These veggies and herbs have proven health benefits. They’re easy to grow in your garden or in your summer beds and containers.
Ginger
Ginger is known to calm an upset stomach, and it also eases muscle pain and arthritis symptoms. You can find a ginger root to plant at your local grocery store. Look for a root with eye buds, which are the rounded points at the end of each.
Mint
Mint aids digestion and eases indigestion and inflammation. Purchase a plant at your local gardening center. Plant in moist soil, about 15 inches apart. Mints can quickly become invasive when planted in open ground, so grow them in large containers in a sun to part-shade location.
We’re also fond of several other fruit-flavored mints—including apple mint with its rounded, grey-green foliage, as well as variegated green and white pineapple mint and their endlessly delicious possibilities. Mint is an easy growing herb in your garden.
Basil
We reach for dried basil more often than any other seasoning. Garden-fresh leaves always possess the sweetest, richest flavor. For optimum growth and tastiness, site plants in a full-sun location in good garden loam or use a soilless container mix in pots. Keep plants well-watered and feed every 10 days with an all-purpose fertilizer at half strength.
Rosemary
Rosemary is a good source of iron, calcium and vitamin B6. It improves memory and boosts the immune and circulatory systems. This herb prefers full sun and bright light.
Sage
Dried sage often tastes strong, bitter and slightly musty. Fresh sage has a light, aromatic lemony flavor. In pots or beds, drought-tolerant sage performs best in a full-sun location in average garden loam.
Hardy to Zone 4 and technically a subshrub, it grows about 60 centimeters tall by 80 centimeters wide. It bears handsome grey-green leaves with a pebbly texture, and in early summer, spikes of edible, honeybee-attracting lilac-blue flowers.
Read our article about Easy Low-Maintenance Vegetables to Grow in Your Garden to add more vegetables to your garden.
