Tips for Preparing Your Tea Garden

Herb gardens are tea gardens here in the United States, where the tea plant is not native and doesn't like most of our climate and soil conditions.
So in preparing your garden, you need to look at soil, sun and water access. As a successful gardener keeps all of these elements in mind, we are limited by the land that is available to us. So start by thinking about what you would like to brew as a tisane or herbal tea, or add to tea you currently have. Do their growing conditions match where you have available to plant them? If not, can they be grown in pots or inside?
Check your soil content before planting to see if you need to amend the soil with compost. The local extension service has information on the general soil conditions for the area. This is an easy place to start without the complexity of trying to test your soil.
Here are 3 tips on how to make this the best tea experience possible.
Pesticides/Fertilizers - Be careful with how you fertilize and protect your herbs. Even if you don’t use a liquid fertilizer or pesticide in your herb garden, if they are used in your yard, transfer can happen with the wind, animals or you. Obviously, rinse your herbs before drying or consuming. Nobody wants fertilizer or pesticide in their cup of tea.
Dry vs. Fresh - The herbs can be added both ways. You should blend by the cup, meaning pick and add when you are ready to consume. This is because you need to be super careful with storage. Fresh herbs should generally not be stored with your dry tea. The moisture will be quickly absorbed into the tea. Mold can easily grow if it occurs in your dark, airtight container (which is how you should be storing your tea). If you are drying your herbs, you can mix a batch with your tea and store it for later consumption. Just be absolutely certain they have been thoroughly dried. Any moisture in those herbs will find its way to the tea and may cause mold in your mix.
You can have too much of a good thing - Herbs have beautiful smell and flavor and can quickly overpower your tea. So think of a flavor profile for your tea before you mix. You should also realize it won’t take much herbs to flavor your favorite tea. If you are wondering the ratio to use, with a few exceptions, anything over 10% will over power your tea and generally 5% does the trick.
So have fun playing with your home grown herbs. You will be amazed at which ones compliment tea well.
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