Italianomallow and lemon balm
Discover how to grow two plants with enormous health benefits: mallow and lemon balm
The Lemon Balm
Melissa officinalis, is a perennial herbaceous plant of Labiatae family, which can easily grow in pots, in the garden or on your balcony. It is a fairly resistant wild plant, its leaves are similar to those of nettle but with a pleasant lemon scent, they are rich in essential oils and active ingredients useful in the treatment of many ailments.
It’s a plant with antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, digestive and antinevralgic properties. Its fresh and dried leaves are mainly used to prepare relaxing herbal teas, which facilitate good sleep, digestion and stress reduction.
In fact, lemon balm consumption is used to calm states of anxiety, stress, nervousness, insomnia, headaches, nausea, and abdominal cramps.
The herbal tea made with fresh leaves of lemon balm, is rich in polyphenolic acids and polysaccharides, it has a powerful antiviral activity, also effective against Herpes simplex.
how to grow lemon balm
Choose round Kalapanta pots to sow the lemon balm and fill them with fresh and light soil.
Lemon balm lives well in shade and, like all aromatic plants, it is important never to leave water stagnation in the saucer, this makes the roots rot, the leaves dry and the plant suffers. In order to prevent this, it is better to choose a pot with drainage holes and a raised bottom.
The harvest of lemon balm leaves takes place in summer, before flowering. Our advice is to collect the leaves when they are fresh if you want to use them immediately, or leave them dry in a dry and airy place, for example outdoors, inside a paper bag for later uses.
With the dried lemon balm it will be very easy to prepare herbal teas and you can also use it as condiment or ingredient in soups.
Remember to prune the lemon balm in late summer and continue to care for it in autumn and winter with right watering. While waiting for spring, the leaves will be smaller, in summer the lemon balm will recover best and will become very lush.
Herbal tea with lemon balm
It is very easy to prepare herbal tea with lemon balm, here some tips:
What you need: 1 tablespoon straight with lemon balm leaves and 1 cup of water.
- Pour the leaves into the boiling water and then turn off the heat
- Cover and let steep for 10 minutes
- Filter the infusion and if you like, sweeten with some honey
The Mallow
Mallow also has powerful healing properties. It comes with large flowers that last from June until September. The flowers are pink or purple with darker streaks, the leaves are rich in mucilage that gives the plant anti-inflammatory and emollient properties.
It’s possible to sow the mallow in late winter, slightly burying its seeds in a pot. Then, transplant the seedlings into the garden once they have grown. After sowing and during the first few months, the seedlings should be watered regularly so that the soil remains wet. With dried leaves and flowers it is possible to make infusions and decoctions.