Curing your own garlic and creeping sage is a great way to save money. Most gardeners don’t have the time to harvest and dry their own homegrown herbs. Instead, they trust their local gardening stores and local nurseries to do the work for them. This is especially true for those who grow their own herbs indoors and out. While it’s certainly not easy, with a little bit of effort you can reap the rewards and become a true herb gardening master.
Planting herbs in pots: Before you even think about creeping sage or any other plants, you should make sure that you’re planting them into pots. Most plants perform better when planted in a pot because they know their location and won’t be so stressed if something happens to shift their location. Common Name(s): Sonoma sages, creeping sages. Botanical Name: Salvia species. Family: Lamiaceae.
Growing Herbs: You will want to prune your growing season plants regularly. For creeping sage, do not prune more than the main stalk. Each year, remove the entire plant from the ground to allow for new growth and new blossoms. Each spring, cut about one-third of the main stalk back about one inch high.
Growing Herbs indoors: This is probably the best way to grow your own salvia sonomensis or any other aromatic perennial. However, you may still be able to harvest and dry the plant’s blossoms if you live in an area where it gets a lot of sun during the daytime. If this is the case, then there is no problem rearing your plants on a sunny windowsill.
When you are planting anything in your herb garden elevated bed, you must make sure that your soil mix is heavy enough to hold all the additional roots. If the soil mix is too light, the roots of your favorite herbs will simply go below the ground instead of out in full bloom. Also be sure to mulch your planting area. Mulching will protect your herb garden from the changing temperatures of spring and will keep your soil moist. In addition, it helps to conserve moisture in your soil, which can help your plants survive dry spells.
If you plan to use garden sages in a decorative way, or you simply enjoy eating them, you need to be aware of their growing and flowering time. Capping your flowering buds will encourage new growth and will keep your plants from becoming too bushy. However, the blooms do not come up until the plant has flowered. Garden sage has a late blooming period, as do most annuals.
You will be rewarded with the most amazing aroma when you include creeping sage in your home spice collection. It has an earthy flavor and lovely fragrance. If you add this spice to your salads, it will overpower your favorite salads. For this reason, many salad chefs choose to use it in place of oregano or Rosemary in their recipes.
The trailing flowers of creeping sage are used to flavor soups, stews, potato dishes, salads, and other foods. You will also find that cooks enjoy the mild yet flavorful taste. Planting annuals such as thistle sage in your flowerbeds and borders will produce flowers in spring. In addition to its wonderful flavor, the flowers of thistle sage also have medicinal qualities.
It is the blooms that catch the most attention of amateur gardeners and are often the source of plant diseases in gardens with other types of annuals. As stated before, the flowers bloom from early spring to late summer, producing lovely fragrance for cooking and adding color to borders and other areas of your garden. The plants do not have a persistent flowering period, but the annual plants will bloom again in the fall and the perennial plants bloom from late summer to early fall.
With its popularity growing, many gardeners are now adding creeping sage to pots along pathways, patio walkways, driveways, and other garden areas. This herb can also be grown successfully in a raised bed garden as well. The easiest way to dig it up is to dig around the base of the plant and then remove the roots. However, some roots may remain after you remove the top of the plant to provide the nutrients it needs.
Cascading Sun-Garden Herbs, such as creeping thyme, sun-flowers, and sun-flowers (Sally Moragne), are also popular for their hardy growth in containers. They make a colorful and attractive border for your patio or garden and can be used year-round in your cooking. If you have your heart set on growing your very own herb garden, the creeping thymes, sun-flowers, and other herbs mentioned above are a good place to start in your planning process.