Herbal how-to: rosemary
Rosemary in bloom.
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6 • 2019
Rosemary leaves are small but they carry a strong pungent flavour.
While you should not let rosemary dry out completely, don’t overwater. Good drainage is essential, so water your plant in the sink and let the water run through, and then leave it there until it stops dripping. Add sand to the mix of soil you use for potting up rosemary and reduce the amount of peat (if any) used. Compost is fine. Rosemary prefers an alkaline soil. Peat-based mixes tend to be more acidic than the plant can tolerate. Propagation is quite easy and simple. Just stick a soft-tissue cutting in soil. To hurry up the process, strip off the bottom few leaves and touch the tip up with rooting hormone. You can also layer rosemary to get new plants. h Issue 1
Photo by Nicole.
osemary is from the Mediterranean; it needs at least six to eight hours of intense sunlight a day to survive. Many a rosemary has starved to death in the dark winter months simply because the plant couldn’t get enough sunlight to photosynthesize due to the nature of their leathery, narrow leaves. In the wild, rosemary is a tough little plant and can fend for itself if given water that drains well and plenty of light. In your home, conditions are much different, making it difficult to overwinter this plant. But you can try. Put your plant in the sunniest south-facing window you have and slow down its metabolism by reducing watering until the days get longer. Remember, it needs mega amounts of sunshine to thrive. And enough water, but not too much... and just the right humidity. It really doesn’t need fertilizer. If you can’t resist adding a tonic, give it a dose of seaweed tea in springtime. Watch the leaves for signs of health. Healthy rosemary leaves have a dull sheen. Rosemary leaves that appear lackluster mean that the plant probably needs water.
Rosemary is easy to propagate. localgardener.net
