduce the plants. Essentially, you have three main options; you can start by sowing seed, you can take cuttings from existing plants, or you can buy new plants (either potted of bareroot). Echinacea– I love growing echinacea for both the beautiful and colorful blooms, but also to make my homemade echinacea tincture for immune boosting and anti-viral properties. You use the root of the echinacea flower, so your plants need to be established for about two to three years before harvesting. Borage– Borage will grow very large and produce beautiful little purple/blue flowers. Use the leaves to treat coughs and digestive issues (indigestion, IBS). It’s great for cold and flu season because it helps with nasal congestion by acting as an expectorant. ( Source)

Give the plant plenty of water. I also find that it helps to label my plants with a simple stake label. Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between young plants, so a tag makes all the difference. Maddie: Yeah, no, yeah. My husband's first experience with tinctures, I warned him, but it was a funny time. It was very comical because we have very different modes of taking it. My husband's like, "I'm just going to get it over with. I don't want to prolong it." And so, he just takes the dropper full and just drops it on in his mouth and goes. I'm like, I cannot. I have got to dilute it in water, even if I can still taste it. I still taste it a little bit. But I'm like, "I don't know how you straight shot it like that." Oh yeah, no, that that's what he did. And he regretted it immediately and I felt so bad, but that's how it goes. Yeah, it's all this style, right.

Having co-founded Pukka Herbs in 2001 I have become experienced in organic herb growing, practitioner grade quality and sustainable value chains. I am a Trustee of the FairWild Foundation, a Director of The Betonica School of Herbal Medicine and an Advisor to The American Herbal Pharmacopoeia and The Sustainable Herbs Project. Fluent in Hindi, a qualified Yoga therapist and passionate about projects with a higher purpose, I am on a mission to bring the incredible power of plants into people’s life. And that is why I started Herbal Reality and what it is all about. I live in a forest garden farm in Somerset growing over 100 species of medicinal plants and trees. And a lot of weeds! Maddie: So, it's all over the board, which is part of why it made it harder for me to decide where to start because my husband has chronic allergies that he has since he was an infant and asthma that's brought on by the allergies. So, there's that condition. And then with me, I'm still nursing our little ones, so there's a lot of herbs that I just can't take being a nursing mom. And then, we're wanting to have more kids, so I'm sure there will be other times when I'm expecting. So, it's kind of like, "Well, anything I can give him, I have to really be careful with me because I can't take a lot of things." But mullein could be really good for, again, the really the upper respiratory issues. Mullein is really well known for that. So that might be one that would grow well too in the not as ideal soil parts and when to consider. Yeah. And then, this one is going to sound funny as far as actually cultivating because for folks who are listening and it just grows everywhere, you're like, "Oh my gosh, why would someone plant that?" But if you don't have access to it actually has a ton of wonderful properties to it, both medicinally. I’m sharing my favorite 20 best herbs you shLeaves are cut in spring and summer for using fresh or dried; seeds harvested in summer for use dried, all widely used in cooking, especially Scandinavian cookery Divide hardy herbs such as sweet marjoram, oregano, mint and thyme in spring or after flowering in late summer. So, Echinacea does have those antiviral properties and if you take it at the beginning when you first are beginning to feel symptoms, which is usually before the cell has fully entered into, especially if you can drink it as a tea or a tincture where you've got the virus in the throat and in that area and it can code it, then it works really, really well. If you have full-blown cold symptoms or full-blown flu symptoms, it can help with the immune system response, but it doesn't actually have then the antiviral properties that it does taken at the onset. So, I found that very helpful because I did not know that. When I learned that, I'm like, "Oh, I find that fascinating."