Borage is a simple , fast-growing annual herb with vivid blue flowers and therefore the flavor and scent of cucumbers. While it’s considered an herb, it’s often grown as a flower in vegetable gardens where it attracts pollinating bees and is taken into account an honest companion plant for tomatoes, squash, and strawberries. It’s even alleged to deter tomato hornworms and improve the flavour of tomatoes growing nearby.

Native to the Mediterranean, Borage may be a somewhat gangly plant, but you barely notice it because the star-shaped flowers are so vibrant. It also boasts a greenish-grey stem and leaves that are covered during a prickly fuzz which acts as a deterrent for insects.

After planting your borage in early spring, its blooms will emerge in June and July, hanging in downward facing clusters. Both the flowers and therefore the leaves of the plant are edible, with a singular flavor almost like a cucumber. Use the leaves while they’re young because because the plant matures, the stalks and leaves become covered with a prickly fuzz.

Borage Care

It’s rare that you simply find an herb that’s as beautiful because it is delicious, but borage does the trick. Commonly planted in vegetable or herb gardens, it acts as a magnet for bees and other pollinators while adding an enthralling , cottage-style appeal with its petite blue buds. Caring for borage is quite simple, because the herb doesn’t require any special treatment. Its ability to thrive in even the driest soils or drought-like weather has earned it an easy-to-care-for reputation.

When first introducing borage to your garden, plant the seeds in early spring after the ultimate frost has passed. Borage can bloom from late spring through summer and can reach maturity in about eight weeks, at which point you’ll harvest the leaves and flowers as need. confine mind, the plants will start to say no if they’re not deadheaded and are left to travel to seed. Staggering your planting times will offer you a extended period of bloom and supply a extended harvest . If the flowers fade before you’ve got an opportunity to deadhead them, the plants will re-seed on their own.

If you select to start out seed indoors, transplant before they become pot bound. decide to start seedlings about three to four weeks before the last expected frost and don’t transplant outdoors until the soil has warmed and therefore the plants are hardened off.

Borage adds a touch of flavor and an excellent deal of color to salads, soups, dips & spreads, open-face sandwiches, beverages, and ice cubes. like all edible flowers, use borage sparingly until you recognize how it affects you, especially if you’ve got plant allergies.

Light

Borage grows best from fully sun to partial shade. However, growing borage plants fully sun will offer you the simplest chance at a plant with many blooms and stocky stems.

Soil

The good news: Borage can thrive in even the foremost dismal of soils, so there’s no got to carve out a special spot in your garden for this herb. However, given the selection, the plant prefers a moist but well-drained mixture with a pH level between 6.0 and 7.0. Amending your soil with the organic matter also will assist in giving your plants a nutritional boost.

Water

As your borage is growing from seed and getting established in your garden, water it regularly, a minimum of every few days. Once the plant is mature, you’ll crop on your watering cadence, allowing the soil to dry out completely between waterings.

Temperature and Humidity

Borage may be a particularly hardy herb, ready to withstand temperatures on both ends of the spectrum. However, while it’s tolerant of both heat and funky weather, it’ll not be ready to withstand a tough frost, so care should be taken to reap all you would like from the plant before then. Additionally, it’s no added humidity needs.

Fertilizer

Borage plants in poor soil will enjoy periodic feeding with any fertilizer labeled to be used on edible plants. Something with a high phosphorous number (the middle number on a fertilizer package) will help keep them in flower; additionally, the plants are often pinched or pruned, to encourage branching and keep them shorter.