Happy Holidays, everyone! For those of us in the colder regions of the planet, our outdoor gardening days have come to a lull for now, but that doesn't mean we can have fun indoors!
Back in around September/October, I was at my favorite local gardening center to purchase "just one thing" that I needed to prepare my garlic bulbs for planting. While my daughter and I were walking around outside--she loves to go visit the Koi fish in the water feature they have set up...I SO want one in my yard!--we came across some tables of what looked to be worn out end of season plants with the most dangerous word posted that no gardener worth her salt can ever pass by: CLEARANCE.
So I decided I was going to just take a peek (t'yeah, right!) and see what they had to offer. To my great delight, there were 3 small pots of white sage for $1 apiece and one solitary rosemary plant for $2. It was all I could do to not do the "happy dance" right then and there! Meanwhile, my daughter is anxiously trying to pry me away so that she can go in the gift shop and add things to her "Santa List".
And of course I bought up all three sages AND the rosemary plant. I would have been remiss not to. ;-)
To go back a little bit: rosemary happens to be one of my all-time favorite herbs, but my track record of keeping them alive has pretty much been 0-4...until now. After doing some research on why my rosemary plants would die and reading about how "easy" they are to grow (HAH!), I finally found the proper way to grow one and was determined--NOTE: on a mission from God--to successfully grow a rosemary.
So I decided I was going to just take a peek (t'yeah, right!) and see what they had to offer. To my great delight, there were 3 small pots of white sage for $1 apiece and one solitary rosemary plant for $2. It was all I could do to not do the "happy dance" right then and there! Meanwhile, my daughter is anxiously trying to pry me away so that she can go in the gift shop and add things to her "Santa List".
And of course I bought up all three sages AND the rosemary plant. I would have been remiss not to. ;-)
To go back a little bit: rosemary happens to be one of my all-time favorite herbs, but my track record of keeping them alive has pretty much been 0-4...until now. After doing some research on why my rosemary plants would die and reading about how "easy" they are to grow (HAH!), I finally found the proper way to grow one and was determined--NOTE: on a mission from God--to successfully grow a rosemary.
I got the rosemary home and found that it was completely root bound and wrapped up around itself in the soil. With a pair of clean, sharp pruners, I made four cuts up the sides of the root ball. Then I cut away some of the excess root and gently shook out the remainder (see Fig. 1).
Next, I mixed some sand in with some organic soil--roughly about 50/50 sand/soil with just slightly more soil than sand. Then I put a layer of small rocks on the bottom of a pressed paper pot to ensure good drainage (see Fig.2).
To pot the rosemary, I covered the rocks with layer of the sandy soil mix and placed the plant on top. Then I surrounded the plant with the remainder of the sandy soil and gently patted down the soil around the plant and watered it with a liquid seaweed & water mix (see Fig. 3).
A few things to keep in mind about caring for rosemary:
For more information on growing and caring for rosemary, here are a few websites that you may find to be helpful:
Rosemary - You Can Grow the Herb Rosemary
Herb Gardening.com - Growing Rosemary
Fine Gardening.com - Rosemary Outdoors and In
It's been a couple of months since I re-potted my $2 rosemary plant, and I'm happy to report that--after some minor needle loss at first--it's doing extremely well. My first successful rosemary plant...woohoo! :-)
***2/28/2012 UPDATE***
My rosemary plant is doing great! During the past week, several of the lavender flowers have bloomed on it. I'm super psyched! The only thing I've noticed is that the plant does not have a very strong scent like I've typically noticed in rosemarys. Will be doing some research on that.
****************************
May this article help you achieve success with your rosemary plants. Please post your rosemary-growing stories below and share any tips you may feel would benefit the rest of us. I look forward to reading them.
If you enjoyed what you've read, please do share the link to this blog on your favorite social media site and sign up for my newsletter to receive updates on what I've been digging and learn a few tips and tips along the way! Feel free to post comments related to all things gardening below. Thanks so much!
Happy digging! :-)
- Dirt Momma
A few things to keep in mind about caring for rosemary:
- Rosemary plants LOOOOOOOOVE sun! Typically the more sun the better. That being said, if you are keeping rosemary indoors during the colder months, it will survive when placed in a south-facing window. You may need to play around with where you place the rosemary to ensure that its getting the most sun possible.
- Watering rosemary indoors: I have found that watering once a week is more than sufficient. You may find that yours needs watering twice a week, but I wouldn't do any more than that; otherwise, you'll rot out the roots and the plant will die.
- Rosemary plants are slooooooooow growers. If you have a smaller plant, don't expect to be able to harvest sprigs for cooking anytime soon. Just enjoy your rosemary's wonderful scent as you nurture it to a healthy size large enough to reap the rewards of your patience.
For more information on growing and caring for rosemary, here are a few websites that you may find to be helpful:
Rosemary - You Can Grow the Herb Rosemary
Herb Gardening.com - Growing Rosemary
Fine Gardening.com - Rosemary Outdoors and In
It's been a couple of months since I re-potted my $2 rosemary plant, and I'm happy to report that--after some minor needle loss at first--it's doing extremely well. My first successful rosemary plant...woohoo! :-)
***2/28/2012 UPDATE***
My rosemary plant is doing great! During the past week, several of the lavender flowers have bloomed on it. I'm super psyched! The only thing I've noticed is that the plant does not have a very strong scent like I've typically noticed in rosemarys. Will be doing some research on that.
****************************
May this article help you achieve success with your rosemary plants. Please post your rosemary-growing stories below and share any tips you may feel would benefit the rest of us. I look forward to reading them.
If you enjoyed what you've read, please do share the link to this blog on your favorite social media site and sign up for my newsletter to receive updates on what I've been digging and learn a few tips and tips along the way! Feel free to post comments related to all things gardening below. Thanks so much!
Happy digging! :-)
- Dirt Momma