As you’re learning to make your own herbal preparations, you will quickly notice how expensive it can be to acquire all the herbs you need for salves, tinctures, teas, and more. The herbal preparations for the more common ailments when you have a family – insect repellant, wellness teas, and wound salve – seem to fly off your shelves. Which means you make a lot of them and it can get pricey! Learn to grow your own herbs for wounds (and other routine family issues) to improve your garden, expand your skill set, and save a lot of money on herbs and shipping! 
More Herb Articles for Later:
How to Plan and Plant a Wellness Herb Garden
Medicinal Plants: Herbal Combinations for Health
50+ Herbs for That Grow in the Shade
Why Grow Herbs for Wounds
If you’ve been a reader for any length of time, you know I’m very drawn toward any practice that will save money, but that will also make me more independant on outside systems.
For example, when you order herbs for wounds and other family ailments in bulk, you can save money over purchasing a few cups here and there. However, you still have to pay for shipping and you still have to rely on the delivery method for the herbs to get to you. If there’s anything recent years have taught us DIY types it’s that shipping and associated costs can be expensive at best, and unreliable at worst.
I’d rather not stress about whether or not my herbs will arrive on time, when I need them, in usable condition, and for a price I can afford. Stop the madness and grow your own herbs for wounds, bug bites, and more!
Learn How to Use Herbs for Wounds
Growing herbs is a great step in saving money and time, and producing quality product. We also need to learn how to use the herbs to make very basic preparations to serve our family. I’m sharing a few links below to get your feet wet, and then introducing you to a course from Herbal Academy that can take you all the way to where you need to be with this topic.
- How to Make a Glycerites Tincture (Without Alcohol), from Herbal Academy.
- Lavender Ticture – Make & Use, from Nerdy Farm Wife.
- How to Make a Basic Salve from Herbal Academy – this is great for cuts, scrapes, and even bugs.
- Make a Burn Salve from Herbal Academy – specific to light burns. For severe burns, please see a medical care professional right away.
- Make a Poultice for Bruises and Sprains, from Melissa K Norris.
There are many other herbal preparations you can make, but these will give you a broad and useful base from which to start.
To learn more about how to use the healing herbs you grow, I recommend Herbal Academy’s newest course, Holistic Herbal Care for Kids! We’ve been asking for years for them to create this course and they finally had time. It’s such a blessing to know that I can gain the skills I need to properly use the herbs I grow to take care of my family.
Growing Space for Herbs for Wounds
If you don’t have a large area for a garden, no worries! You can grow all the herbs I’m going to cover in this article in pots on a sunny porch or balcony.
More space does equate to higher volume of herb growin, that’s just a fact. However, a potted herb garden is enough to begin because the more you grow your own herbs, the more you use them and become familiar with them.
Once you find your favorite five or ten herbs that you’re sure you want to grow and use all the time, you’ll find a way to produce more even if you have limited garden space. Here are some ways to expand your growing space:
- Trade a neighbor or friend with more garden room part of your herb harvest in exhange for growing space in their garden.
- Join a community garden and cultivate your herbs there.
- Grow perennial herbs as annuals* if you have no other option. If you learn to start your plants from seed or cuttings, this practice won’t get cost prohibitive.
If you need to learn grow herbs in pots to save space, please grab your copy of The Potted Herb. We wrote this book specifically to help you awesome container gardeners expand your efforts to include a functional herb garden!
*Perennial vs. Annual Herbs for Growing
There are two types of herbs you can grow: Annuals and Perennials.
- An annual plant will begin from seed, grow, bear seed of its own (usually), and then die all in one year.
- A perennial plant will continue to grow year after year.
They both have their merits and drawbacks in the herb garden. Annuals can be labor intensive since you need to restart them from seed every year, or purchase them anew. However, they’re often beautiful and useful, which makes them worth the effort.
Perennials can require more maintenance over time but their root systems hold water in the soil and house beneficial microbial life. Perennials are also reliable for those who want steady crops of fresh herbs all year long.
You will probably end up growing both simply because you have favorite herbs that are one or the other.
Common Wounds & Family Issues
Before we decide which herbs for wounds and ailments we should grow for the family apothecary, we first need to brainstorm which are the most common problems. I can’t speak for your family, but in mine, the most common seem to be:
- Cuts and scrapes
- Rashes, especially poison ivy!
- Common cold and flu symptoms
- Sleep trouble and stress
- Stomach upset
There are many more, but we don’t want to overwhelm ourselves. Besides, medical professionals exist to treat larger and longer lasting issues. We’re not trying to replace your holistic practitioner! We’re simply trying to cut down the cost of producing the herbal preparations you and I are already making for our families at home.
Which Herbs for Wounds Should We Grow?
There are a number of herbs that can assist with any number of ailments. Since you can’t grow them all, at least not at first, I’m going to keep the list of which herbs to grow for common family issues pretty short.
We’re blessed in that one herb can answer for several different needs. In permaculture, we call this ability to perform multiple functions with one thing stacking functions. Here are some of the best herbs to grow in your garden to serve multiple purposes.
- Calendula* – annual herb which is great for skin ailments like cuts and rashes.
- Comfrey* – a perennial herb with large leaves and bell-shaped flowers that is used in salves for sprains and bruises.
- Chamomile – annual or perennial depnding on variety, this is a classic herb for calming the nervous system and preparing you for sleep.
- Catnip* – perennial herb that’s powerful for cold and flu symptoms.
- Lavender – tender perennial herb which is a unique herb for the immune system that can both calm and invigorate the nervous system.
- Lemon Balm* – perennial and all around useful herb for digestion and stomach upset, the nervous system, virus symptoms mitigation, and more!
- Mint* – perennial herb that’s simple and useful for tummy upset.
*Herbs with an asterik (*) next to them are very straightforward to grow for even new herb gardeners.
Best Herbs to Forage in the Wild:
- Dandelion – so perennial as to be considered a weed, it’s so beneficial for the liver and cleansing your body of toxins.
- Echinacea – perennial herb used for the root which is a go-to for stimulating the immune system.
- Elderberry and Elder Flower – perennial shrub/small tree, which is another great herb for the immune system, as well as treating cold and flu symptoms.
- Mullein – perennial herb which is so helpful for coughs and sore throats.
- Plantain – perennial herb used for skin ailments, especially when combined with calendula.
You can also deliberately grow these wild herbs in your garden or simply allow them to grow if they pop up naturally. These herbs are great because you don’t really have to work to keep them alive or coming back in your garden.
You’ll notice that many of these herbs like mint and lavender are commonly used in foods, so you may already have them growing in your garden. Many are also flowering herbs that are simply lovely to grow in any garden.
As I mentioned before, many have multiple properties like being antibacterial, while also a nervine (calms the nervous system); lemon balm and lavender are good examples.
- To learn to properly identify these wild herbs to forage, purchase a quality foraging/field guide to native plants in your region. Sometimes these books are produced by state, and sometimes they cover broader areas like you country.
- For our recommendations on good foraging books and practices, please visit our article, Foraging Wild Free Food.
Placement of Herbs for Wounds in the Garden
If you already have an established garden, try companion planting or guild planting these herbs in with your other plants. All the herbs on our list except dandelion are grown for their aerial parts – the parts above the ground like leaves and flowers.
When you grow an herb to dig up and use the root, like dandelion, you want to give it a little more space so you don’t disturb other plants that are growing nearby. However, with the other herbs on the list above, they all can be integrated into areas where you’re already growing.
They can grow in:
- Formal presentation gardens
- Flower gardens
- Vegetable Gardens
- Dedicated herb gardens
- Natural dye gardens
- Market gardens
- Community gardens
These herbs can integrate into literally any growing space! While they provide quality wellness properties to heal and help, they also attract beneficial insects and provide real beauty for us to enjoy.
Learn to Grow Herbs for Wounds
I always recommend you own several quality books on growing herbs. (I’ll make a list of some of may favorites below). If you’re in a hurry today, here are a few links that will help you get the basics of growing each of our herbs for wounds.
- Calendula – Here’s how to grow calendula by Practical Self Reliance. This one is super easy, I promise! annual herb which is great for skin ailments like cuts and rashes.
- Comfrey – Tenth Acre Farm can teach you how to grow comfrey, as well as all about its place in a permaculture garden. A great plant to grow for many uses!
- Chamomile – Common Sense Home can teach you how to grow chamomile. Remember, there are two kinds to choose from, and then variety differences after that. I say grow them all, if you can!
- Catnip – how to both grow and forage lemon balm with Joybilee Farm. Catnip and catmint are grown very similarly, FYI.
- Lavender – Grow lavender in dry soil with great drainage; Attainable Sustainable can teach you how to both grow and forage lemon balm.
- Lemon Balm – Grow, Forage, Cook, Ferment can teach how to both grow and forage lemon balm.
- Mint – Homestead How-To can teach you how to grow and harvest mint. This plant is pretty straightforward as along as it has enough water.
- Echinacea – the Homesteading Hippy can teach you how to grow echinacea. This is a wild herb and easy to grow once it’s established.
- Elderberry and Elder Flower – Zero Waste Homestead will teach you how to grow elderberries. These can be grown from cuttings (so much easier than seed)!
You Don’t Need to Learn These Ones
Dandelion – You don’t need to learn how to grow this one – it’s everywhere!
Plantain – Here’s another one you don’t need to learn to grow because it grows wild everywhere. You do need to learn all the different kinds with their varied leaves and sizes, though. So, don’t forget to get a quality foraging wild plants book for your area.
Mullein – Mullein is most often foraged since it grows wild all over the U.S., however Homegrown Herb Garden can teach you how to sow, grow, and harvest mullein.
Overall, this is a very doable list, even for beginner gardeners. Pick 1-3 herbs to grow this year and make a goal to use them in an herbal preparation.
- Next year, do the same thing but with 1-3 new herbs. Within a few years, you’ll be an expert in the herbs on this list!
Did I miss your favorite herb for wounds and other ailments? Just let me know about it in the comments!
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