Independent reviews
We tell you what you actually get before you spend the money.
The Homestead Shelf reviews gardening, homesteading and preparedness products the way a friend who already owns one would: what is in the box, what the sales page glosses over, and who should not buy it.
Currently reviewing: the Medicinal Garden Kit.
Latest review
Medicinal Garden Kit Review (2026)
Ten heirloom herb seed packets and a printed guide for $59. Three of the ten are genuinely difficult from seed, and that is the thing to know before you order.
4/5$59Updated August 2026
What we do differently
We say when something is hard
3 of the ten herbs in the Medicinal Garden Kit are genuinely difficult from seed. Most reviews do not mention it. That is the kind of thing that decides whether you are happy with a purchase.
We do not claim tests we did not run
If we have not grown it, planted it or used it, we say so on the page. No invented trials, no stock photography passed off as our own results.
We check the claims
Credentials get verified against primary sources. Where other reviews repeat something inaccurate, we correct it and show our working.
Ten medicinal herbs, ranked honestly
Not all of these are beginner-friendly. Three need a month in the refrigerator before they will cooperate.
Calendula
Easy
Chicory
Easy
German Chamomile
Easy
Feverfew
Easy
Yarrow
Easy
California Poppy
Moderate
Evening Primrose
Moderate
Marshmallow
Hard
Echinacea
Hard
Lavender
Hard
Growing guides
Practical, species-specific guidance — starting with the two that cause the most trouble.
How to Grow Echinacea From Seed (Without the Patchy Germination)
Purple coneflower is a genuinely rewarding perennial that most people get wrong at the very first step. The fix costs nothing and takes four weeks of doing nothing.
How to Grow Lavender From Seed (And Why Professionals Usually Do Not)
If one packet in a herb kit disappoints you, it will probably be the lavender. That is the species behaving normally, and it is worth understanding why before you blame yourself.