Lemon Balm

Melissa officinalis
Common balm, sweet balm

$5.00

In stock

Description

Lemon balm is a wonderful herb for the homestead garden and kitchen. Her name suits her well because lemon balm’s scent is deliciously lemony! I love to rub my fingers over her leaves in the garden or pick up a leaf to smell and nibble. Lemon balm’s lemony smell transports me into a calm sense of joy and peace.

Lemon balm is a fun herb to cook with and we enjoy adding fresh or dried leaves to soups and stews. They are a great herb to add into spring rolls or noodle dishes in place of tropical herbs. Lemon balm also offers a delicious tea.

Medicinally, lemon balm is perhaps best known as being a calming herb. Sure enough, the tea of dry or fresh leaves and the tincture of fresh leaves offers peace and calming for frazzled nerves. Lemon balm is also antiviral, specifically when used externally, and is well known for helping to relieve herpes.

Lemon balm is high in volatile oils and I can feel them when I rub my fingers over the plant or hold her harvested leaves or stalks in my hand, a nice smooth, calm feeling that I associate with lemon balm oils in my hand and smells in my nose.

Lemon balm’s botanical name is Mellisa officianalis loosely translates to an official remedy from the bees. Indeed Melissa is greek for honey bee and lemon balm lives true to her name because she brings the bees to the yard.

Lemon balm is very easy to grow in the garden once established and as a perennial that excels at volunteering, you’ll probably not be without lemon balm. In fact we are exclusively wild tending lemon balm in our gardens. She grows in numerous places and we nary have to shake seeds around.

Lemon balm is deer resistant and thrives quite well outside of our deer fencing.

Lemon balm spreads by rhizome underground, but not to worry—unlike mint she creeps very slowly and rhizomes only creep a few inches. She is also easy to pull or dig out of well tended garden soil. While we have to maintain boundaries with mint, we no problem allowing lemon balm to grow wherever she wants. If we want her space for other plants it’s easy enough to pull her out. She makes a great gardener’s companion in this way, holding space, shading and improving soil and offering food and medicine for us and the bees.

In fact I am so glad lemon balm reseeds so readily. I collect as much seed as I can each season, and she still re-seeds all over our gardens. I collect and clean her seed and we use it for cooking in place of chia seeds. Lemon balm seeds are similar size and flavor to chia and offer the same mucilage which can be used in the same way as egg replacement, bonding agent and even medicinally. Unlike chia, lemon balm is much easier to grow in our garden.

I am so glad lemon balm made friends with us in our garden and I am sure she would make a lovely addition and companion in your garden as well. We’re very excited to share lemon balm seeds with you!

Details

Lifecycle: Perennial
Lifespan: 20-30 years
Hardiness zones: 4-8 (USDA)
Habitats: Clearings and moist edges in Europe, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Plant size: 1 1/2 ft wide x 2 1/2 ft tall
Light: Full sun to part shade
Soil: All soil types, but fertile soil is preferred
Water: Moist soil preferred, can tolerate some dry soils
Seeds per packet: 230+ seeds

Seed Starting

Start in fall and lightly tamp seed into the surface of the soil, or just barely cover the small seed with soil. Keep seeds moist until they germinate. When they are large enough to handle, divide the seedlings and grow them up in their own pots for their first season. Plant them into their final positions in the fall or following spring.

Cultivation

Hyssop loves rich garden soil. Lemon balm is very easy to grow and requires little care, but regular pruning once or twice a season can extend it’s lifespan. Lemon balm doesn’t get woody so in fact you’ll probably want to prune out old flower stalks once they have gone to seed (or before flowering if you don’t want lemon balm spreading).

Harvest

Harvest the leaves when they are in their prime. For fresh cooking I like to collect the tender tops of the plant, including the tender portion of the stem, so that all I have to do in the kitchen is chop it to size. Otherwise sometimes I pick individual leaves.

For drying, it’s best to prune stalks before they have flowered and bunch and hang or spread out to dry.

Propagation

Lemon balm is very easy to propagate by seed. In fact once you have one or more plants going to seed in your garden I would be surprised if you did not have lemon balm volunteers in your garden for life! Lemon balm can also be divided in the fall and started from cuttings in water or moist soil in summer.

Seed Saving

After flowers have dried and the small seed heads have turned brown, ripe seeds inside are ready for harvest. Clip brown seed stalks into a container, allow them to dry and then thresh by beating or crushing them to release the seeds. Screen and lightly blow on the seed to winnow dust and other bits of chaff.

Additional information

Weight0.007 lbs
Dimensions4.5 × 3.25 × .05 in

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