Create your own tea garden: how

Create your own tea garden

Shop-bought, dried and packaged herbal tea pales beside the fresh variety culled from the garden, so perhaps it’s time to grow your own, says Anne Swithinbank

HILE watching my family foraging for what they call ‘garden tea’ , I realised

Wthat our fenced potagerstyle kitchen plot also serves us well as a tea garden. When we first moved here and made this productive space, my late father grew crops allotment-style. Since then, it has gradually filled with fruit trees, herbs and other edible plants with crops grown in the gaps left between. So what is this ‘garden tea’ and can anyone grow it?

The proper name for herbal teas fresh or dried is a tisane. What we refer to as ‘garden tea’ is the leaves and flowers from a range of plants, including what some folk would call weeds, gathered from plants growing in our garden. They are steeped in water just off the boil and drunk without milk and sugar. Regular tea is the dried green or cured black leaves of Camellia sinensis, a Chinese evergreen shrub related to the showy camellias grown for their flowers. Using the right plants Anyone can make garden tea, but you need the confidence to identify plants and differentiate from any that might be poisonous. Most gardens will already contain several candidates for a tisane, but those new to gardening might need a knowledgeable friend or relative to help check these.

Another way is to buy new seed or plants (preferably grown organically) so you know what you’ve got. Most grow happily in containers and won’t take up much space. While most people can correctly identify mint, lemon balm, rosemary, lavender and dandelion petals, some might be unsure of sticky weed and yarrow.

Grow and make your own Despite a history of monastic gardens and herbal medicines, we seem to have lost the knack of growing and making our own tisanes, though they remain popular in continental Europe. Most of my friends offer herbal as well as regular tea, but they are rarely fresh, aromatic mint or lemon balm but dried, bagged and packeted from a cupboard. Venturing into the garden to gather tea ingredients is more time consuming, but what could be more pleasant than walking among aromatic plants, allowing your senses and appetite to select one or a mixture of herbs and wild things?

Favourite plants for herbal teas

Flower petals

Dianthus ‘Gran’s Favourite’ AGM A fragrant old-fashioned pink whose ‘laced’ flowers of white and purple-pink are carried over a long period. Plant in sun and nip off the slightly bitter green petal bases before use. H&S: 18in (45cm).

Culinary herbs

Jasminum officinale ‘Devon Cream’ With pink buds and cream-tinged flowers, this fragrant sun-loving twiner will add its exotic aroma to a tea. Plants perform best in sheltered positions, on well-draining soil, and are perfect courtyard plants. H&S: 8ft (2.4m).

R o s e s A u s t i n D a v i d

Rosa Lady Emma Hamilton (‘Ausbrother’) AGM The fragrant orange petals of this shrub rose will brighten the greens of other herbs in a clear teapot. Repeat-blooms well, against bronze-coloured leaves turning green with age. H&S: 3ft (1m).

Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Roseus’ An upright evergreen shrub with needle-like grey-green leaves joined by mauve-pink flowers in winter, spring and summer. I use the sweet flowers or fresh shoots for an aromatic tea. HxS: 4x3ft (1.2x1m). Melissa officinalis Lemon balm tea has a mild lemon flavour and is known to reduce stress. These herbaceous perennials seed themselves around unless deadheaded, but unwanted clumps are easily removed. HxS: 2ftx18in (60x45cm). Lavandula angustifolia Little Lady (‘Batlad’) AGM A little English lavender goes a long way, so use a tiny spike, a few flowers or a shoot tip. This one is compact, with summer spikes of pale-purple flowers. HxS: 20inx2ft (50x60cm).

Wild

Achillea millefolium Perennial common yarrow often turns up in long lawns. We use mainly the fresh young fern-like leaves for a refreshing garden tea. Heads of white flowers open in summer. HxS: 18x12in (45x30cm). Galium aparine Known as cleavers or sticky weed, this is usually viewed as a sprawling annual weed clinging with hooked hairs. Use fresh young tips for a tisane with a nutty, almost pea-like flavour. HxS: 3x2ft (1mx60cm). Tilia platyphyllos In some parts of France collecting blossom from large-leaved limes is a small industry. The June flowers make a tea redolent of honey, citrus and chamomile. The flowers of T. cordata are good, too. HxS: 100x70ft (30x20m).

Calendula officinalis ‘Art Shades’ Sow annual pot marigolds direct and promptly for flowers by autumn, or sow in autumn for next summer. I use a pinch of the warm-coloured petals rather than whole flowers. HxS: 2x1ft (60x30cm). Chamaemelum nobile When Peter Rabbit was ‘not very well in the evening’ , his mother made him soothing chamomile tea. Sow now to plant in autumn or next spring and use flowers fresh or dried. HxS: 12x18in (30x45cm).

3 for a container to plant now

Aloysia citriodora AGM Deciduous lemon verbena, also known as verveine, is a small tender shrub whose sherbet-lemon-flavoured leaves are large enough to place one or two per mug. Simply fill with water off-boil for a delicious tea. H&S: 5ft (1.5m). Pelargonium ‘Attar of Roses’ AGM A classic ‘rose geranium’ whose roselemon foliage makes a fragrant tea. The plant is pretty, with clusters of mauvepink blooms over lobed foliage. Keep plants frost-free in winter. HxS: 2x1ft (60x30cm). Mentha spicata Tisane afficionados love their Moroccan peppermint, but I enjoy the gentle minty perfume and flavour of spearmint. To control mint rhizomes, plant in their own bed or a large container. HxS: 2ftx30in (60x75cm).

Thymus vulgaris Sow thyme into a pot and transplant seedlings singly to pots or grid-fashion in a tray. Plant out in spring and use leaves and flowers sparingly for their pungent, savoury flavour. HxS: 6x12in (15x30cm).

Growing, picking and brewing tea-garden plants

IF you are looking for a garden theme, consider a specially planted tea garden for an aromatic treat. Mediterranean-type herbs and pinks (dianthus) like sun and well-drained soil, but mints don’t mind a little shade and need moisture. Roses enjoy a sunny, open site on wellcultivated soil. While foraging for tea, I often wonder whether we instinctively choose the ingredients our body needs. Pick fresh, young leaves, newly opened flowers and use sparingly. Good kit includes a glass teapot or tisanier with a well and a metal infuser to stand inside a mug. Try one flavour or make a mix. I usually tear or snip leaves to help release flavour.

Prepare tea using a glass teapot or a metal infuser in a mug Camellia sinensis growing at a tea plantation on the Tregothnan Estate in Cornwall

Can we grow regular tea in our gardens?

CAMELLIA sinensis is slightly tender and usually grows in the good light and cool air to be found in the temperate upland regions of China, India and Kenya. Plants struggle below 23°F (-5°C), but we do have British plantations in Cornwall, Wales and Scotland. Do try growing a tea plant and treat it like a citrus, with slightly acidic compost and cool winter conditions.

The difficulty comes in harvesting the ‘tips’ (two leaves and a bud) and then processing them into green or black tea. It has been suggested that drinking too much green tea could be harmful and my dad’s mantra ‘moderation in all things’ is a sensible approach for all herbal teas.