Grow your own cold and flu remedies

Botanical name: Matricaria recutita

German chamomile is a lovely addition to any garden with its delicate foliage and dainty, daisy- like flowers. In a temperate climate, this annual will grow to 50-70cm and attract butterflies and bees to your garden.

How to grow it: German chamomile tolerates a wide range of soils and a pH range of 5.5 to 7.5, however soils must be well-drained. It likes full sun but will tolerate a little shade. Sow seeds directly in place in spring. Water regularly but allow the soil to dry out before you water again. Unless the soil is extremely poor, you don’t need to fertilise this plant.

Harvest: Pick flowers just before they open when their active ingredients are most potent. They can be used fresh as a tea (see slide 11), or dried for future use.

Healing properties: Chamomile tea loosens a congested chest and cough, and, taken last thing at night, can promote a healing sleep.

Top tip: Handling chamomile can occasionally cause allergic dermatitis. If you’re pregnant, discuss it with your doctor before you drink this tea.

Botanical name: Sambucus nigra

This small deciduous tree grows to about 4-6m and has glossy green leaves and sprays of white flowers, which develop into purple-black berries in autumn. It’s frost-resistant and grows well in most temperate areas.

How to grow it: It likes a moist, fertile, well-drained soil with a pH range of 5.5-6.5. It can be grown from seed but young plants are also available. Keep soil moist after planting, and apply a liquid fertiliser regularly through growing season. Prune in winter to shape tree and remove weak branches.

Harvest: The flower tops can be picked fresh and made into a soothing tea, while the berries can be dried and made into a decoction.
Healing properties: The tea helps relieve a stuffy head, runny nose and sinus pain, and helps reduce fever, while a decoction will ease the aches and pains of flu and reduce catarrhal symptoms.

Top tip: Be careful where you plant elder as it tends to sucker. Birds are attracted to the seeds and can spread them, so check with your local council before planting.

Botanical name: Achillea millefolium

A tall, elegant plant, this flowering perennial has feathery leaves and clusters of tiny flowers that come in a variety of colours. It does well in both cold and hot climates, is heat- and drought-tolerant and attracts beneficial insects.

How to grow it: Seeds or cuttings should be sown in a sunny position, however it will accept some light shade. Sown in spring, it tolerates a wide range of free-draining soils but prefers a pH range of 5.5-6.5. Once established, let the soil dry out between watering. Apply fertiliser once a year in the warmer months. In cold climates it may die back in winter, then reshoot in spring.

Harvest: Gather the leaves in late summer. Dry in a cool, airy place out of direct sunlight.

Healing properties: A tea made from dried leaves, drunk once a day, will shorten the length of a cold, while a steam inhalation will reduce catarrhal conditions and sinus pain.

Top tip: In parts of south-eastern Australia, yarrow is an invasive plant, so check with your local council before planting. Don’t use if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding.

Botanical name: Armoracia rusticana

A hardy perennial, growing to about 1m, horseradish can take over your garden, so grow it in large tubs or a raised bed. While it can be grown from seed, it’s best to use root cuttings. It prefers temperate climates but can be grown in warmer, humid areas.

How to grow it: As the tubers can reach 75cm, it must have a deep bed of fertile, free-draining soil, with a pH range between 5.5 and 7. Plant 15-20cm root cuttings from early autumn to spring, and water regularly until the first leaves appear, then check soil moisture before watering to keep it moist but not wet.

Harvest: Harvest in the autumn when it can be used fresh, or wash, slice and dry in a cool, airy place.

Healing properties: Horseradish is great for clearing the upper respiratory tract of cold or flu symptoms. Grate it into dishes like coleslaw, or make a tincture (see slide 11), and take ¼ teaspoon in water three times a day to ease coughs and bronchitis.

Top tip: Avoid large doses if you’re pregnant, breastfeeding or suffering from kidney problems.

Botanical name: Glycyrrhiza glabra

This hardy perennial can grow to 1.5m, and has long, narrow leaves, yellow or purplish flowers and deep roots, which are the parts used medicinally. Licorice is best grown in temperate, warm and subtropical climates.

How to grow it: Licorice likes full sun or part shade and deep, moist, rich, sandy loams with a neutral pH. Sow seeds or cuttings in spring in well-composted plots. It’s sometimes difficult to establish, but once it has, it usually thrives.

Harvest: You can harvest the roots once the plant is at least three years old, in late summer or early autumn. Wash well and dry in an airy place indoors.

Healing properties: Make it into a tea to relieve a hacking cough and ease bronchial congestion.

Top tip: Avoid if pregnant, breastfeeding, have high blood pressure, diabetes, glaucoma, heart or kidney disease.

Botanical name: Zingiber officinale

This tropical perennial, with long dark-green leaves and exotic flowers, prefers a warm, humid climate, but it can be grown indoors elsewhere.

How to grow it: Ginger likes a sheltered spot with filtered light and moist yet free-draining soil with a pH range of 5.5-6.5. In late winter or early spring, cut knobs from the rhizome, with one or two growing buds, and place facing up at a depth of 5-10cm. Cover with soil and water well. To grow in a pot, use a quality potting mix and scatter through some water crystals to help preserve moisture. Place where there’s plenty of light, but out of direct sunlight. You don’t need to fertilise ginger in the ground, but potted ginger needs liquid seaweed extract every two weeks and daily misting.

Harvest: You can harvest the root when 10 months old. Use it fresh, or slice and dry for future use.

Healing properties: Ginger tea will ease a hacking cough, reduce lung congestion and warm you up if you feel chilly. A combination of ginger, garlic and lemon tea is a classic flu remedy.

Top tip: You can use organic ginger root from a health food shop if your local nursery doesn’t stock it.

Botanical name: Astragalus membranaceus

Astragalus is a magical plant, according to the Chinese, for boosting immunity and fighting viral infections such as the common cold. This herbaceous perennial grows to about 45cm and has small, ferny leaves and yellow flowers. It’s slow growing but once established is both drought- and frost-tolerant, so suits a wide range of climates.

How to grow it: it Astragalus is adaptable but prefers full sun to partial shade and sandy soil with good drainage and a pH of around 7. Sow seeds in spring and to speed germination, soak them in water overnight. It only requires moderate watering and little fertilising.

Harvest: Harvest the taproot when the plant is at least four years old. Wash and dry them in a cool, dark, airy place.

Healing properties: To boost your immune system, drink a cup of the decoction daily (see slide 11) in the run-up to the cold and flu season, but avoid it if you already have symptoms.

Top tip: The bonuses of using astragalus is that it will also boost your vitality and improve digestion.

Botanical name: Echinacea purpurea

This beautiful perennial has large, cone-shaped blooms and thrives at low elevations with mild winters and, due to its deep-growing taproot, it’s drought- and heat-tolerant once established.

How to grow it: Sow seeds in spring, or by root division of at least three-year-old plants in winter. It likes rich, loamy soil with a pH range of 6-8. These easy-care plants only need watering in prolonged dry weather and fertilisation if plants are weak and spindly.

Harvest: Harvest the roots of four-year-old plants in early winter. Hang in a cool, dark, airy place until dried, then chop finely.

Healing properties: It has antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties. Take 1/2 tsp tincture in water three times a day at the first signs of a cold or flu.

Top tip: Don’t take this if you’re pregnant, breastfeeding, have an autoimmune disease, allergy to the daisy family or are taking immune-suppressant medication.

Botanical name: Euphrasia officinalis

This pretty annual is classified as a partial parasite as it grows with the aid of other plants, such as grasses, drawing nutrients from their roots without harming them. Growing to about 10-20cm, its white or purple flowers attract bees.

How to grow it: Eyebright can grow in full sun to part shade, in light, sandy, or loamy soils, and tolerates a pH range between 6 and 8. Choose an area of lawn or semi-grassy spot in early spring and scrape away the top 5-10cm earth. Sprinkle seeds thinly over the area, then replace topsoil. Water regularly until seedlings appear, keeping the soil moist but not wet.

Harvest: The entire plant is cut above the roots in late summer and dried in the sun or in an airy spot indoors.

Healing properties: Eyebright tea is one of the best remedies for a head cold as it dries up catarrh, relieves earache, headache, sore throat and bronchial congestion.

Top tip: Combine eyebright with elderflower for an even more effective remedy.

Botanical name: Salvia officinalis

With its soft grey-green, downy leaves and pink-purple flowers, this hardy perennial is easy to grow in a sunny position in temperate climates.

How to grow it: It can be grown from seeds or stem cuttings and tolerates a wide range of soil conditions. However, it grows best in rich, loamy, well-draining soil, which has a good supply of nitrogen. Best time for planting is spring and early summer. Once established, water only when the soil has almost dried out as sage doesn’t like wet feet. This is why many people have trouble growing this beauty; they overwarter it.

Harvest: Harvest leaves just before flowering. You can use them fresh or dry them in a cool, airy place.

Healing properties: Make a tea from fresh or dried leaves to ease coughs and colds, or use as a gargle three times a day to soothe sore throats.

Top tip: Sage shouldn’t be used in large doses over a long period of time.

So you’ve grown it. Now what?

Tea: Place 1 tbsp fresh or 1-2 tsp dried herbs in a teapot. Pour over boiling water and stand for 5-10 minutes before drinking.

Tincture: Place 100g dried herbs in a jar with 500ml vodka. Seal and store in a cool, dark place for 10-14 days, shaking jar every two days. Strain and pour liquid into sterilised dark glass bottles. Seal and keep in a cool, dark place for up to two years.

Decoction: Place a large handful of herbs into a saucepan. Cover with 1 litre water and simmer until liquid reduces to about one-third. Strain liquid into a jug. Drink required dose and store remaining liquid, covered, in the fridge for two or three days.