Rosemary - Grown In Your Organic Garden
by John Yazo
Rosemary is an herb that can add beauty as an ornamental plant, along with being a culinary seasoning, and has an aromatic quality that will add a delightful fragrance for you to enjoy. This aromatic herb that is a member of the mint family (Labiatae), and very easy to grow.
Rosmarinus officinalis, means "dew of the sea", is the Latin name for rosemary. This herb grows as an evergreen perennial shrub in the mild-winter regions of the world. Container planting in cooler climates, or areas that don't have long growing seasons make it easy to grow this herb indoors when temperatures get to cool.
Good drainage and full sun keeps rosemary thriving, excess water will damage the root system and cause the plant to die off. When growing indoors, rosemary needs a window with southern exposure and to avoid damage to the root system due to excessive moisture, let the soil dry before giving a thorough watering.
There is a great deal of variability within the genus Rosmarinus. These large varieties of cultivars offer diverse plant shapes and flower color, along with a variety of foliage color and different flavors.
Most rosemary cultivars are propagated from cuttings. Growing rosemary from seed usually results in a low germination rate, or with a large variation in the plants that do germinate. When propagated from cuttings the plants are identical to the stock plant that the cuttings were taken from. Rosemary is a very easy plant to propagate from cuttings, so easy that under the proper conditions, sunlight and temperature, they will sprout roots just sitting in a glass of water.
When taking cuttings to propagate, clip about a 2 1/2 inch stem from the new growth of an established plant. Then cut off the lower leaves and dip the bottoms into some rooting powder before placing them in a container of potting mix of equal amounts of peat moss and perlite, keeping them lightly misted on sunny days.
Rosemary is easy to grow in an organic garden with a good healthy soil structure, one that drains well, retains moisture and retains nutrients for the plants uptake when needed, along with being in a location that receives at least 6 to eight hours of full sunlight.
When growing rosemary outdoors in a garden bed, mulch the plants so that to keep the plants root system cool. In the North, it is best to plant rosemary in clay pots during the summer months and bring indoors during the cold winters.
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