Herbs are used in many ways. Medicinal herbs are plants that can help support your overall health. Scientific testing is showing positive results that support the ageless wisdom of our ancestors. Herbs can easily be made into teas, topical creams, and tinctures.

Sometimes the line is blurry between a medicinal herb and a culinary herb. Take mint for instance. It has wide use in flavoring salads, summer drinks and even chewing gum. Mint is also well known as a remedy for indigestion and tummy aches. Read my article on growing mint.

This is a gardening article, not medical recommendations. I have linked to studies where available. You need to do your own research and consult with your physician to decide what’s best for your body.

Herbs in the Garden

Herbs are often the easiest plants to grow. They do well in most soil types and adapt easily. Medicinal herbs appreciate a garden bed enriched with aged compost. If your soil is heavy clay, like mine, dig in a little bit of sand to help with drainage. Most herbs do not like wet feet.

Herbs may have a dedicated place in the garden. I have different locations for perennial and annual herbs, culinary herbs, many of which are annuals, and medicinal herbs.

Putting herbs in a flower garden also makes a good atheistic sense. Many such as echinacea are a beautiful flower and are beneficial to pollinating insects.

For the sake of simplicity, I am going to help you plan a dedicated medicinal herb bed that focuses on some of the most common and easy to grow medicinal herbs. The plants I recommend look beautiful, will attract pollinators, and will provide you with many ingredients for natural remedies. They are also easy to grow.

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Raised Beds

I find that raised beds work well for herb gardens. This allows for good drainage and lets them develop strong root systems.

You can divide that raised bed space into one-foot spaces such as we would in a square foot gardening design. Each square will hold one herb.

Purchasing Seeds or Plants

The more common medicinal herbs can often be found at your local nursery. This is convenient. However, make sure what you are getting is labeled with the species and variety names so you know it is true to type.

Order seeds from a reputable company such as Johnnys Seeds. You can watch my video and learn about my favorite seed catalogs.

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Starting Herbs From Seed

Most herbs are easy to start from seed. A few such as tarragon ( a culinary herb) need to be started from cuttings.

Plant herb seeds directly in the garden after your first frost. You can also get a head start on the growing season by planting them inside. Herbs may take up to three weeks to germinate so be patient.

Plant seeds in light potting soil. Plant your seeds about 1/8 of an inch deep in moist soil. Set them under grow lights in a warm room. Once seedlings emerge to keep the lights about four inches from the plants and turned on for about twelve hours per day.

Perennial herbs can be started outside in the fall. They will grow and develop a good root system before cold weather sets in. Don’t harvest them that first year but let them establish themselves.

4 Medicinal Herbs To Start With

The following herbs are easy to grow from seeds or plants. They have medicinal qualities and are not considered culinary. The herbs that I have suggested grow well in my planting zone 6b. You can read more about what I plant when on my organic gardening blog.

Calendula

Calendula is a beautiful plant and often used as a cut flower. You may also hear it referred to as Pot Marigold.

An annual that is easy to grow from seed and it will readily reseed in the fall. Just allow some of the flower heads to go to seed.

Calendula does best when directly sown into the garden after your last frost date. It matures quickly in just 55 - 60 days. Plant two seeds per square. A good variety is Alpha.

Different varieties are based more on the flower color than the medicinal properties. When choosing a variety look for the resin properties of the flowers. The resin is what gives you the best medicinal quality.

Calendula’s good for antiseptic tinctures and healing skin ointments that are good for healing wounds, acne, and diaper rash. Research has shown that calendula is good for healing skin wounds and one study was done using it combined with aloe on women after childbirth.

Echinacea

Echinacea or Coneflower is native to the United States and traditionally used among Native Americans. A hardy perennial, it gets quite tall, up to four feet so plant it along a back border.

The beautiful blooms double as a cut flower and pollinator attractor. They want to be in full sun with well-draining soil. Perfect for a raised bed. Echinacea purpurea is a great variety to grow. Plant one per square.

The roots and flowers are used in teas and tinctures. The flowers are ready to use every year. The roots need three or four years to develop before harvesting. Echinacea has lots of good medicinal effects including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antiviral properties.

One caution: Echinacea can cause an allergic reaction in those that are allergic to ragweed.

Feverfew

Feverfew is an easy to grow herb that thrives in everyday soil. In fact, it grows wild in yards and along roadsides. The short leafy plant produces tiny daisy-like summer blooms.

It likes full sun but will tolerate afternoon shade with a pH of around 6.5. This plant does well on the front edges of gardens as t typically grows between eight and twelve inches tall.

Feverfew grows easily from seed and can be planted in the spring or fall. Johnnys Select Seeds carries several varieties. I grow the Magic variety.

One planting caution: This plant readily reseeds and does not need pollinators. Which is good because your local bees may be repelled by its smell. So don’t plant with aromatic pollinating flowers.

Feverfew has been used traditionally to treat fevers, migraines, rheumatoid arthritis, and toothaches. It’s an anti-inflammatory and has been widely studied in the medical literature.

Yarrow

Yarrow is a common field “weed” that grows all over the USA. There are several cultivators and you can grow it easily from seed. The plants reseed itself so that you only have to plant it once. It can become invasive (like mint) so you may choose to plant it in a sunken tub or the back of the garden.

Yarrow likes full sun in soil rich in compost. Direct seed after the last frost since it does not like to be transplanted. Plants grow to one to two feet tall so space them about one foot apart.

White and yellow are the most common colors but they also come in shades of red. Two popular cultivars are Coronation Gold and Cerise Queen.

Yarrow is also a fabulous pollinator and provides food to many moth and butterfly species. It attracts beneficial insects such as parasitoid wasps and ladybugs.
Yarrow has many health benefits. It has been used traditionally to stop bleeding on scratches and wounds. In fact, one of the nicknames for yarrow is Nosebleed Plant.

In addition, it has been tested and can help lessen anxiety and reduce tremors.

Author, Ame Vanorio, is the director of Fox Run Environmental Education Center. Ame has been living off-grid and gardening organically for over 25 years. She is a licensed wildlife rehabilitator and teaches classes both online and onsite.