The Home Herb Garden

If you are the kind of person who loves to grow herbs in your garden, you will want to know how to grow your own Rosemary. This herb has been used for centuries in the best cuisine and also contains excellent medicinal properties. The leaves resemble pine needles and the flowers are white, pink, or blue, which make it not only an important addition to the herb garden so that you can use it in cooking, but a beautiful way to add more color there. Because it is a member of the mint family of plants, you will also be delighted with its wonderful fragrance.

There are several different varieties of Rosemary, so you will want to plant it based on the variety you choose. It can grow bushy and compact, tall and thick for use as a hedge, or even hang down and cascade over the rocks like a vine. In other words, it is an evergreen perennial that is native to the Mediterranean. Whichever variety you decide on, this herb requires full sun. However, in warmer climates you can give it some light shave. The soil used for planting should be well-drained garden soil.

When thinking about how to grow your own Rosemary, you may wish to begin with seeds. This will take some time and may be easiest to start in the drier Fall season rather than a more humid time of year. If you decide to start with seedling plants from a nursery, you can set them out in the spring after the weather has begun to warm up. If you have been coaxing your own seedlings along since the fall, you can plant them in the spring.

This herb tends to only handle temperatures above 20 degrees Fahrenheit, so people who live in areas where the winters are cold need to grow their Rosemary indoors during the winter months. Use a fast draining soil and be sure to bring those plants inside a few weeks before the first frost. Remember to provide a location where there is plenty of air circulation.

Many herb gardeners like to grow it in pots in the garden so that it is easy to bring indoors when it is cold, rather than having to take it out of the garden for the winter. Remember not to let the soil in the pot get too dry. Although this herb can handle some drought, letting it get too dry can easily happen, since plants in pots lose moisture more quickly than those in the actual garden soil. Now you know the basics on how to grow your own Rosemary.