This month we just have to follow up Bryan Hubbard’s blog ‘What is natural’.
In recent years we have included a section in our talks around Spain about the absence of a medicine cupboard in our house.  Instead, we have a good selection of herbs in the garden with reputed health benefits and a cupboard of dried ones for the winter when they are annuals.
We hear that more and more Spaniards and expatriates on the Med are relearning the benefits of Mediterranean plants in gardens on the mountainsides just a kilometre or two from the crowded tourist beaches. Amazingly we had 40 emails asking how certain plants could be obtained and grown and two invites to give talks at charity events organised by British-run health charities. Hopefully the next invite will be from a Mediterranean cruise ship company!
In our latest book Apartment Gardening Mediterranean Style we included in the chapter about growing herbs on apartment terraces and balconies a list of the ten which we would grow for beneficial infusions as a substitute for tea or coffee if we down-sized from our villa.
Here’s our list:
1. Mint – a useful digestive and hangover relief.
2. Lemon verbena – a refreshing and calming drink especially cooled in the summer.
3. Rosemary – gives an energy and memory boost especially when out walking the local mountains and typing articles on the computer.
4. Sage – an antiseptic for rinsing teeth and gums.
5. Parsley – a useful relief for cystitis, and a diuretic.
6. Rue – for speedy recovery from sprains and strains from mountain walking, tennis and the winter cut-back in the garden.
7. Garlic – we eat chopped garlic daily in salads and cooked dishes for its incredible health benefits.  An infusion is used as a natural insect deterrent on terrace plants – you don’t smell it but many insects do.
8. Thyme – a useful decongestant and antiseptic.
9. Basil – mixed with slices of lemon, grated or sliced ginger and black pepper, it helps shake off early symptoms of colds.
10. Stevia – originally a South American plant available from www.dolcarevolucio.cat in Cataluña – a natural sweetener for infusions and cooked dishes, and used by friends who have diabetes.

A pot of each on a terrace or outside the kitchen door would fit into a single square metre!   We would love to hear of readers’ favourites.

© Clodagh and *** Handscombe www.gardeninginspain.com November 2010.