Add Soothing Essential Oils to Your Gardener’s Kit

By Marisa Lampert

Any gardener will tell you that gardening is beneficial for both body and soul. Being outdoors, close to nature, being active and growing our own food and flowers replenishes us on many levels. However, gardening can also produce sore muscles, sunburns, bug bites, or respiratory congestion. Luckily, just like there are essential oils that can help plants thrive in the garden, there are soothing essential oils to help ease the gardener’s symptoms.

Bug Bites: Lavender and Tea Tree are often soothing and gentle enough to use neat (undiluted) for spot applications, such as bug bites. For children, or people with sensitive skin, it may be necessary to dilute the essential oil in a carrier oil prior to application.

Make a bug bite roll-on for your gardening or first-aid kit: Fills one 10 ml roll-on bottle

• 3 ml (60 drops) Lavender essential oil
• 1 ml (20 drops) Tea Tree essential oil
• 1 ml (20 drops) Peppermint essential oil
• 5 ml of a carrier of your choice, we like Fractionated Coconut.

Mix all ingredients together and pour into the roll-on bottle. Apply directly to bug bites, as needed.

Sore muscles and stiff joints: Crouching, reaching, pulling weeds and digging in the garden gives you a real workout. By the end of the day, you love what you’ve accomplished, but your tired, sore muscles need some soothing! Essential oils can help calm the inflammation and ease the tension in your muscles and joints to help you rest, recover, and do it all over again the next day. An aromatherapy shower or bath with essential oils may be helpful for all-over relief, or mix up a simple lotion for direct application:

Sore muscles lotion blend:

• 20 drops Muscle Soothe essential oil blend
• 5 drops Joint Relief essential oil blend
• 1 ounce of carrier oil or lotion

Combine in a separate container, or pour essential oils directly into your lotion or carrier oil bottle (mark your container well!). Shake before each use, and massage gently into muscles and/or joints as needed.

Wind or Sunburns: While it’s a good idea to protect your skin and prevent burns whenever possible, occasionally we all end up with too much sun. Ouch! Essential oils can help calm and soothe your wind or sunburn symptoms.

Compress:
3-5 drops Lavender essential oil
Wash cloth
Sink, basin, or bowl of cool water.

Add essential oil (or blend) to the water and briskly stir. Lay in a washcloth, wring and apply to area in need. Repeat 3 times, leaving the last compress on for 3 minutes.

Spritzer: fills one 4 oz Spritzer bottle
25 drops Lavender essential oil
5 drops Peppermint essential oil
1 tsp Aloe Vera gel or juice
A little less than 4 oz distilled water or hydrosol

Shake all ingredients together in the spritzer bottle. Spritz over area in need, shaking well before each use, and be careful to avoid spritzing in to eyes. Keep spritzer in the refrigerator, and use the cold spritzer to help cool the heat of a sunburn.

Respiratory support: When you’re outside working with plants, even people without allergies can sometimes become a bit overwhelmed. Soothing essential oils can be helpful in relieving congestion, itching, and sinus irritation.

Inhalation: add a drop or two of essential oil to a cotton ball or tissue. Hold under your nose and inhale as needed. Or, keep an aromatherapy inhaler in your pocket or gardening kit.

Chest Rub: add 15 drops of essential oil (or blend) to 1 ounce of carrier oil or lotion. Apply a tablespoon-size amount of the lotion mixture to chest, neck and back before going outside.

Soothing essential oils we recommend for respiratory/allergy support: Eucalyptus (Radiata, Globulus, Citriodora, or Smithii), Peppermint, Spearmint, German Chamomile/Blue Tansy/Helichrysum (anti-allergenic); Lavender Spike/Tea Tree (anti-inflammatory); Cypress/Black Spruce (coughing); Rosemary, Bay Laurel, Peppermint, Pine, Fir Balsam, Fir Douglas, Spearmint (decongestant)
For a blend: e3 Breathe Easy, Respiratory Blend, Courageous, or Cold & Sinus.

Which soothing essential oil will you add to your gardener’s kit? Come on over to our Facebook page and tell us about the essential oils you’ve tried for yourself and your garden plants. We’d love to hear what works for you and what doesn’t. And if you haven’t done so yet, please download the free ebook, Listen to Your Nose – An Introduction to Aromatherapy. It teaches you how to make your own special blends.