Herbal Garden Ideas for Medicinal Plants

Discover the many herbal garden ideas for medicinal plants. Growing your own herbal medicine has so many benefits. You will have quick and easy access to medicinal plants when you need them.

An herbal garden deepens the connection to your own health as well as to the healing plants. It allows you to truly get to know the plants. It also gives you the finest quality herbs. Whether using fresh or making your very own herbal medicine preparations, you will never find better.

Medicinal herbs are quite easy to grow, so no worries if this is your first try at growing plants. Your garden can be as large or small as you like. Let’s look at each of the herbal garden ideas for medicinal plants so you can choose which is right for you.   

Container Gardening

Container gardening is the most convenient way to grow medicinal plants. It’s perfect fit for gardening on the deck or patio. This also allows for gardens to be grown in apartments or anywhere space is restricted. Container gardens can be grown in a windowsill. Be sure to select south or west facing windows for the optimal growing conditions. Container gardens can also be put into window boxes or hanging baskets.

An advantage of container gardening is that the pots can be moved around as the season progresses and moved indoors at the end of the season. Select pots in all types of shapes, colors and sizes. It’s fun to mix them up. You can put them on stands, crates and shelves at different heights to add interest.

Finally, container gardening might be the best choice when growing aggressive plants such as mints. This helps to keep those aggressive plants contained, preventing them from taking over the entire garden.

Planting a Yard Garden

For a more permanent herbal garden, planting in the yard can be extremely rewarding. Either a new medicinal garden can be created from scratch, or herbs can be introduced into an existing garden plot. Medicinal herbs grow nicely next to culinary herbs, vegetables and fruits. Feel free to intermingle based on the best growing conditions for each plant.

When growing any kind of yard garden, it’s always best to start small and add to it later. Be sure not to get overwhelmed with too much time and money required at the very start.

It’s also important to keep annuals and perennial plants separate from each other. This helps to best maintain different parts of the garden.

Raised Garden Beds

Raised bed gardens have a number of advantages. First of all they are good where soil may have seen years of chemicals use. They are also helpful where the soil is very wet and heavy.

One of the best advantages to raised garden beds is to prevent aggressive weeds from creeping into the garden. Likewise, it helps to prevent aggressive medicinal plant such as mint from creeping out of the garden.

The materials for raised bed gardens can be purchased from nurseries or home garden centers that are already made with simple assembly. If you prefer, there are many creative ways to make a raised bed garden from stone or other natural materials.

Raised beds can also be designed to be waist high for those that have a hard time bending or other physical impairment. This is a wonderful option for seniors to be able to participate in growing plants.

Theme gardens

There are many reasons to create a medicinal garden. These gardens can be designed and organized based on theme. For example it could be a rain garden or a shade garden if that is what’s best for your landscape.

What ever you choose, your garden should reflect your personality. Do you prefer a more casual, natural and free flowing garden. These are often more meadowlike or similar to the old cottage gardens. They are also less work. Some people prefer a more formal, symmetrical garden with straight lines and geometry. The old knot gardens from the Middle Ages would be just one example.

I have seen the most beautiful herbal garden ideas for medicinal plants designed around each herbs primary medicinal use. For example, a circular garden can be divided up into 8 pie pieces. One slice can contain herbs for the respiratory system, one for the digestive system, one for the nervous system and so on. This is a great way to get to know the plants and their uses. It’s a great way to teach others as well.

Other garden theme ideas would be planting medicinal plants that also attract butterflies and beneficial pollinators. This is a way to give back and help support the surrounding ecosystem. There are several medicinal plants that benefit wildlife as well. Many medicinal plants are simply beautiful to look at, so perhaps your herbal garden is also a floral cutting garden.

Feel free to leave any comments or questions below. If you would like to learn more about herbal medicine, check out the Home Herb School at www.homeherbschool.com