I want to grow more and more of my own medicinal and culinary herbs but I don’t have a green thumb. I have found these 7 easy to grow perennial herbs that live despite poor soil and lack of care.
Why Grow Easy To Grow Perennial Herbs?
Herbs are a great way to improve your nutrition and take baby steps into the natural health space. Having a small (or large) herb garden near you house is a great way to start incorporate them into your daily life.
Peppermint
This classic medicinal and culinary herb likes to take over so be aware! The members of the mint family are prefect for a container garden or a small bed that you don’t mind getting taken over. I have regular mint that grows in our orchard and it smells heavenly when we mow the orchard.
I was recently give a orange mint plant by our neighbor and I planted it in one of our small raised beds in the beginnings of our cottage garden. Peppermint is great fresh as a garnish or in various dishes. It is also great dried to use for a wonderful tea.
Chives
Chives are a delicious culinary herb. The perfect addition to soups, ranch, potato dishes and as a garnish. I split them apart every few years as they grow.
Sage
The first year I planted it, it was a tiny two leaf plant that I didn’t think would survive the winter. Now 3 years later it is sage bush. Over two feet tall and just as wide. This year I am going to actually dehydrate some and put it up to use this winter. Fresh sage on fresh pork is one of the best flavor combinations ever!
Red Raspberry Leaves
Raspberry bushes can give you a two for one. Use the leaves in the spring for tea and pick the berries throughout summer. Red raspberry tea is the best for digestive issues and the female system. I use them in my pregnancy tea.
Pick the leaves before the raspberries start blooming to get the highest medicinal value.
Comfrey
One of my cottage garden project for this year is to plant comfrey. My wonderful mother-in-law has some at her house, I just need to come and dig it up and transplant it. A beautiful plant when it blooms, it has many uses. It can be used to make a fertilizer tea for your other plants. The most common use for it though is to use it in salves to for healing wounds.
Parsley
My parsley plant is still on the small side but not dead which is impressive. My raised bed that has my herb garden has such poor soil that even radishes don’t grow in it. My parsley is still hanging in there and getting bigger each year. I am actually going to harvest some this year.
Rosehips
A beautiful addition to any garden especially a cottage garden. The most common type of rose grown for rosehips is the Rosa Rugosa. I have one of those that is on its second year and has not bloomed yet. However I have a different type of rose (I am not sure what variety it was here when we bought the farm) that does produce rosehips. Many different types of roses produce rosehips.
Rosehips are full of bio-available vitamin C. They make a lovely tea and are particularly great for in the winter to keep your immune system going strong. You collect them in the late fall after they have had a chance to dry out.
Hello Katelyn! One of my favorite herbs that simply won’t be killed by my blunderings is borage. It isn’t a perennial, but it has readily self seeded in my garden and has come up in lots of unexpected spots, including my yard! I like to pluck the flowers each morning and dry them to save for tea.
Hi Maddie, I haven’t tried borage yet but it sounds like my type of plant! I love anything that can handle lots of neglect. Elderberry bushes are also good for that.