Today is Groundhog Day and about 7 hours ago Punxsutawney came out of his burrow on the knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania and did not see his shadow! For all the loyal follows of Phil the groundhog out there, that means that we are all due for an early spring. Now for all those of you, which is about 1/3rd of the US that are still enduring through the massive US snow storm that just ravaged us, it is hard to tell.

But usually it is true when there is a bad winter we are looking at an earlier than usual spring. With all the hoopla about early Spring it is a perfect time to start preparing and making plans for the wonder Spring time herb garden. And hopefully more people this year than usual will also think about preparing and planning for a nice spring time vegetable garden.

Well if you have never planted an herb garden you might be wondering what type of herbs would you need or just like to try and grow. There is a system that some follow but here is the basics: You want to make sure you understand that some herbs are best for use as medicine and some are best if used for cooking and some are best when used in tea, as a general “anytime” beverage.

And of course there are herbs that can qualify as best used in more than one category. But for the beginner you don’t have to sit and think till your head explodes over what types of herbs to start in your garden this year. It just simply does not matter like that. Reason being is because all herbs have multiple uses and all safe herbs can be used to cook with, be used as some sort of ailment fix or cure and most that can be cooked with can also be eaten or drank.

One very good herb to plant in your spring herb garden would be Parsley. Reason being that Parsley can be made into a tea and mixed with black pepper and mint to take a fever down. It can be added to any cooking dish for added flavor and health and since it takes down fevers it can be made into a tincture with vodka or distilled water.

Later the tincture can be added to juice or tea or food and consumed for fever reduction. Parsley does plenty more too; a nice search in Google using “health benefits of parsley” will get you plenty of information. Other good herbs to grow that can be used for a variety of reasons this spring is peppermint, and any herb that fits into the mint family simply because it will sooth a stomach ache faster than any medicine on the market.

With the kids sure to be running around when it warms up outdoors and eating from the cookouts on weekends and ice cream on hot days there will surely be plenty of stomach aches to deal with. That is of course unless the ice cream and veggies on the grill are organic and the meat is fresh from your local farm and was raised all natural.

But peppermint is also a great herb to grow that can be mixed with all other herbs to make the taste of some less delectable herbs better. Women will find the mixing peppermint with their cramp bark and Dong Quai changes the flavor of those herbs drastically to a point that the tea is easy to take. You can’t go wrong growing all your favorite herbs for cooking either.

You will definitely save tons of cash if you can just go out into your garden and pick the herbs you want when you want. Herbs such as oregano, thyme, rosemary, chives, basil, lemon grass, horsetail, lemon balm, and lavender will be very useful this spring and summer in cooking, teas, and making medicines.

Some herbs such as lemon grass, lavender, and lemon balm can also be used to make items such as soap, shampoo and conditioner and during the spring and summer time those crafts would a be great to do outdoors with your kids. Some herbs such as Thyme, Eucalyptus and lemon grass are a natural bug repellant as well and if planted throughout your veggie garden or around it as a perimeter will help in pest control.

You can actually take olive oil infused with those three herbs and make your own bug repellant that is an all-natural spray you can use on yourself, the kids, the animals and the garden. We know that this spring and summer we will deal with bugs so be prepared and grow your own organic bug spray. Although there are a lot more that could be included in the herb garden, the best rule of thumb is to check on what you want to grow and make sure that it will be ready this growing season.

Herbs such as the lemon grass will not be ready for two seasons unless you by it fully grown. So you might be disappointed when you cannot use what you have grown until the next year. If your family deals with a lot of allergies in the warm months, then do some research and find out what herbs help with that, grow that and save money and health on not buying drugs. Ideals like that should be put into your thought process when planning your spring time herb garden, thank you Punxsutawney Phil!