The tea garden is a nice idea but I think there are several potential problems with your sand box plan.

The first is aesthetic. Unless you intend to sink it in the ground, is a plastic turtle sandbox really in keeping with the traditional ethos of a herb garden?

Secondly your box is rather small. In the picture the central pot alone is 2 feet in diameter and your whole box is only 3 feet. Despite what the article says (and it is hazy on precisely what herbs to use) many can get quite large. For example a single rosemary could fill your space.

It is also very shallow. 7 inches is not a sufficient depth of soil for herbs to grow in long term and that is your maximum depth.

Finally, even with holes punched in, the drainage would be sluggish and most herbs dislike poor drainage. Even those which like moisture do not like stagnant ground.

If you have to remove the entire bottom of the box, why not just dig a circular bed in the ground and forget the box altogether?

Regarding the soil mix, unless your native soil is very poor indeed I would just use that in herb bed and amend with home made compost.

I think you could have your tea garden with much less effort by just setting it out in the ground, with maybe some sort of ornamental edging if you want more formality.

Keep the sand box for a bog garden or wildlife pond.

Tom, I would be entirely the wrong person to evaluate the aesthetics of anything in a landscape. But, I do see that some of these listed herbs as above your (and my) zone of hardiness. If they and the annuals were deleted from the plan  you may have adequate room for the remaining tea herbs.

What herbs would you see as particularly useful? I have been thinking about tea herbs lately because of the cost (!!) of my favorite blend. The store-boughten includes licorice which would probably not be appropriate for my growing conditions. Nor do I wish to uproot a plant every few years to process the roots.

Some herbs I enjoy individually are anise hyssop, catnip, nettle, and German chamomile. Leaving aside the wisdom of planting stinging nettle in oneÂs yard, I only see the chamomile in this plan. Perhaps personalizing it would make your effort even more worthwhile.

IÂd be really curious what others consider indispensable in a tea garden . . . maybe I'd have an alternative to this licorice spice tea IÂm spending so much $$ on.

Steve

My favorite herbal tea is Quitely Chamomile by Lipton. (I'm ducking because I'm going to be hit hard for that!) The round herbal tea garden that I want will have Roman Chamomile for 1/3 of the circle (low and not causing shadows). But the rest of the ingredients are not on my list so I'll be experimenting for new combinations. Those ingredients are Orange peel, rosehips, hisbiscus, allspice, natural lemon and orange, bergamot and licorice root.

The tea herbs that I easily grow and use the most are Lemon Verbena (not winter hard in most gardens),Lemon Grass, Lemon Basil, Chocolate Mint, Spearmint and Monarda. I grow a lot of catnip and Anise hyssop for others to use in their tea but I tend to stay near the lemon flavored things.

We got a lemon verbena thru last Winter just on the floor of an unheated greenhouse. It's in there again right now and seems to be doing fine. I haven't used it for tea and have no idea why not. The leaves have been put to good use in cooking.

Chocolate mint is something new in our yard. It appears to be an easy keeper. Once again, I haven't tried it for tea but I have to admit that I find catnip preferable to the other mints including our lemon balm. John may enjoy that one altho' it isn't strongly "lemony," certainly not like lemon grass!

I can easily expose my ignorance of things herbal but I believe that anise hyssop, monarda, and bergamot are all related plants. I've found myself wishing that anise hyssop had just a a little more licorice flavor. Perhaps there are other choices for that flavor. We grew Florence fennel in our garden this year but I've no experience with this plant other than as a flavoring for vinegars and salad dressings.

Steve

My experience with Lemon Balm is that it is good about lemon fragrance but offers very little flavor. So I grow it but rarely use it for anything.

The monarda/bergamont story is way to long to go into here but the taste is the same only from two different plants. So you can make a decent fake Earl Grey tea with monarda but it isn't the same plant that tea companies use.

There are a number of plants that give a licorice flavor but the hyssops do the best in my garden. The only thing I've seen done with fennels outside of the normal root roasting and leaves used like an herb is the seeds being eaten like candy especially when they are still green and imature.

My favorites for tea are wild bergamot, chocolate mint, and catnip.

Wild bergamot is lovely, but not much like the bergamot orange, used in Earl Grey. Wishful thinking after the Boston tea party, that.... Still, a dried (exotic!) blossom makes a nice tea.

--Jonathan

I'm goin' to need to find some of this "wild bergamot."

Here's another tea garden plan, Tom. I think the outline of a teapot would be mostly in the mind of the gardener.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Tea Herbs - Brooklyn Botanic Garden

My Tea Herbs include Sage, Spearmint, Lemon Balm, Catnip, Perilla and Bergamot. I add leaves of others including Ginseng, Sassafrass and Goldenseal on occasion or when there is a medicinal need.

I see alot about growing tea, but how do you make it? Do you use the leaf or the root? I would love to know. Thanks.

I'm starting a foray into growing fragrant violets for their scent, edibility and also tea making abilities. Here's a recipe (haven't tried it yet). Violets are easy to grow, deer usually don't bug em and they make a nice tea. Enjoy! Just make sure to plant them in shade or under a tree, in moist soil if you have it.

Violet Tea

1 handful of violet leaves and flowers
1 cup water

Boil water on stove. Pour boiling water onto leaves and flowers. Let steep for 15 minutes then strain well.

(violets can discolor cooking utensils, only use stainless steel, ceramic or glass when preparing this recipe)

Mwenrick, I just harvest the fresh leaves and flower buds of the mints, anise hyssop, and catnip thru the growing season. It's important not to let the plants go to seed if you want a continuing harvest of tender leaves and flowers.

I once grew German chamomile and harvested the flower buds for tea. The plants didn't do very well in my yard probably because of too much shade.

Stinging nettle - I purchase altho' I just MAY start growing this in the future (IÂve ordered seed). Should probably put it in some out-of-the-way location. And, I'd guess that I'd need to really keep it in control. Does this sound foolhardy to anyone?

When any of these plants are "getting ahead" of your harvesting - you can pick bunches, tie, and hang somewhere out of the sun. We use our carport and after a week or so, the leaves are stripped off and placed in a plastic bag for the off-season.

Steve
(Does it seem odd that it's mostly guys here who show so much interest in this topic??)

Isn't Stinging Nettle that weed I have such a horrible time getting rid of on the farm? It makes tea???

Jackie

Jackie, I reconsidered my idea of planting stinging nettle and - - didn't!

I like the flavor and I like it as a veggie but the tea kinda amounts to about the same thing as drinking the juice off the spinach. Not that thereÂs anything wrong with drinking the juice off the veggies.

I added anise hyssop, Korean mint, wild bergamot, and sweet fennel to my tea garden since this thread last came up. Right now, a bunch of lemon verbena is waiting to be rinsed and hung up in the kitchen. The anise hyssop, Korean mint, and sweet fennel, along with catnip, are already dried and in bags.

It has been a fun season sampling the new herbs and trying different combinations.

Steve

Nettle is a wonderfully good for you tea. It is rich in vitamins and minerals and is a mild, pleasant and "green" tasting tea. Some people like to cook and eat the young greens like a vegetable. An Iroquois herbalist and midwife I seen talk a few times says to "drink your nettles" (meaning drink nettle tea). She says it is a great tonic for everyone. I have to agree. I also like to drink it when I'm having allergy issues. Nettle is one of the herbs used for allergy problems.

As far as what plants, I would try a variety of herbal teas. See what you like and plant what you do like the taste of. Possibilities do include rose, mints (all sorts), lemon balm, monarda, sage, fennel, dandelion, nettle, hyssop, violets, lemon verbena, chamomile, anise, raspberry, coriander, chicory, parsley, calendula, elderberry (blossoms or fruit only), lavender, and more!

FataMorgana