Hey Posse! It’s Alex — and I need to talk to you about something that most herbal blogs completely skip over.
May is NOT just a pretty month for your garden. It’s honestly one of the most CRITICAL harvesting windows of the entire year. Miss it, and you’re waiting another twelve months for the same plants to hit their peak potency. And trust me, I learned that the hard way back in 2021 when I let my lemon balm bolt before I harvested a single leaf. Crushed.
So if you’ve got herbs growing — or even wild patches nearby — here are 8 spring herbs you should be cutting, gathering, and getting into remedy recipes RIGHT NOW.
1. Nettle.
Harvest It Before It Flowers or Regret It
Stinging nettle is probably the single most underrated plant in the herbal world, and I will die on this hill. When you catch it in May, before flowering, the leaves are loaded with iron, magnesium, and chlorophyll. After it flowers? The chemistry shifts, and the leaves can irritate kidneys with prolonged use. Timing genuinely matters here.
For remedy recipes, I love making a simple nettle infusion, pack a quart jar tight with fresh leaves, pour boiling water over, and steep for four hours minimum. This is your deep mineral extraction, not just a quick cup of tea. Strain it, refrigerate it, and drink two cups a day for an energy and iron boost that’s real.
Wear gloves when you harvest. Seriously. I made that mistake once. Just once.
2. Dandelion.
Root AND Leaf Are Both Fair Game
Look, I know dandelion feels basic. But the combination of fresh May leaves plus first-year roots is genuinely powerful for liver support and digestive bitters. The young leaves in May are less bitter than summer ones, which makes them way more palatable as a tincture base.
A simple dandelion leaf bitters recipe: stuff a jar with fresh leaves, cover with 80-proof vodka, let it sit for six weeks in a cool dark spot, then strain. You get about 15-20 drops before meals to support digestion. Cheap, effective, and something you made from a plant most people spray with RoundUp. Love that.
3. Lemon Balm, Cut It Aggressively, It’ll Thank You
Lemon balm in May is at peak volatile oil content. those oils are what give it the nervine, anti-anxiety properties that herbalists like Rosemary Gladstar have been writing about for decades. Once summer heat hits, those oils drop off fast.
Cut the whole stem back by two-thirds. Don’t be shy about it. Your plant will bush out beautifully and you’ll get a second harvest by July. For remedy recipes, lemon balm makes a gorgeous glycerite, pack fresh leaves into a jar, cover with vegetable glycerin, let it infuse for four to six weeks, and you’ve got a sweet, calming extract that works especially well for kids.
4. Violet.
The One Everyone Walks Past
So here’s the thing about violets. Both the flowers AND the leaves are medicinal, and most people just photograph them and keep walking. The leaves are high in vitamin C and mucilaginous, meaning they’re soothing for inflamed tissues, irritated throats, and dry coughs.
Harvest the fresh leaves now and infuse them in raw honey for a violet leaf oxymel (half honey, half apple cider vinegar). This is honestly one of the most soothing throat remedies I’ve kept in my cabinet. Plus the purple flowers make your infused honey look absolutely stunning, which doesn’t hurt.
5. Cleavers.
Weird Name, Incredible Lymph Support
Cleavers is the sticky, grabby plant that latches onto your clothes when you walk through a hedgerow. Most people find it annoying. Herbalists find it brilliant. It’s a gentle but effective lymphatic herb, and May is PEAK harvest window because the plant is still young and tender.
You cannot dry cleavers, the volatile constituents evaporate with heat. Your only real option is a fresh plant juice or cold infusion. Run fresh cleavers through a juicer, freeze into ice cubes, and take one tablespoon of thawed juice daily. Or cold infuse overnight in water and drink it first thing in the morning. Simple and incredibly effective for swollen glands or post-winter sluggishness.
6. Elderflower.
Small Window, Big Reward
If you have an elder tree nearby, watch it CAREFULLY right now. The flowers open fast and drop faster, you might get a two-week window, maybe less. When you catch them right at full bloom but before the pollen drops, you’ve got one of the best anti-inflammatory, diaphoretic (sweat-inducing) herbs available.
For remedy recipes, elderflower tincture is the classic. But I personally love elderflower oxymels for early cold season prep. they’re gentler than a straight alcohol tincture and absolutely delicious. And this is the ONLY time of year you can make it fresh. Don’t miss the window.
7. Chickweed, The Fastest Remedy Herb You Can Grow
Chickweed is a cool-season annual, which means May might actually be your LAST month to harvest it before summer heat kills it off completely. It sounds urgent because it is. This plant is anti-inflammatory topically and nutritive internally, and it grows so abundantly most gardeners consider it a weed.
Fresh chickweed poultice for inflamed skin or insect bites: mash the fresh herb, apply directly to the area, cover with a cloth. Leave it for 20 minutes. I’ve used this on everything from mild eczema flares to bee stings. the relief is surprisingly quick for something that cost you literally nothing.
8. Red Clover, Harvest the Blossoms, Not the Leaves
Red clover blossoms in May are rich in isoflavones and traditionally used for respiratory support and hormone balancing. You want the flower heads when they’re fully open and vibrantly pink. not past their prime and browning at the edges.
These dry beautifully if you spread them on a screen out of direct sunlight. Once dried, they make a wonderful long-steep infusion, two tablespoons of dried blossoms per cup, steeped 20 to 30 minutes. I drink this regularly in May and June as a seasonal tonic and genuinely notice a difference in how I feel through allergy season.
Where to Start If This Feels Overwhelming
Here’s my honest take: don’t try to harvest all eight at once. Pick TWO herbs you can actually find right now. whether that’s in your garden, a local park, or a farmer’s market, and make ONE remedy from each. That’s it.
The whole point of seasonal herbalism is that it gets you outside, paying attention to what’s growing around you. You build the practice slowly. But you DO have to start, and May is genuinely one of the best months to do it because the plants are doing all the heavy lifting for you. Go grab your jar and your scissors. Let’s go.
Photo by Greta Hoffman on Pexels
