How to Boost Your Immunity with these 5 Garden Herbs for Flu and Cold Season

You can use these 5 garden herbs for flu season to boost immunity and alleviate aching, nagging, cold, and flu symptoms.

Kids eating garden herbs

I honestly don’t want to talk about the flu. It hit hard this year. It drags on, gets passed around, kind of clears up, comes back again, drags on, and gets passed around.

To make matters worse, when you or your children are in the thick of it, short-term memory loss seems to kick in. It’s easy to forget what to do for yourself and your loved ones. We forget about convenient medicines found in everyday herbs.

You know how to boost your immune system. You’ve heard about it, and done it, before.  So, what I’m about to share with you may not surprise you. However, this reminder might be the thing to get you back on track for effective and easy self-care.

These 5 garden herbs might become your new best friends if you want to supercharge your immune system and beat the aches and pains of this flu season. And the best news is, all can easily be grown year-round in your Growing Dome greenhouse.

Sage (Salvia officinalis) The “Thinker’s Tea”

First of the Garden Herbs for Flu

Gargen Herbs for flu season - sage
Drink sage tea this flu season and the next one and in between

Here comes some Sage advice: Drink sage tea.

Called the “Thinker’s Tea,” Sage has been shown to enhance memory. That’s why it’s first on the list. Drink sage tea and remember there are power medicines in your garden.

Also, Sage tea is effective for relieving your sore throat, and alleviates painful cramping in the gut.

It’s pungent, bitter, and astringent. Sage is also anti-bacterial, and a natural antiseptic that is high in vitamin K, vitamin C, and vitamin A.

Drink sage tea. Your sore throat will thank you as it tightens and tones the irritated and swollen tissue.

Make Sage Tea: Pour 1 cup of hot water over 1 teaspoon of dried sage or 2 teaspoons of fresh leaves. Steep for 10 minutes and strain.

After my bad sage pun above, I’ll refrain from telling you which herb it’s time for next…

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

Number 2 of the Garden Herbs for Flu

Garden herbs for flu - thyme
Thyme for help with digestion immune support and pain relief

Here’s another tea to ease your sore throat, especially when it comes with a thick white coating on the tongue, congested mucus in the lungs, and spasmodic coughing.

Also, Thyme tea promotes pain relief from headaches, cramps, and body aches that are common territory of the flu.

Moreover, it’s anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and aides respiratory ailments. Oh, and it’s a mood enhancer that fights depression. Yes, please, I’ll have some.

Make Thyme Tea: Pour 1 cup of hot water over 1 teaspoon of dried Thyme or 2 teaspoons of fresh leaves. Steep for 10 minutes and strain.

Sage and Thyme are strong. They are bold and pungent. Let’s freshen things up a bit with a longtime favorite.

Peppermint (Mentha x piperita)

Number 3 of the Garden Herbs for Flu

Garden Herbs for flu - peppermint
Peppermint for tea Not just a nice tea peppermint is packed with strong medicine

Peppermint is an herbal tea favorite, and for good reason. It tastes good. It’s refreshing, cooling, and soothing. Thankfully, it also helps an upset stomach, colds, flu, fever, headaches, and sinus congestion.

Peppermint opens pores in the body and gives an escape route for excess heat when you have a fever.

Make Peppermint Tea: Pour 1 cup of hot water over 1 teaspoon of dried Peppermint or 2 teaspoons of fresh leaves. Steep for 10 minutes and strain.

Also, Peppermint is an excellent choice for an herbal steam to break up congestion.

Make Peppermint Steam: Pour just-boiled water over a handful of leaves in a medium sized bowl. Put a towel over your head and place your face just above the bowl. Catch and breathe in the rising steam. Make the temperature as warm as you can without burning yourself.

Garlic (Allium sativum)

Number 4 of the Garden Herbs for Flu

Garden herbs for flu - garlic

Garlic. Not really a garden herb for flu; more like a root or bulb for flu. Or is it a stem for flu? Who knew number 4 would be so confusing, but regardless: Garlic for flu.

With antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and anti-fungal benefits, garlic has been used for health and healing for thousands of years.

It is by far one of the most powerful immune boosting herbs. If you want to fight off sickness, if you are already sick and want to get back to health.

You need garlic.

Eat garlic. Eat it cooked. Eat it fresh and raw. Eat it any way to get it down.

You will stink. Your scent will give you away if you are playing hide and seek, and you might want to refrain from whispering sweet nothings to the one you want to woo for awhile.

However, it’s medicinal qualities are legendary and effective, bar none. The “Stinking Rose,” as it has been called, should be one of your mainstay herbs for flu season. 

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)

Number 5 of the Garden Herbs for Flu

Garden herbs for flu - rosemary
Rosemary tea for cold and shivery fever

Another of the common herbs for flu, Rosemary, can help with a fever during the beginning stages when you’re cold and shivering.

It’s another one for the memory banks too. Similar to the Sage advice from above, Rosemary boosts memory, and contains many beneficial properties.

  • anti-inflammatory
  • vitamin C
  • vitamin A
  • renowned for fighting infection
  • anti-fungal
  • antibacterial
  • antiseptic

Make Rosemary Tea: Pour 1 cup of hot water over 1 teaspoon of dried Rosemary or 2 teaspoons of fresh leaves. Steep for 10 minutes and strain.

Also, Rosemary is another great herb for a congestion breaking herbal steam.

Make Rosemary Steam: Pour just-boiled water over a handful of leaves in a medium sized bowl. Put a towel over your head and place your face just above the bowl. Catch and breathe in the rising steam. Make the temperature as warm as you can without burning yourself.

Rosemary smells amazing and the steam delivers relief to nasal and chest congestion.

Now, time for a Bonus!

Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)

Bonus of the Garden Herbs for Flu, Not just a throwaway fancy garnish. 

Garden Herbs for Flu - parsley
Your Bonus Herb Parsley

Parsley is not necessarily on the list to fight cold and flu symptoms. However, it builds health in many ways as you’ll see.

It’s an important herb to have on hand if you are brave enough to build your immunity with number 4, The Stinking Rose.

If you are eating fresh, raw garlic to boost your immune system, you’ll want to gather some parsley. 

Parsley can be used medicinally as a diuretic and is overall beneficial to the urinary system.

It relieves stagnant digestion, bloating, constipation, and gas while also stimulating a healthy appetite. It’s an excellent source of folate and vitamin K1, giving possible benefits to heart health. Parsley is high in antioxidants and helps reduce systemic inflammations in the body. 

Eat fresh parsley, it’s good for you. But, eat more than the little sprig on the side of your fancy sandwich plate. I mean eat large amounts, a big handful.

Now, for it’s magical quality. The reason to pair parsley with garlic, the real reason it’s the bonus herb on our list of garden herbs for flu season: it freshens your breath.

As you munch cloves of garlic this flu season, chase it down with a handful Parsley. Everyone will thank you. Or, at least they won’t completely avoid you.

garden herbs growing in a dome greenhouse
Garden Herbs in a Growing Dome Greenhouse

The Flu is Chasing You

However, with these 5 Garden Herbs for Flu Season, You are NOT Helpless.

Garden Herbs for Flu - raw garlic
Befriend the Stinking Rose Eat it Fresh Eat it Raw Chase it with Parsley

You can use these 5 garden herbs for the flu season to alleviate the pain and discomforts of being sick. It’s almost inevitable that you, or someone you love, will come down with the flu.

It’s out there, chasing you down right now. You don’t know from which direction, person, or sneeze it is coming but you know it’s there.

Wash your hands, wipe down the buggy handles at the grocery store, be wary of the shared phones at work, maybe all of those are worthwhile, and good advice.

However, it’s also important to cultivate your own healthy immune system.

We cannot control what other sick people do. They cannot be forced into total quarantine so we have the luxury of staying healthy. We have no agency over our exposure.

But we do hold the power to cultivate the natural defense shield of our own immune systems.

We just have to do it. And the aides are waiting; in the soil, on the windowsill planter, or sometimes already in your kitchen.

So, right now, go make tea. Not over-sweet chai, or London Fog full of caffeine and sugar. Make a powerful immune boosting tea and drink it to wash down the crunchy clove of garlic you ate.

Have your parsley handy!

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author avatar
Jason Stuck
For three days in March 2008 Jason Stuck shoveled gravel into a Growing Spaces’ 33’ Growing Dome. That was Jason's first “project” working for Growing Spaces. Jason easily fell in love with the product, the people, and the philosophy of helping the earth by helping others grow their own food. Jason wore many hats at Growing Spaces over the years. Shovel slinger, metal fabricator, shopkeeper and author. Jason wrote many articles for our website and newsletter.

2 Comments

  • Healthy eating ALL YEAR LONG, Positive psychological wellness (greenery), learning to grow and maintain Dome Greenhouse!

  • My Hispanic neighbor just gave me a large clump of large round leaved herb. She told me for a cold to put one leaf in water for tea and drink. Name of plant she did not know.

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