Ten Great Medicinal Herbs for Prepping Your “Doomsday” Garden (Part II)

Previously. I surveyed five medicinal herbs. Remember that this list is for use in the event of a natural disaster or societal collapse. We should all hope that we never face a day without access to medical care or supplies.

Let’s look at the other five herbs recommended for prepping your garden, shall we?

Garlic

Garlic is a terrific spice for cooking, but it also has outstanding health benefits and can be taken often because it’s one of the safest herbs. However, cooking garlic will considerably weaken its anti-viral and anti-bacterial effectiveness. Eating it raw is a more potent way to stay healthy, but it will also drive everyone else away.

If you’d rather not eat a clove of raw garlic, try soaking a quarter pound of peeled garlic in a half quart of brandy, seal it, shake it each day, strain, and bottle after two weeks; then ingest 25-30 drops each day.

For flu, colds, coughs, and respiratory infections, you can make a cough syrup from garlic if you’d prefer not to eat it raw. Add a bit of honey to make it taste better if you want to. Likewise, garlic tea will aid in sore throats.

Other internal uses that garlic can remedy are strep throat, ulcers, some viruses, high blood pressure, stomach cancer, blood thinning, bladder problems, colic in babies, and kidney issues.

Garlic has anti-infective properties, in addition to being an anti-bacterial agent, when used topically. For example, take a slice of garlic clove, briefly heat it in virgin olive oil, cool it, strain it, and then apply one or two drops to an aching ear or tooth.

Additionally, you can create an ointment from a garlic clove to treat athlete’s foot, joint pain, wounds, skin infections, cuts, and other external fungal infections or skin irritation.

Peppermint

This is a beneficial herb, and it tastes good, too! The Peppermint leaf makes a great tea and is a good cure for throat inflammation, cough, sinus infections, the common cold, heartburn, respiratory infections, menstrual cramps, nausea, irritable bowel syndrome, morning sickness, appetite stimulant, stomach cramps, vomiting, overgrowth of bacteria of the small intestine, diarrhea, gas, upset stomach, and muscle spasms.

Peppermint oil is suitable for external use for nerve pain, headaches, muscle pain, toothaches, itchiness, mouth inflammation, an allergic rash, joint conditions, viral and bacterial infections, and keeping away mosquitoes.

You could even inhale peppermint oil to help relieve cold and cough symptoms or as a painkiller.

Sage

There are so many uses for this excellent herb. Made as a tea, it can ease depression, relieve a sore throat when mixed with apple cider vinegar and salt and gargled, reduce gas, soothe digestive problems, lower blood sugar, minimize flu symptoms, and help upset stomachs.

Externally, as an astringent, sage can be used as an after-shave, to clean your teeth, and to freshen bad breath. It also makes a good antiperspirant because of its moisture-drying properties. This herb is essential for mouth ulcers and mouth sores due to sage’s irritant properties; make teas with equal parts of sage and chamomile and use them as a mouth rinse. A sage compress works well on wounds and cuts. For reducing fevers, add sage to a bath.

Tea Tree Oil

This excellent oil isn’t just an antiseptic; it also has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral properties. So, even though it shouldn’t be ingested, tea tree oil still has many great uses.

Tea tree oil is a soothing, anti-inflammatory, and effective painkiller for the skin. You can apply it to your skin to heal minor burns, cuts, yeast infections, herpes, cold sores, abrasions, warts, insect bites, acne, athlete’s foot, lice, oily skin, rashes, carbuncles, and boils. Tea Tree Oil is also helpful for foot odor, blisters, toenail fungus, eczema, and dandruff.

It has many other uses as well. For example, you can inhale the steam from the oil to help with chest congestion and respiratory ailments such as the common cold, sore throat, bronchitis, flu, asthma, and tuberculosis.

In addition, the oil’s anti-viral agents fight many common infectious diseases, and inhaling the steam will also ward off shingles, chickenpox, and measles; it’ll also strengthen your immune system.

It’s great as a mouthwash for inflamed gums, bad breath, and plaque; you only need three drops in a cup of warm water, taken 2 or 3 times daily. But never swallow the mouthwash. For laryngitis and canker sores, add 3 or 4 drops to a cup of warm water and gargle twice a day—remember, don’t swallow the solution.

Thyme

Thyme is a potent herb, so use it with care. When used externally, it can cause skin irritation if you use too much. Likewise, internally, it should only be taken once a day.

Thyme can be made into a paste with alcohol, used as an antiseptic for sores and skin inflammations, and as a cleanser for scabies, lice, crabs, and athlete’s foot. Thyme oil also works well as a mouthwash for bad breath and could be used for ear infections; it could also be applied to the scalp to aid baldness.

Thyme works well as a tea sweetened with a bit of honey to treat a sore throat, bronchitis, colic, whooping cough, bedwetting, arthritis, gas, skin disorders, upset stomach, parasitic worm infections, stomach pain, dyspraxia, and diarrhea. The tea can also be utilized as a urine disinfectant, a fever reducer, a diuretic that increases urine flow, and an appetite stimulant.

Stock Up on Herbs

Again, this is just a preliminary list of herbs that are easy to grow in your garden to maintain your health. Researching and writing down the great benefits of common herbs that are worthwhile to plant in your garden is a good idea. You’ll then have a little pharmacy when a natural disaster arrives.

Furthermore, it would help if you took the time to research herb combinations. The strength of herbal medicine is often multiplied by combining herbs that complement each other to create a more effective remedy, rather than using a single herb.

With the cold weather we are all experiencing, it’s tough to think about gardening, but Spring will be here before you know it, so get your ducks in a row so you can have your Medicinal Herb Garden planned and ready to go. Better yet, start your Herb Garden indoors.