This time of year, I have something coming out of the garden almost every day, and there’s no way we can eat it all fresh.
I make all kinds of things with what I grow, but one of my favourites is drinks. There’s something about adding a few things straight from the garden that makes even a really simple drink feel a little more deluxe.
These aren’t really meant to be strict recipes. Think of them more as ideas you can take and adapt to whatever happens to be growing in your garden.
Some use just a tiny bit of the harvest. Others are a great way to use a bigger harvest you want to preserve. Some you can drink immediately, while others let you enjoy that garden flavour later.
Want to keep these recipes handy? You can download the free Garden to Table eBook here.
Watch below or scroll down to continue reading.
Fresh & Green Garden Drinks
Fresh herbs and vegetables are probably the easiest place to start. A few sprigs of mint, or 1/2 a cucumber can completely change a drink without requiring much harvest at all.
1. Evening Garden Tea
This is one of the simplest ways I use herbs from my garden. In summer, I pick them fresh. I also dry herbs throughout the season so I can keep making garden tea all winter.
Start with:
- A small handful of fresh garden herbs (try using: lemon balm, chamomile, mint, catnip, hops or a combination)
- Hot water
Add the herbs to a mug or teapot, cover with hot water and steep until the flavour is where you like it. Strain and sweeten if you’d like.
I especially like combining some of the more calming herbs from my garden for an evening tea, but this is really something you can change based on what you grow and what you enjoy.
2. Cucumber Mint Cooler or Mojito
If you grow cucumbers, you probably know there comes a point in summer when you start looking for absolutely anything else to do with them.
This is one of the easiest.
Start with:
- A few slices of cucumber
- A few sprigs of fresh mint
- ½ lime
- Sparkling or soda water (try using a lime flavoured water to amp up the flavour)
- Ice
- Sweetener, optional
- White rum, optional for a mojito
Gently muddle the cucumber, mint and lime. Add ice and top with sparkling water and a little sweetener if you want it. Add a splash of rum to turn it into a garden mojito.
You can also experiment with different herbs for a whole new flavour.
3. Green Garden Juice
There is definitely no exact recipe for my garden juice.
I walk around the garden, see what I have, and start harvesting.
A good starting point is:
- 1 Cucumber (if you have overgrown cucumbers, this is a great use for them)
- A large handful of fresh greens
- A small handful of fresh herbs
- Apple, melon or something naturally sweet (optional)
- I also like to add lemon and ginger to green juices
Run everything through the juicer, taste it and adjust. Add more cucumber if it needs to be lighter, fruit for sweetness, greens for more intensity, or citrus if it needs some brightness.
This is a really good way to use those random little bits of harvest that aren’t necessarily enough to make something on their own.
Floral & Fruity Garden Drinks
This is where garden drinks get especially fun.
Berries and edible flowers can make something incredibly simple feel special, and again, you don’t necessarily need a big harvest. Even a few berries can be enough.
4. Garden Berry Spritz
This might be the easiest drink in the entire list.
And it’s the perfect example of why you don’t need a huge harvest to make something from your garden.
Start with:
- A small handful of fresh berries (3-5 berries is enough)
- Sparkling water (I like to use a flavoured water or vodka)
- Ice
Put your berries in the bottom of the glass and gently muddle them to release the juice. Add ice and top with sparkling water.
Use whatever you have. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, ariona, currants or a combination all work. You can add mint, basil or another herb from the garden too.
A few berries really can take a glass of sparkling water and make it feel like something you’d order at a restaurant.
5. Rose Lemonade
I grow a lot of edible flowers, and I love finding ways to actually use them rather than just admiring them in the garden.
Rose lemonade is a family favourite.
Start with:
- 4 lemons
- 1 cup of unsprayed rose petals
- 1/2 – 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
Add the peel of 1 lemon, sugar and water to a small pot and simmer on low for 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the rose petals and juice from the lemons. Cover and let cool, at least 1 hour. I like to leave it in the fridge overnight to infuse all the rose flavour. Strain and store the concentrate in a covered bottle. It will keep in the fridge for a few weeks, or in the freezer for several months.
To serve, add about 1/3 concentrate to 2/3 sparkling or still water. Top with ice.
6. Black Currant Cassis
This one is a little different because instead of drinking the harvest right away, you’re capturing that flavour to enjoy later.
Black currants have such an intense flavour, and this has become one of my favourite ways to use them.
Start with:
- 1.5 cups black currants
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup vodka
Combine the black currants, sugar and vodka in a jar. Cover and leave them to infuse until the berries have given up their colour and flavour. Swirl daily for the first few weeks to dissolve sugar and stir up the berries. This can be enjoyed anytime, but for maximum flavour, leave for several months before serving. Strain and add a splash to any drink (including the garden berry spritz above)!
This is one you can make during harvest season and enjoy long after the berries are gone.
Let Your Garden Decide What Goes in the Glass
The point of these isn’t really to give you six more recipes you have to follow.
It’s to start looking at what’s growing in your garden a little differently.
A few herbs can become an evening tea. Half a cucumber can go into a cooler. Three berries can make sparkling water feel special. A handful of flowers can flavour lemonade. And when you have a bigger harvest, you can turn it into something you’ll still be enjoying months from now.
I think sometimes we get so focused on growing and harvesting that we forget the other half of having a productive garden: actually enjoying what we grow.
I don’t always need to have a huge preserving day. I love finding small, simple ways to use the harvest as it comes in.
That’s also something I’m paying much closer attention to in my own garden. I’m tracking what I harvest and preserve in Embrace, because at the end of the season I want to know more than how much my garden produced. I want to know what we actually used.
That’s the information that helps me decide what deserves more space next year, what I should grow less of and what was absolutely worth growing again.
Download the Garden to Table Recipe Guide
If you want to try these, I’ve put all six ideas into a my Free Garden to Table Recipe Guide that you can save or print and keep in the kitchen.
They’re intentionally flexible, so use what’s growing in your garden and make them your own.
