How to Grow an Herb Garden: Get Inspired by the Real Gardens of Chestnut Students

Written by Juliet Blankespoor
Photographs as credited

Juliet at Kestrel Herb Farm owned by Chestnut graduate Katie Greer of Western North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Taylor Hellhake.

Tending a garden nourishes more than the soil—it’s medicine for the mind, body, and spirit.

When we plant in harmony with the rhythms of the earth—its tides, its seasons, its quiet wisdom—we’re growing more than just plants. We’re growing connection.

This sense of rootedness is a powerful balm for these fast-paced times.

My own journey as an herbalist began with my first garden—a monumental flop in some ways, but it nonetheless filled me with joy and the desire to learn more.

That little patch of earth was the beginning of my lifelong dance with the plants and, eventually, the creation of the Chestnut School. My path as an herbalist has always been intricately woven with gardening. As I developed my curriculum, I knew I wanted to share this hands-on learning (in the literal sense: learning by tending and direct connection) with others.

Juliet Blankespoor teaching medicinal herb gardening at her farm in NC. Photograph by Emily Nichols.

Juliet Blankespoor teaching medicinal herb gardening at her farm in NC. Photographer Emily Nichols.

Over the years, I’ve been blessed to witness my students’ herb gardens flourish, bringing them (and me!) contentment and a sense of pride. It’s heartening to see the Chestnut students’ perseverance and hard work pay off in the form of bountiful gardens—places of beauty, healing, and solace.

Some are lush and untamed spots in the backyard, while others are on a larger scale, neat rows shaped by tractors. Countless students seize the opportunity to grow a surprising amount of medicine on a sunny deck or balcony. Others grow herbs in community gardens or along the walkways of their front yard. Each gathering of healing plants tells the story of an herbalist learning to grow.

I’ve gathered a few of my favorite student gardens to share with you. These glimpses into homegrown life celebrate the love of plants that pulse through the Chestnut community.

I also asked our students to tell us what they love most about their gardens—their most amusing stories, favorite plants, proudest moments, epic failures, and the quiet joys that come from tending plants.

Take a stroll through the beauty they’re cultivating:

Chestnut Student Garden Showcase - Elizabeth Thomas of 330 Alchemy

Elizabeth Thomas of 330 Alchemy stands tall among the mullein, digging fork in hand, ready for whatever magic the garden stirs up next.

Elizabeth Thomas, 330 Alchemy

Tell us about your proudest gardening moment.
I would say that it has been creating a garden with ecological restoration and biodiversity in mind. Just seeing the different plant, animal, and insect species return to the land has been rewarding.

Share your most amusing garden story.
It was actually from this year! I had an Ohio State University extension agent coming for my annual inspection (my garden is Certified Naturally Grown certified) and I had a young rabbit move in days before the inspection date. I spent many hours, daily, chasing this thing around and setting live traps. I never did catch that rabbit. It was actually standing on top of the trap to reach the red clover. The inspector shows up, I have some chewed on plants but it was no big deal. I had the realization that the rabbit is an indicator of a healthy ecosystem. This used to be a dead zone, just lawn. We have rabbits, hawks, and all kind of biodiversity now. I’ve made peace with the rabbit. I run him out of the garden still, but I don’t stress him like I used to.

Chestnut Student Garden Showcase - Zahra Violeta

Sariah, daughter of Zahra Violeta of Violet’s Herbs, harvesting tulsi in their family garden. Photo courtesy of Zahra Violeta.

Zahra Violeta of Violet’s Herbs

Tell us about your proudest gardening moment.
My proudest gardening moment was getting certified by the Louisiana Department of Agriculture. I had filled out the application not entirely sure what they were looking for. I was simply doing my best. Growing based on what I had learned at the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, along with gardening books and YouTube videos. I didn’t have a formal farming background, just a deep love for plants and a commitment to doing things the right way. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture came out to inspect my garden and everything passed with ease, it was a powerful moment. It felt like the work we were doing was not only valid, but worthy of recognition. As an entrepreneur, you don’t always get feedback or validation, so that certification felt like our first official stamp of approval. It reminded me that we’ve been on the right path all along.

Dana Stein in her vibrant garden, surrounded by towering growth and summer blooms. Photo by Matt Stein.

Dana Stein

Tell us about your proudest gardening moment.
A group of kids and moms were walking our neighborhood and I noticed they were pointing at all the flowers in our yard. Later, I found a hand written note from one of the children thanking us for having such a beautiful garden and how it really made them happy.

What’s your favorite plant in your garden, and why is it special to you?
Wild lettuce is my favorite plant. She’s as tall as our house and when she’s in bloom, the honey bees go “gaga” over her. Her medicine helps with headache pain and when I broke my wrist earlier this year, I opted out of pain meds and worked with wild lettuce instead.

Share your most amusing garden story.
I watched a video by Robin Rose Bennet and she was foraging her lunch and mentioned how she always harvests stinging nettle by hand to connect with the plants.

Well, I took her works a little too literally and decided to harvest my first ever patch o’ nettle by hand to really connect with the plant on a deeper level. My freakin hands stung and were swollen for days! Lesson learned and she (nettle) put me in my place.

Charlene Briggs of Earth Visions Consulting harvesting calendula in her abundant Pennsylvania garden.

Charlene Briggs of Earth Visions Consulting

Share your most amusing garden story.
In my early herbaling days, St. John’s Wort was among a new batch of plants gifted to me for my garden. I was a working single mom, so evenings as dusk settled in was generally my only time to weed. After weeding one evening in the dim light, I wondered to myself if I had weeded St. John’s Wort out of the garden.

Immediately, I felt (more than heard) a voice say, “Yes, and I am in the bag of weeds.” A bit stunned, I said, “Well I have to put my kids to bed, please hang in there and I promise I will look for you in the morning.”

As I gently pulled each “weed” out of the bag the next day, I asked “Are you St. John’s Wort?”, since I was not adept at identification at that point. When I got to St. John’s Wort, the answer was unmistakable.

I am a scientist and though it is impossible to quantify the voice of nature, any doubt that She speaks to us is a simply a function of alignment or not with our inherent listening skills.

Kristen of The Wayside beams with her record-breaking onion harvest — grown with love in Wayne, OK.

**Kristen of The Wayside in Wayne, OK**

Tell us about your proudest gardening moment.
This year when I grew my biggest onion ever!

What’s your favorite plant in your garden, and why is it special to you?
Rosemary. It reminds me of our family trip when staying at a farmhouse in Tuscany, and the smell also reminds me of our traditional Passover feast with homemade simple unleavened rosemary bread.

Lapis sniffing echinacea in Shannon McGinn’s pollinator garden.

Shannon McGinn

Share your most amusing garden story.
This is Lapis smelling the flowers in the pollinator garden I created in the unused space behind our garage. Lapis is a Middle Eastern village dog who befriended my husband while he was deployed to Afghanistan. Their relationship was so meaningful that my husband found a way to get her home. Being from the arid desert without much vegetation, she was completely amazed by flowers and plants. During the first many walks in her new home, she would often pick a flower along the way to carry all the way back home.

Tell us about your proudest gardening moment.
Creating the pollinator garden behind my garage. It is completely hidden from view but the pollinators found it. Now that space is purposeful.

What has been your biggest gardening challenge so far?
I try very hard to not put too much pressure on myself when in the garden. I feel like there are no mistakes, but rather opportunities to learn. I don’t expect success, but I do expect to learn a lot as I grow.

These breathtaking yet authentic gardens remind me that herbal learning never stays tucked away in books—it spills out onto balconies, along winding garden paths, and into rows of farmland.

Our students aren’t just growing spectacular gardens; they’re also building thriving herbal farms and businesses. You can explore some of the impressive work they’re doing in our Student Herbal Business Directory.

Discover how to grow an herb garden like a Chestnut student

Over the years, we’ve received heartwarming stories and photos of glorious gardens from students showcasing their herb gardens. This inspired us to gather a photo gallery—a glimpse of what’s truly possible and an invitation to dream, plant, and grow with the Chestnut School.

Use the thumbnails to browse each gardener’s story, and click on any image to view it in full and soak in the beauty.

Herbalist L. Leland of Blossomwood Botanicals 🌿 The concrete table in the center of my garden was a birthday gift from my mom. I had casually mentioned that I liked it—the way you might admire something like a a goat on the side of the road. Next thing I know, 1,000-pounds of concrete show up in giant crates. I was stunned. I didn’t even have a patio to support it. If I put it out into the grass it would have just sunk into the mud during our rainy season.
So the table stayed in its crates for two years! Eventually, I was able to design and build the garden around it. Patio, paths, plants—all circling this monument to an offhand comment. And you know what? It was totally worth it. The table looks perfect there. The whole garden came together because of it.
Angelina Shuman 🌿 Favorite plant: Oh goodness! How to choose. Right now it's tulsi. I know whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed, I can just brush my hands across it and inhale the calming scents.
Elizabeth Thomas of 330 Alchemy 🌿 My biggest challenge so far has been maximizing space. I farm on just .25 acres in the middle of a medium sized city. My biggest mistake so far had been initially planting following more of a monoculture method, but all is right now.
Annalisa Mazzarella of Wild Woods Herbals 🌿 This is my Plan B garden with over 50 raised beds! Once I moved to East Texas surrounded by the Davy Crockett National Forest, I was planning to create a permaculture-inspired orchard/food forest in an area that had been previously cleared but still had excellent wind-break coverage. However, the sheer volume of rain, crawfish mounds everywhere, and grown Salix nigra in the middle of fields (not by ponds or creeks) made me re-evaluate the "dream"...at least until I (and USDA/NRCS) can figure out drainage!
So, Plan B started—raised beds galore to let me grow my favorite herbs, flowers, and veggies. I gained an incredible appreciation for the skill required to operate tractors, without which I would have never been able to fill all these beds, and quality soil from amazing local suppliers.
But even more importantly, without Chestnut's teachings, I would have never been able to create all this! THANK YOU.
Pat Grenier of HeartFelt Farm 🌿 More times than I would like to count, I have purchased a herb/plant to add to my garden only to discover it growing naturally somewhere else on my farm. Each season of every year, I choose a new favorite plant. Life's challenges, family joys, the weather, plant maturity, new additions, etc., seem to make me gravitate to a new favorite!
Pat Grenier of HeartFelt Farm 🌿 Proudest gardening moment: Customers love my tinctures, teas, and salves, which are all made by me from the plants I've grown.
Kip, Bend, OR 🌿 Proudest gardening moment: With limited space I was pleased with how well the raised herb planters worked.
Kip, Bend, OR 🌿 I grew tulsi from seed and transplanted with calendula & anise hyssop seedlings. All was well until a woodchuck snuck in and ate ALL the tulsi. So sad, but amusing.
Charlene Briggs of Earth Visions Consulting 🌿 Favorite plant: Comfrey heals all my garden boo boos. I generally have a poultice on somewhere. And she is vibrant!
Charlene Briggs of Earth Visions Consulting 🌿 Proudest gardening moment: Moving all my plants from a previous residence, some for the third or fourth move, watching them thrive, happily, in my new garden spot and realizing that they are my companions.
Charlene Briggs of Earth Visions Consulting 🌿 Charlene's garden in bloom.
Jenni McGray, The Barefoot Chic 🌿 Favorite Plant: Rosemary. It is just so tolerant of the harsh summers and I love to run my hands through it and smell its soothing scent.
Jenni McGray, The Barefoot Chic 🌿 I'm most proud of my Seminole Pumpkin plant (we have named Seymour) that is center stage in my garden. It produces lovely Seminole pumpkins that I can make my favorite soup from.
Jenni McGray, The Barefoot Chic 🌿 There are always tons of butterflies, bees, and dragonflies in my garden. I was following a butterfly around the blossoms and he seemed to be annoyed with me filming him. I would pause and stop and he would land and go about his business and as soon as I would try and catch him on camera he would fly up at me as if to say, “Privacy Please!”
Hannah Murray of The Gutsy Herbalist 🌿 Gardening should be considered a form of therapy—it brings us right to our edge and then invites us to soften as we realize we truly have no control here, all we can do is plant the seeds and ask the Earth to support us in our endeavor, it is truly an act of surrender.
We moved onto 12 acres this year and I planted my first garden using guidance from Juliet's book The Healing Garden. I pored over other organic gardening books, studied soil science and watched countless videos on the art of soil blocking, sowed hundreds of seeds, had a plastic greenhouse blow over, and our cat knocked all my transplants over. Finally when I got everything in the ground and felt like I could take a deep breath, a pregnant mama deer made my garden her salad bar. (continued next slide)
Hannah Murray of The Gutsy Herbalist 🌿 (continued)
In that moment I thought this is it, I'm done—my spirit woman knowing that wasn't true, but I stomped inside tossing my shovel and hoe to the side.
The next morning, I woke up, assessed the damage, my husband built a temporary fencing solution, and I got right back to sowing seeds.
Now my calendula is bursting open in the sun, the cucumber plants the mama deer ate grew back and are trellising like wild, we've eaten potatoes every day this month, I harvested enough chamomile to make baby balms for friends, and have tulsi hanging off the rafters. I feel grateful for the Earth for what she provides. If anything, gardening shows us to go with the flow, stay committed to the vision and enjoy the ride. The fruits of our labor will always come in time—perhaps not in the ways we imagined. What is more magical than that?
Shannon Pattee Bazemore 🌿 My proudest gardening moment is seeing the passion of gardening ignite in my daughter and the excitement when she sees a seed sprout. That just happened this year.
Shannon Pattee Bazemore 🌿 I walk the farm in the evenings and find pottery, marbles and pieces of purple, blue, and amber glass. I imagine the happenings on the farm a century or more ago when there was a home on that spot. One evening, I was foraging chickweed from under the pecan trees. While taking a break, I looked up and saw this very old baby doll, staring down at me. It was stuck in the crevice of the trunk of the tree. Very creepy. She is still there. I will not move her. She is staying right where she is. If you look in the crevice of the trunk of the pecan tree, you will see the little head of the very old baby doll.
Genessa Zickefoose 🌿 My favorite plant in my garden is my rue (Ruta graveolens), which I planted in honor of my great-grandmother and my Lithuanian ancestors. It was a special plant to her and I appreciate that it requires some respect! It is also considered the national flower and herb of Lithuania.
Genessa Zickefoose 🌿 Proudest gardening moment: My Olympic Mullein (not pictured) finally bloomed during its third year! I almost gave up on them after they didn't bloom during their second year, thinking that was my last chance to see them bloom. This summer their golden flowers are rising above my fence in all their strength and glory!
Sheri Daley 🌿 Proudest gardening moment: Building these garden beds in a way that works for the limits and requirements of our property. They are specific to meet our land's needs, and will last for decades!
Karen Tyndall 🌿 Favorite plant: Giant sunflower came from my brother's last year from Iowa. Go big or go home!
Zahra Violeta of Violet's Herbs 🌿 My biggest mistake has been not having a consistent plan for pest management and fertilization. I create my own sprays using natural ingredients, but growing herbs adds another layer of complexity. Since you’re using the leaves for tea, you don’t want to spray them with anything too strong smelling or that might affect flavor, like neem oil. Balancing protection and purity has been an ongoing learning curve. I’m still refining my system. Every season I get a little better at it.
Cheryl Bump 🌿 My very first summer of Chestnut School, I was feeling motivated and ambitious! I planted A LOT of seeds and thought I labeled well. I had no idea the difference between the plants and the weeds—and this was even AFTER transplanting the seedlings! It was a hot mess! That same summer, I harvested a ton of honeysuckle and after an hour I realized it wasn't even the right species. I was SO CLUELESS, yet tried so hard. 🥴 Looking back, I made so many mistakes, wasted so much time and so many seeds, yet learned SO MUCH! I'm embracing all my mistakes (which are EVERY SUMMER!) because it's making me a better gardener and herbalist. I'm definitely getting to know the plants and I realize it's more about the process than perfection!
@christabolito 🌿 I love the skullcap in my garden, because it’s just so exuberant and happy to be where it is! I work with Skullcap daily—it’s one of my daily tinctures —and this batch in this particular garden has hopped the garden boundary and is now filling my walkways!
Carolyn Rames 🌿 Proudest gardening moment: In 1984, winning Organic Gardening magazine contest when I was pregnant and had a toddler. My garden placed 1st for our region of the country because we were doing so many good things on a small area. The herb garden was spectacular.
Carolyn Rames 🌿 Biggest gardening challenge: Moving to Ohio and having only 1/2 acre of clay to grow on.
Never Miss It Farms 🌿 Biggest challenge: Having too much space ( we have 10 acres) and how to fill it all with medicinal plants and also make it beautiful and "secret garden-esque." My biggest mistake was putting trees I couldn't find a spot for in a 5 gallon bucket and them rooting through the bucket into the ground and growing a tree in between two raised beds!
Kristen of The Wayside in Wayne, Oklahoma 🌿 Favorite plant: Rosemary. It reminds me of our family trip when staying at a farmhouse in Tuscany, and the smell also reminds me of our traditional Passover feast with homemade simple unleavened rosemary bread.
Kristen of The Wayside in Wayne, Oklahoma 🌿 Growing from seeds is sooo hard for me. Oklahoma weather is super challenging to me. So are pests.
Tammy P. 🌿 There is a family of catbirds that nest in my garden every year, they are quite sassy. One morning not long ago, I was sitting on my patio drinking my morning coffee when the catbird landed in front of my oregano patch, right in front of me, he stared right at me, ripped a big sprig of oregano off, looked at me again as if to challenge me, and then flew off. He did that four times. It was hilarious.
Sarah B. 🌿 Every year I have one wasp that seems to love me. It'll follow me all over the garden and wait for me to refill the watering holes. I know it's not the same one each year, but word must get out!
Gemma Tremblay 🌿 🌗 Goodnight Garden 🌗
Late night planning summer garden seeds in the new Amish custom built greenhouse.

Ready to learn how to grow an herb garden of your own?

Here are a few free resources to help you get started:

You’ll also find guidance in my best-selling book, The Healing Garden: Cultivating & Handcrafting Herbal Remedies. Inside, you’ll explore the essentials of organic herb gardening, learn special germination techniques for starting herbs from seed, and get to know dozens of easy-to-grow medicinal and culinary plants.

Whether you dream of growing medicinal herbs, building a backyard sanctuary for pollinators, or even one day running your own herbal business, it all starts by planting those first seeds—and finding the right community to support you.

Chestnut School’s Herbal Immersion Program offers the knowledge, guidance, and support to help you grow a thriving herb garden as nourishing, obtainable, and abundant as the ones you’ve seen here.

Meet Our Contributor:

JULIET BLANKESPOOR is the founder, primary instructor, and Creative Director of the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, an online school serving thousands of students from around the globe. She's a professional plant-human matchmaker and bonafide plant geek, with a degree in botany and over 30 years of experience teaching and writing about herbalism, medicine making, and organic herb cultivation. Juliet’s lifelong captivation with medicinal weeds and herb gardening has birthed many botanical enterprises over the decades, including an herbal nursery and a farm-to-apothecary herbal products business.

These days, she channels her botanical obsession through her writing and photography in her online programs, on her personal blog Castanea, and in her new book, The Healing Garden: Cultivating and Handcrafting Herbal Remedies. Juliet and her family reside in a home overrun with houseplants and books in Asheville, North Carolina.

Interested in becoming a contributor?

© Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine and chestnutherbs.com, 2011-2025. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine and chestnutherbs.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Want to take a deeper dive into medicinal herbs and their uses?

Our 1,200-hour Herbal Immersion Program is the most comprehensive handcrafted online herbal course available, covering botany, foraging, herb cultivation, medicine making, and therapeutics.

The Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine online Herbal Immersion Program.

2 thoughts on “How to Grow an Herb Garden: Get Inspired by the Real Gardens of Chestnut Students”

Linda Wastila says:

July 27, 2025 at 1:07 pm

These gardens are gorgeous–and inspirational! My own is in its 2nd full year, though the previous owner of my land had left good bones. The two summers before we were in drought, so poppies and calendula and thistle thrived. This year has been very wet, so the garden disappointed (calendula and poppies rotted) and exhilarated (clary sage taller than me, sunflowers and cucumbers for the first time). Tulsi has always been very happy where she sits, and she self-seeds every year. I felt intimidated to provide pics, but will next year. Peace…

- Christine Borosh says:
  
  July 30, 2025 at 11:53 am
  
  It’s so interesting to notice what thrives in the garden in any given year. That can often change with different environmental factors as you’re experiencing. We’d love to see photos when you’re ready to share!

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

How to Grow an Herb Garden: Get Inspired by the Real Gardens of Chestnut Students

Written by Juliet Blankespoor Photographs as credited