When we are at home,we can do all sorts of things we always wished we could.
I often use my home time to tend, grow, and spread my herbal landscaping plants. A wonderful feeling rises up within me when I stir the earth, something like being in Eden, in my imagination.
Of all the herbs I tend, of all the herbs I have ever tended, rosemary is one of the easiest. You can find seed for it, but starting rosemary from seed is really rather difficult for the novice grower.
I like to begin with a scion. (Pronounced: sigh un, by those who sell cars or write dictionaries, or sky un, by plant people.) A scion is merely a small branch broken off. With the rosemary plant, the best way is to find a woody (not new or green) sprig and break it off backward, causing a bit of bark, called a heel, to peel along with it.
Actually, to be sure of success, perhaps more like six scions would be better. But if you do not already have a rosemary bush, you can have really good success also, by buying a packet of fresh sprigs often available at a grocery. If they look limp, wait for a fresh delivery to buy them. These will be clipped, and not have the heel, but I’ve gotten them to grow, before, using this method.
Strip the leaves (needles) from the lower half of the sprigs and insert them all, stripped end down, into a pot of good soil. Dampen well with warm water and enclose the entire pot and all the contents in a clear plastic bag and tie shut, creating a little greenhouse. Place in a temperate area with good light, but not direct sun, and then wait.
After about 3 weeks, check to see if roots are forming. If so, you may set the plant(s) out where you want them to grow, permanently. That must be a sunny place; on the east or south side of a building is good. If the scions have not developed roots by six weeks, probably they will also be showing some signs of decay and will need to be tossed out. Too bad, but hey, try, try again!
Once you have a rosemary plant up and growing, do not worry about it much. If the weather is really hot and dry it will need irrigation. Otherwise, remember that these plants grow wild from Europe to Australia, so yours will likely be a tough one.
Mine has withstood lots of cold and lots of drought, just fine, not to mention kitties playing tag in the lower branches. So fun to cuddle them all perfumed!
Something about owning a rosemary bush makes a person feel like experimenting with Italian cooking, too, so you’ll be glad tomorrow is another at-home day!
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Hooray! My post with a brand new rosemary recipe on it just appeared at Arkansas Farm Bureau’s Taste Arkansas blogsite! Run on over there and see what I’ve been inventing to DO with all these branches! Thanks!
Home's Cool! 