Growing a Cup of Tea

Forget coffee shops; drinking tea is all the rage. So why not try your hand at mixing your own herbal tea blends? The ingredients could be as close as your garden, and growing them is (almost) as easy as digging a hole and plopping in a plant.

"Planting a tea garden is a quick and interesting way to begin using herbs," says herbal tea expert Isabel Walters, an Herb Society of America member. Walters' own herb garden in Brookside, N.J., is a colorful place where rugosa roses form a year-round backdrop to a rectangular bed of parsley, fennel, English thyme, and dwarf basil. A pot of mint stands sentry at each corner.

Walters starts nearly all of her plants from seed. "They do better if they're directly sown," she says. Her time-tested technique: "Stake out your row and put a line, and leave the line there so you know exactly where you planted them, and then cover them over with seed-starting soil instead of regular garden soil, until they germinate."

Once your plants grow, you'll have a steady supply of leaves you can harvest and either brew fresh or dry for later. Place your herbs in an infuser, if you prefer not to have them loose in your teacup. Add about a teaspoon of dried herbs or a tablespoon of fresh herbs per cup of boiling water, and steep until the tea is as strong as you prefer. (For more details on drying and making tea, see the link in the box at right.)

To get started on your own tea garden, look through our sampler of favorite herbs.

Tea herb sampler
German chamomile:Matricaria recutita is an annual, and you most likely have to replant it every year to have a consistent supply as the plants aren't known for self-sowing. But chamomile, with its 3/4-inch, daisy like flowers and almost-apple flavor, is such a staple in herbal teas, you'd be remiss in leaving it out. Since it's rare to find chamomile plants at the nursery, plan on starting yours from seed 6 to 8 weeks before the last expected frost. Plants bloom in early spring. Walters suggests making successive plantings of annuals like chamomile to extend their season and to get a larger crop.

Lemon balm:Melissa officinalis is a short, clumping herb whose bright green, arrowhead-shaped leaves have a strong, zippy-clean lemon scent. You can harvest the leaves by shearing the plant back severely two to three times a year; it'll grow right back. Start seeds inside over the winter; they are very small and likely to wash away if planted directly in the garden. Otherwise, start new plants from stem cuttings or root divisions.

Mint: You have to wonder if so many foods contain mint simply because the plant itself is so prolific: Plant mint and you can expect it to take over the entire garden. To curb its wandering underground stems, gardeners often plant mint in large containers. Start with plants, since seeds usually don't grow into clones of their parents. Depending on your tastes, choose spearmint (Mentha spicata); peppermint (M. piperata); lemon; pineapple; orange; or even chocolate mint, which tastes like peppermint patties. Harvest branches frequently to keep the plants from getting gangly.

Monarda: Of the several commonly available monardas, the perennial M. didyama is the one grown most often for tea. This is also the plant known as bergamot (for its orange-scented foliage), Oswego tea and bee balm. Like its mint relatives, bee balm spreads with creeping roots, although it's less of a thug than the true mints. Its showy blooms, in shades of lilac-purple, red, white or pink, make it a popular ornamental plant, too. Seeds are easy to grow, but start with plants if you want a specific variety.

Rose hips: The tangy-sweet red "hip" is actually the seeded and dried fruit of the rose bush. For the biggest, fleshiest hips try Rosa rugosa. This category of heirloom rosebush has its own fan club for another reason, too: In areas where more modern roses struggle with black spot and powdery mildew, rugosas stand up just fine. Keep in mind that if you're growing roses for their hips, you deplete your fruit harvest when you cut the flowers. And lest you be tempted to use a systemic pesticide on these plants, keep in mind that your ultimate plan is to consume them. Plan your maintenance accordingly.