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The Healing Garden: Cultivating and Handcrafting Herbal Remedies

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A comprehensive and lushly photographed guide to growing and using healing plants, including recipes, from the founder of the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine

This is the ultimate reference for anyone looking to bring the beauty and therapeutic properties of plants into their garden, kitchen, and home apothecary. Both informative and accessible, it covers how to plan your garden (including container gardening for small spaces); essential information on seed propagation, soil quality, and holistic gardening practices; 30 detailed profiles of must-know plants (including growing information, medicinal properties, and how to use them); foundational principles of herbalism; step-by-step photographic tutorials for preparing botanical medicine and healing foods; and 70 recipes for teas, tinctures, oils, salves, syrups, and more. Packed with sumptuous photography, this book will appeal to home gardeners who want to branch out to culinary and medicinal herbs, home cooks and those interested in natural wellness, and novice and skillful herbalists alike.

448 pages, Hardcover

Published April 5, 2022

219 people are currently reading
3697 people want to read

About the author

Juliet Blankespoor

7 books12 followers

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5 stars
246 (69%)
4 stars
79 (22%)
3 stars
23 (6%)
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4 (1%)
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3 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
Profile Image for Alicia Bayer.
Author 10 books251 followers
October 26, 2021
This is a wonderful guide to growing your own herbal plants and using them in natural remedies. The first half is very much a gardening guide, so it will be helpful for those who are new to gardening. It's very comprehensive and will be a great asset. The second half goes into the plants she profiles, both how to grow them and how to use them, with details about their benefits, contraindications, and so on. One or two recipes are included for some of the plants.

The plants featured are: anise hyssop, ashwagandha, basil, bee balm, black cohosh, calendula, chickweed, dandelion, echinacea, elderberry, elecampane, goldenrod, goldenseal, gotu kola, hibiscus, lavender, lemon balm, meadowsweet, milky oats, mint, motherwort, passionflower, prickly pear, rose, skullcap, spillanthes, stinging nettles, tulsi, valerian, vervain, violet, yarrow. Not all of these grow in my climate, but many of them will grow in most temperate areas. Most are perennials, though some are annuals.

I wish there were more plants featured, as some that I use the most are not included (some that come to mind are mullein, garlic, horsetail, cleavers, red clover, hawthorn, burdock, horseradish, mugwort, pine, plantain leaf, sage, aloe and chamomile). Obviously, many of these are found in the wild and more easily foraged (which can also be said for many that she includes, such as dandelions and stinging nettles), but many of my favorite remedies are missing and some of the ones she includes are not ones that I'd consider especially noteworthy. She includes a wonderful range though, and great instructions on how to grow them.

This is a great start for those who are new to healing remedies and growing them in their gardens, though, plus very detailed information about the basics of herbal remedies. I'd highly recommend it for new or intermediate gardeners and herbal enthusiasts.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.
Profile Image for Jennifer.
1,439 reviews98 followers
April 6, 2022
This was an in-depth look at herbal garden. The author talks about space, containers, soil preparation.
This would be a great gift to give anyone who’s serious about having a herbal landscape.
The author breaks down the types of herbs and the growing info for any lay person.
Beautiful pictures are spread throughout the book. Very through and informative. I recommend it for a fan of herbs.
Thanks Marina Books via NetGalley.
Profile Image for Kelly.
212 reviews16 followers
April 7, 2022
I cannot believe how much is packed into this book! Juliet Blankespoor covers it all. You don't need to be a master gardener to understand the information in this book. Juliet breaks it down for all levels of gardening experience. Also, you don't need to turn your entire backyard into a garden (although she shows you how and I dream of this!); there is plenty here for the container gardener. Whether you're here to learn how to grown one or two herbs for culinary use or an entire garden for medicine making, Juliet has you covered.

Once you have your herbs grown, Juliet goes into harvesting and drying methods and then describes the art of medicine making. Once again, the text and the photos and the wisdom shared here makes this attainable for every level of herbalist.

Don't want to grow your own herbal garden, small or large? That's okay. You can still glean so much wisdom from this book! The herbal materials Juliet uses in her medicine making can be found at local farmers markets, herb shops, or online. Check the Herbal Resources in the back for a list of responsible sources if you don't know of any in your own community.

Need an impressive gift? Herbal Compound Butters and Herbal Finishing Salts are quite easy to make and are thoughtful, unique gifts.

I always love when an herbal book breaks down herbs with their medicinal properties and then gives culinary uses for everyday foods. This is such an attainable way to nourish your body with healing herbs! The Healing Garden takes us just a small step beyond the most commonly used herbs for this section. However, I found that these were still very attainable herbs. I cannot wait to try Thai Calendula Chicken Soup or Rainbow Nopales Salsa.

Bonus: The photography is gorgeous and immensely helpful in the how-to sections.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the digital ARC of The Healing Garden. I really cannot wait to add a hard copy of this title to my personal bookshelf, as well as introduce it to my herb and garden loving patrons!
Profile Image for Annie.
4,719 reviews86 followers
March 20, 2022
Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Healing Garden is an encyclopedic herbal and guide to medicinal plants and herbal medicine by Juliet Blankespoor. Due out 8th April 2022 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on their Mariner imprint, it's a substantial 448 pages and will be available in hardcover, and ebook formats.

This is a well written and accessible beginner-friendly guide (with recipes and tutorials) for herb gardening and herbal medicine.The author writes with competence and experience on choosing, growing, harvesting, processing, and using herbs and the active ingredients they contain. The first section (~25%) covers culture, siting, soil building, pest control, and propagation (very useful info here). The chapters in section 2 introduce methods for harvesting and preparing/preserving plant material without destroying active ingredients. The third and largest section contains a survey of active ingredients, safety issues, and a comprehensive herbal with profiles for 32 common herbs from anise hyssop to yarrow.

The tutorials and recipes include tools and ingredients in a bullet style list. Measurements are in American/imperial units with metric/standard measures in parentheses (yay!), followed by step by step instructions. Plant profiles in the herbal chapters include common and botanical (Latin) nomenclature, culture info, habit (size, spread), propagation, medicinal uses, and recipes and tutorials for specific uses.

The book is lushly illustrated and photographed throughout in full color. The author has also included a resource and links lists, bibliography, and index.

Five stars. This would be a superlative choice for public or school library acquisition, community garden/allotment member libraries, or the home gardener's library.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Profile Image for Lindsey Bailey.
48 reviews1 follower
June 26, 2022
My favorite herbal so far! Clear, accessible, excellent information about both plants and making plant medicine - and it's enjoyable to read too. I'm having a hard time not taking it everywhere with me.
Profile Image for Beth.
1,155 reviews29 followers
June 13, 2022
Useful and thorough book combining details on both how to grow and how to use medicinal herbs, including recipes and directions for all kinds of tinctures, teas, salves, soaks and more. Great resource.
Profile Image for Arika.
150 reviews13 followers
October 9, 2022
The Healing Garden is a beautifully written book about using holistic solutions to everyday problems. Something that stood out immediately when I first got this book was all the beautiful pictures. I love when authors give pictures of what they are teaching the reader and this author does that all throughout this book. We start the book with a background on the author and the qualifications she has to give advice on this topic. The book is organized into 2 parts which makes it easy for reference sake when you are putting the advice to use.

Part 1 is about starting with a good foundation for your herb garden, different types, and tools you may need. We get an in depth look into soil and how to get the soil you’re working with up to the standard you will need going forward. A favorite section in this part was about Holistic solutions for pests and disease, something that anyone who is hoping to garden organically will be very interested in! We also get an explanation about what different types of herbs there are (medicinal and culinary) and lastly how to use containers for your herb garden.

Part 2 is all about making medicine, it is full of more exemplary photos to help guide the reader. We start this section with directions on harvesting and drying out herbs for use both medicinally and culinary. Included here is a history on medicinal herbs and best preserving methods that have been used for as long as there have been civilizations. Next up are recipes for teas, tinctures, salves, infusions, honeys, syrups, salts, oils etc. Many of these recipes are a basic starting point that give the options of customizing a lot of different ways. The remainder of the book is a guide to what I would call “favorite” herbs and ones that anyone starting out will need to know a lot of information about. Each herb has its own section organized alphabetically that gives a brief history, growing information, and then a long look at how it can be used, including specific physical ailments that this herb can help.

After reading the acknowledgements I found that the people in the photographs throughout the book are actually fellow herb gardeners and plant-lovers, such a unique feature! I know I will be using this book as a reference in the future and am so grateful to the author for all the time and effort she put into making such a wonderful guide.
Profile Image for Carissa.
519 reviews9 followers
June 3, 2025
This was a good, encompassing guide to herbology that gave credit where credit was due. It was broken into multiple sections including what to plant in what type of garden (including warnings against what might be invasive), gave different ways to use herbs (balms, tinctures, vinegars, ect.), and covered some of the basic herb profiles with some recipes.

My two concerns are that herbology, still, simply wants you to believe in it without giving good evidence for why it persists. It was a different book completely that sparked my interest as it describe why microbes have a harder time developing resistance to multiple chemical attacks versus one potent one. It also describe medicine in a better light: something that is good only when the benefits outweigh the side effects. The book title is remedies, but the text constantly calls them medicine. All of which to say, this still didn't feel like a balanced approach to plants nor respectful of them. We should be thankful, yes, but they didn't create these chemicals for us and we still downplay and/or humanize it a bit more than I care for.

But that aside, my other grip is a simpler one to address. If plants are listed for a healing garden, but then never described again, why would I put them in the garden? If nothing is explained about what they do in the book, why put them on the list at all?

It was a respectable read, but it still lacks the hard science I want.
Profile Image for Jessica.
234 reviews3 followers
September 3, 2021
If you're at all interested in growing herbs of any sort, this book is for you. I was amazed by the vastness of information that it contains. It is split up into 3 parts. The first is all about how to plan and grow your herbs and flowers no matter the region. It even contains information on growing in containers and has holistic solutions for garden pests and plant diseases. Part Two goes in depth on how to harvest, dry and store your spoils and how to prepare different types of botanical medicines. Part 3 is an extensive glossary of dozens of different herbs and flowers with pages of detailed information for each on how to grow and in which zones, type of soil, how to propagate, harvest and use in a variety of different medicines or in cooking with mouthwatering recipes. All of this plus page after page of gorgeous photos.

Thank you to Mariner Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book. My review is voluntary and all opinions are my own.
78 reviews2 followers
June 20, 2022
This is a beautiful guide to growing herbs and making herbal medicines. The photography and layout are top notch. The information is well presented with charts and clear organization. The book is divided into three parts: 1. How to garden, 2. Herbal medicine making, 3. herbal plant growing guide with medicinal info. I am pretty familiar with the topic, so I didn't need to do an indepth read. I appreciated the author's encouragement to grow woodland plants, not something I had thought about. Also, the discussion on growing goldenseal was interesting. Goldenseal is an endangered plant, so it is generally recommended not to wild harvest it. But, the author did encourage growing your own. A great way to help preserve this plant and still be able to use it. Overall, a great book to add to your shelf.
1,018 reviews13 followers
April 5, 2022
Thank you to the author, Mariner Books and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This comprehensive guide to growing herbal plants and using them in natural remedies is amazing - helpful and encyclopedic in its scope, well-written and encouraging in tone, and accompanied by lovely photographs. The author shares lots of knowledge for beginning and intermediate gardeners, particularly those that are new to the concept of healing remedies. She goes into the various plants, how to grow and use them including details about their benefits, contraindications etc. Some of my favorites were missing, but as I understood she classifies those are "to be foraged" rather than to be gardened.
1 review
April 17, 2022
I'm certain I'm one of many who said, "Finally!" when Juliet Blankespoor announced she was publishing her first book! She (and everyone who helped the project along) certainly delivered, too. The book is just beautifully done. Gorgeous photography, SO MUCH information broken down from about every angle you could think of, with some of the best plant monographs I've seen in a single resource. The layout/formatting of the book is also the most intuitive I've seen and clearly based on having spent decades looking at lots of herbal books and aiming to consider all the best features. The most exciting part for me is all the growing/cultivation information, including a propagation chart that I literally clapped for!
Profile Image for Jene.
167 reviews36 followers
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September 28, 2021
The Healing Garden by Juliet Blankespoor is a extensive book filled with everything you need to know about herbs and plants. I was so impressed by how much thought went into making sure every topic possible was covered in this book. How to plant, conditions, size are covered as well as what each herb can do and how to harvest and use them all. The recipes were plentiful and the photography was beautiful. This is a very large book and a great addition for anyone looking to incorporate herbal remedies into their lives.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the opportunity to read this book book for an honest review.
267 reviews
July 25, 2022
Extremely impressive, comprehensive book on the subject. Many books like this are filled with fluff, but this is one is all substance, great photos, detailed text and yummy-looking recipes. The author also includes cautions, but I think this one is the most important: "it is not intended to be a substitute for consultation with a professional healthcare practitioner". Given that, you might wonder why you'd want this book. I found the advice on planting extremely detailed and useful . In addition, many of the herbs are commonly used in food, so they can be enjoyed even if they might not work for any aliments you have.
Profile Image for Kim Pollack.
120 reviews4 followers
September 3, 2022
What a gorgeous book! This is one that every budding or experienced herbalist will want to have in their home library. Filled with beautiful photography and step-by step tutorials, this guide contains practical information for growing a thriving medicinal herb garden as well as harvesting herbs and recipes for using herbs for homemade medicine.

Written by Juliet Blankespoor, founder of Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, this book will inspire and empower people to grow and make their own herbal medicine.

Highly recommended for those interested in herbs, herb gardening, and herbal medicine making.
Thanks to Harvest and NetGalley for my free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Jamie.
275 reviews7 followers
September 9, 2021
Juliet Blankespoor's The Healing Garden - Cultivating and Handcrafting Herbal Remedies offers recipes, step-by-step instructions on how to plan your healing garden, and other information needed on what to grow and how to grow it. Beautifully written and well researched with stunning photographs, The Healing Garden is a must have for those who understand that food and herbs can have healing properties and for those who care about their health and wellness! This is a book I will refer to often to help me with my personal health journey.
Profile Image for Jessi Madrid.
53 reviews4 followers
March 20, 2022
This book was a great read. As an Herbalist and Alternative Medicine Practitioner, I really enjoyed this book. The first part was about gardening and how to cultivate. The second half went well into detail about many herbs that I use daily for my clients. This was a well written book, and I will refer back to it when I need to. I would recommend this book and buy it. I only wish more herbs were discussed, but the ones she talks about are remarkable.

This book was recieved as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Felicity Fields.
449 reviews2 followers
December 27, 2023
An excellent book on beginning herbalism! If I could give 6 stars, I would. Gorgeous pictures accompany straightforward explanations of how to make various herbal remedies as well as cocktails/mocktails. Juliet's personality shone through enough to delight but not overwhelm.

I especially liked the detailed individual herb profiles at the end a they have given me a short-ish list of things to try in my garden this coming year.

I also liked her emphasis on herbal safety and that modern medicine also has its place in healing.

I borrowed this from the library but definitely want my own copy.
675 reviews4 followers
Want to read
April 4, 2022
This book takes a full look at using your garden for your health. it covers everything from garden planning to plant usage and all topics in between. I personally like the chapter on container plants as I don't live in a climate suitable for year-round outdoor gardening but can keep container plants in my home. This is a must-have resource for anyone wanting to make their lives a bit more natural-based.
2 reviews
August 24, 2022
The book is good, I don't know about her as a person. She supplies a lot of useful information and the pictures are pretty, it's just hard to digest it from someone who seems harmful to the BIPOC community. I was a supporter until I saw she supports Asia Suler. So thanks for the information Juliet but no thanks to being friends with people who steal from other cultures. Wish I would've known before I purchased the book.
Profile Image for Heather.
109 reviews5 followers
July 2, 2023
This is a great beginning to intermediate herb crafting book. The photographs are beautiful, it's well laid out, comprehensive and thorough. I enjoyed the cultivation info included. Even if you can't grow everything here, you can learn the attributes (safety first as always included) & begin to make your own herbal medicines (salves, balms, tinctures, teas, infusions, compresses, baths & culinary creations).
Profile Image for Laney Estel.
1,042 reviews22 followers
February 4, 2022
I was so interested in this book because it gave me more insight on how to make homeopathic medicine. There is a lot of information on how to grow the plants yourself, and the best herbs to grow in a garden, no matter what the size. This is a sourcebook, and one to keep in your library to reference over and over. Some of these medicine carriers I never would have guessed (like compound butters).
Profile Image for Virgina.
6 reviews1 follower
April 3, 2022
This book is beautifully put together. It is so detailed and thorough. This is a must-have for anyone that is looking to gain more knowledge on holistic health. Or for learning how to grow their own herbs and building a garden that can support a healthier life. The included recipes offer practical uses to incorporate these garden items. This book will be one that I refer back to all the time.
Profile Image for Heather.
1,367 reviews6 followers
October 10, 2021
I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. I love love love this book! I am all about healing naturally with herbs and this book I will be going back to time and time again. Thank you! Very informative.
133 reviews1 follower
October 21, 2021
One of the best modern common herbal books I have found. Everything in one place, showing each herb medicinal properties, types of tinctures typically made for the herb, uses, growing and harvesting of the herbs and culinary uses if any. With detailed pictures.
Profile Image for Terri.
643 reviews
April 5, 2022
Are you looking to learn about herbs and use them in your life? Then this is the book for you! This book gives you practical advise about herbs and how to grow them and then use them in your life. I find this book extremely helpful and will be using this for years to come!
Profile Image for Nicole Kester.
19 reviews
April 13, 2022
An absolutely gorgeous book that seems like it will have something to offer for any special moment in your life. I can't wait to dig into some of the recipes and herbal guides. The photos are so beautiful and the whole energy and feel of the book encourages soft contemplation and learning.
Profile Image for Lynda.
1,490 reviews16 followers
June 5, 2022
Excellent resource for planning, growing, and harvesting a herb garden. Includes a large section on medicinal herbs, how to preserve and prepare them, safety protocols and even some recipes. Enchanting color photos too.
Profile Image for Kelli Bauer.
2 reviews
August 4, 2022
Juliet is an amazing author and herbalist. This book is beautifully crafted with some of her best recipes taught at Chestnut, yet it’s sprinkled with new delicious delights. I will surely refer to this book time and time again.
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