Latest / The Beanstalk : A Podcast for Gardeners / Episode 55 – Tea Gardens – Calm, Useful, and Underrated

Transcript

Episode 55 – Tea Gardens – Calm, Useful, and Underrated · The Beanstalk : A Podcast for Gardeners

• 0:28
  Welcome back to the Beanstalk, fellow Beans.
• 0:32
  My name is John, your neighborhood garden buddy, and
• 0:38
  today we're slowing things down a little bit.
• 0:42
  After talking about giant sprawling pumpkins last time, I
• 0:46
  figured it might be nice to shift gears and talk about
• 0:50
  something smaller, quieter, and honestly, kind of underrated tea
• 0:57
  gardens. This is one of those garden
• 1:01
  subjects that doesn't always get the spotlight because it's not
• 1:04
  flashy and it's not necessarily about giant harvests.
• 1:10
  But the more I've gotten into gardening, the more I've
• 1:12
  realized there's something really satisfying about growing
• 1:16
  things that are specifically meant to slow you down a little.
• 1:22
  A tea garden doesn't have to be fancy.
• 1:25
  You don't need some elaborate English countryside setup with
• 1:30
  gravel paths and expensive raised beds.
• 1:34
  Honestly, a tea garden can be a couple containers on a porch if
• 1:38
  that's what you've got room for. The important part is the
• 1:43
  intention. You're growing plants
• 1:45
  specifically for comfort, flavor, routine, and usefulness
• 1:51
  in everyday life. And once you start doing that,
• 1:55
  you realize tea herbs are kind of amazing because most of them
• 1:59
  are productive, fragrant, pollinator friendly, and easy to
• 2:05
  preserve all at the same time. Why grow a tea garden?
• 2:13
  Because it connects the garden to daily life in a completely
• 2:18
  different way. A lot of crops are about meals
• 2:22
  or food storage or productivity. Tea herbs feel more personal.
• 2:28
  Somehow. They become part of your
• 2:31
  evenings, your mornings, your routines after work, your cold
• 2:36
  winter days, your stressful weeks.
• 2:40
  And honestly, there's something incredibly satisfying about
• 2:44
  standing in your garden, clipping a handful of herbs, and
• 2:48
  knowing that in 10 minutes you'll be drinking something
• 2:51
  that came entirely from your own space.
• 2:57
  The classic tea garden herbs are usually things like mint, lemon
• 3:02
  balm, chamomile, lavender, bee balm, stevia, thyme, and
• 3:11
  sometimes even things like rose hips or dried fruit peels
• 3:15
  depending on how creative you want to get.
• 3:19
  And every one of them brings something different to the
• 3:22
  table. Mint is probably the easiest and
• 3:28
  most aggressive of the bunch. Spearmint, peppermint, chocolate
• 3:34
  mint, they all grow like they've got something to prove, and if
• 3:39
  you plant mint directly in the ground without containment,
• 3:44
  there's a decent chance it'll eventually decide the entire
• 3:48
  yard belongs to it. Now.
• 3:51
  Containers are your friend there, but once established,
• 3:55
  mint is incredibly productive and one of the freshest flavors
• 4:00
  you can possibly grow. Lemon balm is another favorite
• 4:08
  because it has this bright citrus smell that almost
• 4:12
  instantly relaxes you the second you brush against it.
• 4:17
  It's technically part of the mint family too, so it grows
• 4:21
  pretty vigorously, but not usually quite as aggressively as
• 4:26
  mint itself. Chamomile is one of the more
• 4:32
  delicate looking plants in a tea garden, but surprisingly
• 4:37
  resilient once established. Tiny Daisy like flowers, soft
• 4:44
  foliage, and one of the most recognizable tea flavors on
• 4:50
  earth. Plus pollinators absolutely love
• 4:54
  it. And then there's stevia, which
• 5:00
  honestly still feels a little strange to grow because your
• 5:04
  brain expects sweetness to come from fruit or sugar cane, not
• 5:09
  leaves. But you can literally chew a
• 5:13
  stevia leaf and it tastes sweet immediately.
• 5:18
  It's kind of wild the first time you experience it.
• 5:24
  Growing tea herbs is generally pretty approachable.
• 5:29
  Most of them love full sun, though a few appreciate partial
• 5:34
  shade. In hotter climates.
• 5:38
  Good drainage matters because many herbs hate soggy roots, and
• 5:43
  one thing I've noticed over time is that herbs growing slightly
• 5:47
  tougher usually develop stronger flavor.
• 5:52
  Overwatering and overfeeding sometimes creates huge plants
• 5:56
  with weaker oils and weaker aroma.
• 6:03
  Harvesting tea herbs is one of the nicest parts of growing them
• 6:08
  because there's no huge rush or pressure.
• 6:12
  You're usually clipping leaves, stems, or flowers gradually over
• 6:17
  time instead of trying to pull massive harvests all at once.
• 6:24
  Morning harvesting tends to give the strongest oils and aroma
• 6:29
  because the plants haven't spent all day in the heat yet.
• 6:36
  Drying herbs is also surprisingly simple.
• 6:41
  Most can just be bundled loosely and hung upside down somewhere
• 6:45
  dry with decent airflow. Once crispy, you crumble them
• 6:51
  into jars and suddenly your garden follows you into the
• 6:54
  winter. And honestly, opening a jar of
• 6:58
  home grown mint or lemon balm in the middle of January feels like
• 7:04
  opening a little piece of summer back up again.
• 7:09
  Now let's talk about pests and problems, because even tea
• 7:14
  gardens aren't completely drama free.
• 7:19
  Aphids love tender new herb growth, especially on mint and
• 7:24
  lemon balm. You'll notice little clusters
• 7:28
  around fresh leaves and stems. Usually a quick spray of water
• 7:33
  handles them pretty easily unless populations get really
• 7:36
  out of hand. Powdery mildew can become an
• 7:42
  issue too, especially with dense herbs growing close together.
• 7:48
  Mint is notorious for this. Late in the season you'll see
• 7:53
  dusty white patches spreading across the leaves.
• 7:59
  Better airflow and regular trimming helps a lot there.
• 8:07
  Root rot is another common issue, particularly in
• 8:12
  containers without enough drainage.
• 8:15
  Herbs generally prefer slightly drier conditions over constantly
• 8:20
  wet soil. If plants start yellowing or
• 8:24
  collapsing despite being watered regularly, too much moisture may
• 8:29
  actually be the problem. And then there's the mint
• 8:35
  problem, which honestly isn't even really a problem depending
• 8:41
  on how much mint you want. But if planted directly into
• 8:45
  open soil, mint can spread aggressively through underground
• 8:49
  runners. A lot of gardeners learn this
• 8:53
  lesson exactly once. Companion planting with tea
• 8:59
  herbs is fantastic because so many of them attract pollinators
• 9:04
  and beneficial insects. B balm, chamomile, lavender, and
• 9:12
  thyme all help bring life into the garden while also serving
• 9:17
  practical uses for you. Herbs tucked near vegetables can
• 9:22
  also help diversify scent profiles and confuse pests.
• 9:27
  Naturally, seed saving varies depending on the herb.
• 9:36
  Chamomile and bee balm are pretty easy from seed, while
• 9:41
  mint and lemon balm are often easier through division or
• 9:45
  cuttings. Herbs honestly teach you a lot
• 9:51
  about propagation because many of them are surprisingly eager
• 9:54
  to grow if given even a small opportunity.
• 10:01
  The pros of tea gardens are huge small space requirements, strong
• 10:08
  aromas, pollinator support, preservation potential, and
• 10:14
  daily usefulness. The downsides are mostly about
• 10:19
  management. Some herbs spread aggressively,
• 10:24
  some lose flavor if harvested poorly, and some need occasional
• 10:30
  dividing to stay healthy. And now for the best part, the
• 10:36
  recipe, or maybe more accurately, today, the blend.
• 10:42
  Let's make a simple, calming evening tea blend.
• 10:48
  Start with two tablespoons dried chamomile, one tablespoon dried
• 10:54
  lemon balm, one tablespoon dried mint, and about 1/2 a teaspoon
• 11:00
  of crushed dried lavender flours.
• 11:05
  Mix them gently and store them in an airtight jar.
• 11:10
  To brew it, add about one tablespoon of the blend to a tea
• 11:15
  infuser or directly into a mug, then pour hot water over it.
• 11:22
  Let it steep around 5 to 7 minutes.
• 11:26
  If you want a little sweetness, add a small stevia leaf while
• 11:29
  steeping or a spoonful of honey afterward.
• 11:35
  It's warm, calming, slightly floral, slightly minty, and
• 11:41
  honestly feels like exactly the kind of thing you want after a
• 11:45
  long day outside working in the garden.
• 11:51
  Here are some fun facts about tea herbs.
• 11:57
  Chamomile has been used for thousands of years and was even
• 12:01
  valued in ancient Egypt. Mint naturally contains menthol,
• 12:08
  which creates that cooling sensation in your mouth.
• 12:14
  Lemon balm has historically been associated with stress relief
• 12:17
  and mood support. Lavender isn't just fragrant,
• 12:24
  it's actually part of the mint family too, which surprises a
• 12:28
  lot of people. Many herbal teas technically
• 12:34
  aren't tea at all, because true tea comes from the Camellia
• 12:38
  sinensis plant. And interestingly, drying herbs
• 12:43
  properly can preserve flavor for surprisingly long periods if
• 12:48
  protected from heat, light, and moisture.
• 12:55
  Welcome back to the garden nerd corner, fellow beans.
• 13:01
  The flavors and aromas in T herbs come from volatile oils
• 13:06
  produced by specialized plant cells, and those oils often
• 13:11
  serve defensive purposes in nature.
• 13:16
  Many aromatic compounds evolved specifically to deter pests or
• 13:21
  reduce fungal issues. Stress conditions like heat,
• 13:27
  sunlight, and limited water can sometimes intensify oil
• 13:31
  production, which is why slightly tougher grown herbs
• 13:36
  often taste stronger. Chamomile contains compounds
• 13:41
  like apogenin that have been studied for calming effects,
• 13:47
  while mint oils interact with cold, sensitive receptors in the
• 13:50
  body to create that cooling sensation.
• 13:56
  Historically, tea gardens weren't just culinary spaces.
• 14:00
  They often blurred the line between food gardening and
• 14:03
  medicinal gardening, especially in smaller household systems
• 14:08
  where usefulness mattered more than ornamentation.
• 14:15
  Next time on the bean stalk, we're jumping back into
• 14:19
  vegetables with a crop that deserves way more attention than
• 14:23
  it usually gets. Bok choy.
• 14:28
  Fast growing, cold tolerant, surprisingly versatile, and
• 14:33
  honestly one of the best greens for quick harvests.
• 14:38
  We'll talk about growing it, cooking it, and why it might
• 14:42
  deserve a permanent place in more gardens.
• 14:50
  Thanks again for hanging out with me today on the Beanstalk,
• 14:53
  Fellow Beans. If you want to keep the
• 14:56
  conversation going, we've got a growing community over at the
• 15:00
  Beanstalk Garden Club on Facebook.
• 15:03
  Come join us, share your garden photos, swap ideas, and dig a
• 15:08
  little deeper into all things that grow together.
• 15:13
  If you're enjoying the podcast, don't forget to hit follow on
• 15:17
  Spotify so you never miss an episode.
• 15:21
  We'd also love to hear your feedback or questions for future
• 15:24
  shows. And if you happen to be
• 15:28
  interested in supporting the podcast and helping it grow, you
• 15:31
  can also find us over on Patreon.
• 15:34
  All of our free content lives there as well, with some added
• 15:38
  perks for free members. Subscribers get access to behind
• 15:42
  the scenes style content and discounts on our products.
• 15:47
  From our patch to yours, keep on climbing.