A mug of something warm and herbal at the end of the day does two useful things at once. It gives you a clear signal that the day is closing, and it tastes good enough that you actually want to drink it. Chamomile, lemon balm and lavender are the three most forgiving herbs for a beginner to grow and the easiest to blend into a decent bedtime cup. None of them is a sleeping pill. What they offer is a gentle ritual you can grow on a windowsill or in a corner of the garden, and a cup that beats anything dusty from the back of the cupboard.

Why these three herbs?

They complement each other. Chamomile brings the soft, apple-scented flowers most people already associate with bedtime. Lemon balm adds a light citrus note that stops a blend tasting flat. Lavender supplies the scent everyone recognises, and it needs only a pinch to do its work.

There are two chamomiles worth knowing. German chamomile is an annual that produces plenty of flowers in one season, which makes it the better choice for tea. Roman chamomile is a low, creeping perennial that works well as ground cover between paving stones, though it flowers less generously. For lavender, look for English lavender varieties such as 'Munstead' or 'Hidcote' — they are hardier and far better flavoured than the tender, wider-leaved types sold for ornamental borders.

Keep your expectations reasonable. These are pleasant, gentle plants, not medicine. If you have been sleeping badly for weeks, a herbal tea is a small support, not a solution, and it is worth speaking to your GP.

Growing your own bedtime herbs

Chamomile

Sow seed directly where it is to grow in late spring. The seed needs light to germinate, so scatter it on the surface of the soil and press it in rather than covering it. Thin the seedlings to about 15cm apart. Chamomile likes sun and copes with poor, dry soil, which makes it useful for a gravel patch or a pot on a sunny step. Water it while it establishes, then leave it largely alone.

Lemon balm

This is the easiest of the three and the most likely to take over. Start with a small plant or a rooted cutting rather than seed, and grow it in a pot — even if that pot sits in the ground — to keep the roots contained. It tolerates part shade and rewards regular cutting; snip it back through the summer and you will keep getting tender new leaves instead of tough, leggy stems. It self-seeds freely, so cut off flowering stems if you don't want it everywhere.

Lavender

Lavender wants sun, heat and sharp drainage, and it sulks in heavy, wet soil. If your garden is clay, plant it in a raised bed or a pot with plenty of grit mixed through the compost. Don't overwater it; established plants would rather be dry. Trim the stems lightly after flowering, but avoid cutting back into old, leafless wood, which rarely regrows.

Harvesting and drying without losing the scent

Pick on a dry, sunny mid-morning once the dew has lifted, when the oils are at their strongest. Cut chamomile flowers when the petals bend backwards from the cone. Take lemon balm leaves before the plant flowers for the best flavour, though the flowers are perfectly usable. Harvest lavender when the buds are plump and coloured but not yet fully open.

Dry everything in a dark, airy room. Spread the material thinly on a rack, or hang small bunches inside paper bags with a few holes punched in them — the bag catches any flowers that drop and keeps the light off. A dehydrator on its lowest setting also works. It is ready when stems snap rather than bend. Store in glass jars in a dark cupboard, labelled with the date, and use within about a year. Keep leaves and flowers as whole as you can; crushing them early releases the scent into the air instead of your cup.

Blending your own bedtime mix

A good first blend is roughly three parts chamomile to two parts lemon balm to one part lavender. Write the ratio on the jar so you can adjust it next time. Start with:

• 3 parts dried chamomile flowers
• 2 parts dried lemon balm leaves
• 1 part dried lavender buds — any more and the cup turns soapy
• Optional: 1 part dried lemon verbena, or a few lightly crushed fennel seeds for sweetness

Combine in a bowl, turn everything over gently with your hands, and store in a clean jar. Shake before each use, because the heavier flowers settle. If lavender turns out to be too perfumed for you, drop it to half a part or leave it out entirely and use chamomile with lemon balm alone.

Brewing a cup that tastes good

1. Use one heaped teaspoon of dried blend per mug, or about double that if you are using fresh herbs.
2. Pour water that has just come off the boil — not a rolling boil, which flattens the flavour.
3. Cover the mug with a saucer while it steeps. The useful compounds in these plants are volatile, and a lid keeps them in the cup rather than in the kitchen.
4. Steep for five to seven minutes. If your blend is heavy on lavender, taste it at three or four minutes.
5. Strain, taste, and adjust the quantity next time. A little honey is fine, though never give honey to a baby under one year old.

Make the tea half an hour before bed and drink it in the same chair at roughly the same time each night. The repetition is doing as much work as the herbs.

A few sensible precautions

Chamomile belongs to the daisy family, so if you react badly to ragweed or similar plants, approach it cautiously. Lavender's scent is stimulating for some people rather than soothing — try a lavender-heavy cup earlier in the evening before you commit to it at bedtime. If you take prescribed medication, particularly sedatives, or if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, check with a pharmacist or GP before drinking herbal teas regularly. Try one herb at a time to begin with, so you know what suits you.

Start with one pot and one cup

You do not need a herb garden to begin. Buy a single lemon balm plant this weekend and put it by the back door, or sow a short row of chamomile in a pot on a sunny sill. Pick one blend, brew it for a fortnight, and note in a notebook whether you slept any differently and whether you enjoyed the taste. Grow what you actually drink, and let the rest go.

Herbal tea works best alongside the unglamorous basics: dim lights in the last hour, a cool bedroom, and a consistent bedtime. The mug is the pleasant part, and the one you can grow yourself.

Photo: congerdesign / Pixabay