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Cooling Herbal Foot Bath is so Chill!
A cooling herbal foot bath is such a treat for gardeners. And this is especially true when we’ve been gardening hard on hot days. The reality is, on the hottest days of summer, there’s nothing like a cool treat from the garden to make your day. Moreover, those garden-fresh treats don’t always have to be something you eat!
During the height of summer, harvest herbs at their peak moment!
To get the most from your garden herbs in your foot soak, plan to gather fresh herbs in the morning just after the dew has dried. That way your herbs will be fresh and ready when you’re done gardening later.
However, it’s just fine to wait on gathering herbs until later. In fact, you might have herb harvesting on your to-do list. That’s because summer is when you’ll likely be gathering herbs to dry and preserve for later in the year. So if you’re planning to do a big herb harvest, plan to use some for a soak later in the day.
And if you’ll be doing general garden clean up and some of your herbs need trimming, don’t toss everything in the compost. Instead, be sure to keep a few herbal bits for your foot bath soak reward later.
Which herbs make a great herbal foot soak?
Then we add several sprigs of various fresh, crushed herbs to our seasonal foot soaks. And we crush them lightly to help release their oils and fragrance.
Following is a list herbs to include in a cooling herbal foot bath:
- Lavender and Calendula offer soothing, relaxing oils and lovely fragrance.
- Crushed mint, lemon balm, and lemon verbena are refreshing and reviving.
- A few borage flowers adds pretty color if not much else.
- Chamomile is relaxing
- Rosemary is rejuvenating
- Feverfew may help alleviate headaches
- Rose is luscious and makes our heart happy (as well as our soaking feet)
- Cucumber slices are lovely as well
- Plantain can help relieve the itchies
- Marshmallow can soothe and moisten
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Besides herbs what will you need for your tootsie soak?
To prepare your herbal foot bath, you’ll need more than just a few fistfuls of herbs. You’ll also need:
- cool or lukewarm water
- a vessel to hold everything (including your feet)
- a nice comfy spot to rest and soak
And bonus items to have while your feet enjoy this cooling spa:
- a cool drink to sip
- a nail brush or pedicure tools,
- a pumice stone
- your current summer reading material
Plus, you may want to have a towel on hand to dry your feet in the end.
Icy herbal foot bath doubles as a beer cooler while you relax on a hot summer day.
If you don’t have an antique foot bath like the one shown here, even a shallow bucket or cooler will work. Just use something you can fill with several inches of water and fit both feet into comfortably. Worse case: use a bucket for cooling one foot at a time.
How to get set up for a truly relaxing soak…
We pick our favorite relaxing spot in the garden and place the foot bath in front of our seat. And we be sure to adjust the position of the chair or tub so that we can sit back comfortably while our feet soak.
Then, we fill the tub with about 4-6″ of water. We may use rain barrel water, a hose or pitchers from the house — whatever is easiest. And, on really hot days, we may brave adding in a couple of cups of ice cubes. But, Be warned: the ice cubes may be great for chilling down your cocktail, but it may make the water too cold to enjoy.
How to recycle your foot bath water into your garden…
After you’re done with your foot bath, simply pour the water and herbs into a nearby, thirsty garden bed. On those hot days, your plants will be happy for the drink. And, those bits of flower detritus will simply decompose back into the earth.
