I’ve got a lot of the same planned for this year too! I’m also going to be growing cayenne, comfrey, and burdock among others. Oh I would also recommend some lemon balm, it is a great mint

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Lisa Derksen, Jessica Smith, Susann Martin, SHERRY NAPIER, Joni Reed

Hi Joni and Welcome,    I tried to find Doc’s video on his top 10 herbs and I found one on Youtube but not in my search of school here. He has said “if he add one herb only” it might be Cayenne 🙂  Although he might say that about several others too, lol.  But his 10 herbs that might change your life video talked about Calendula, Gumweed, Comfrey, Mallow/Marshmallow, Cone flowers/Echinacea, Chamomile, Plantain, Crampbark, Dandelion, and, of course, Cayenne. I am growing most of that list and a number of others. Every herb that Greg listed I planted too. I believe Yarrow is an important one to have these days, in everyone’s garden. It does a number of things and it is so easy to grow. The one from above that I am missing is Gumweed but I will be trying to grow that and Teasel this year too. I had Burdock but it did not come back 🙁  Those are all soooo great. Cramp Bark is the “Snowball Bush” in my area and Elder Trees are very popular anywhere you look so you might consider getting some of those growing in your beautiful herb garden too 🙂 I wish you the best garden ever and many years of pleasure walking through it and harvesting from it.

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Lisa Derksen, Frances Mitchell, Lisa, Alyssa

I have catnip, blackeyed susan, and calendula growing, and I have seeds for echinacea, feverfew, flax, nettles (not sure I will actually plant this…maybe by my stream AWAY from the house), valerian, burdock, wood betony (I don’t even know what this is for yet…someone gave me the seeds!), cayenne, holy basil, yarrow, skullcap, lemonbalm, sage, elecampane, motherwort, chamomile, marshmallow, and evening primrose….I’ve got my work cut out for me!  Fortunately many of these are perennials and I won’t be harvesting them all at once!

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Lisa Derksen, SHERRY NAPIER

Hi all! New student here. I, too, am in the herb seed planning stage. I have several on order but  who is your favorite supplier? and I ordered several herbs and veggies from MIgardener but they are out of a few of the seeds that I want. I have quite a few packaged herbs and powders that I bought from my local natural food/supply store when I was doing my cold and flu tinctures. I really want to grow them and know that I have the best quality possible. Thanks for any and all advice!

there are a lot of great recommendations here. You might also add Artemisia Annua, aka Sweet Annie. I would grow it just for the amazing aroma but it is also a great medicinal plant and easy to grow.

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Jessica Smith, Donna Larson

My suggestion would be to add plantain.  I found a plant in my grass and kept mowing around it until I gathered the seed. I planted it in my garden last year and it did amazing.  Doc says it is great for many things including rattle snake bite. I live where rattlers are abundant, so I thought it would be a good addition.

im looking forward to planting some medicinals…. i have been prowling around my property taking note of each space at different times a day ( new property for me) so that i can best choose what will naturally enjoy growing there. I also am first watching to see what GOD is providing.  so far dead nettle, chickweed, wood sorrel, plantain, curly doc, yucca, clover, watrcress and several others….. i almost cleared the garden beds, glad i paused

I was just asking the other day about what to plant. I didn’t know so many other students were thinking the same thoughts. I love this group!

Thanks for all the ideas.

So exited for the growing season as well!! Always fascinating. Comfrey is great to start out with.

I would also suggest peppermint in a container. Valerian if you have high stressed out people who need to chill out a little bit. I order the majority of my seed from Strictly Medicinal. I have found their germination rate is so much greater than any others I have tried overall. I have been gardening and planting own seeds for years and years so this says a lot. Wishing everyone the best growing season and a healthy harvest.

Hi Joni!

You are off to a great start! Way to go!  When I was planning my medicinal garden, I started with the health issues I wanted to use them for first to decide the plants I wanted to grow.  My initial goal was to keep it to around 30 medicinal plants, but I got it narrowed down to about 100 different plants, haha! I looked for the herbs that A)Doc recommended the strongest (the Rock Star) for whatever issues I wanted to tackle, B)the easiest to grow and harvest, and C)the ones that would grow the best in my growing zone (I am in a low growing zone, so this is a bit of a challenge!), D)the plants that had the most multi-use, or Doc would say, “this herb is great for just about anything to do with (insert issue)!” Also, I looked at what medicines I like to keep stocked on my shelf and what the best herbal alternative was to those.  I found that there was (and still is!) a bit of a learning curve to keep straight what parts of the plant and when to harvest those parts are, also just getting familiar with how each plant grows throughout the year. It’s been a fun and exciting process so far and I wish you the very best on your herbal garden this year.  Happy growing!

Hi, Joni!

I’m also a brand new student! Welcome to you.

I live in coastal South Carolina and although we have had some nights in the 20s-30s my calendula from last fall is still growing and flowering!

The seed catalogs are so enticing. It’s hard to choose only what I can afford… 🙂

I have a neighbor who I found on a social media forum who gave me some comfrey, plantain, lemongrass and mullein. She said she will have other things to share in the spring. I’m so excited that I found someone close by to share herbal knowledge (and fun!) with. Possibly you have someone like this near you?

All the best to you in this journey, and may God richly bless you.

Hi Joni….I’m a new student, too…but not new to growing herbs…I just want to grow a lot more.  I have all the mints (peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint, lemon mint, berries & cream mint, orange mint), lemon balm, lemon verbena, bee balm, feverfew, chamomile and nettle in pots and they all grew great.  I also have oregano, basil, sage, parsley, rosemary, stevia, thyme and dill in pots.  The rest of my herbs and flowers (medicinal) are all around the perimeter of my back yard such as St. John’s wort, violets, lady’s mantle, valerian, echinacea, skullcap, hyssop, anise hyssop, lavender, calendula, poppies, dead nettle, ,  or in my grass; e.g., dandelion, mallow, catnip, chickweed, plantain.   I also used a lot of lamb’s ear last year that I cut back and dried and then infused in oil to make terrific lotion bars.  This year I’m hoping to add a snowball bush (for cramp bark) and various other herbs as I learn about them.  and….I’m so looking forward to learning how to use them all in new ways…I have tinctured all of them and made tea blends and oils, but I want to powder some this year.  I hope you’re enjoying this learning process as much as I am!

I love using plantain and comfrey.  I get seeds from Strictly Medicinal Seeds. They have a wide variety of seeds.

For Canadians, I highly recommend Richter’s Herbs for both herb seeds & Plants.

As to what to start with, I’d ask what health issues am I wanting to address. First aid herbs like yarrow, cayenne, plantain, comfrey, calendula are a great place to start as well.

I don’t think anyone has mentioned elecampane, ashwaganda, chicory, hollyhock and of course turmeric and ginger roots. I’m also trying my hand at a few different artemisia, arnica and mormon tea. Doc says that mormon tea takes a long time to grow but maybe when I’m gone those left behind can enjoy the plants. Also Strictly medicinal sells plants of Mormon tea so I may get a jump start with a few of those. I’ve ‘winter sown’ several of the seeds that need cold stratification.