- When should you plant borage?
- The right place for borage
- Sowing Borage: Instructions
- Mixed culture with borage
- Caring for Borage
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The spice and medicinal herb borage is an eye-catcher in every garden with its usually blue, star-shaped flowers. We show what you should consider when planting borage.
Borretsch (Borago) should not be missing in a diverse herb garden. A distinction is made between the annual, larger common borage (Borago officinalis) and the smaller and perennial perennial borage (Borago pygmaea; synonym Borago laxiflora). The tasty herb is not only something for human taste buds and eyes, but also attracts bees and bumblebees with its blue flowers. In this article we will tell you how borage finds its way into your garden. We report on the right planting time, the ideal location and the right approach when planting borage.
When should you plant borage?
The easy-care herb does not have to be cultivated first - you can place the borage seeds directly in your bed or in a planter. The ideal time to sow borage is between mid-April and early May. You should sow your borage by the beginning of July at the very latest. If you buy borage plants that have already been grown early, you can plant them from mid-May.
When is the best time to plant borage?
- Direct sowing outdoors from mid-April to early May
- Sow no later than early July
- Plant young borage plants from mid-May
The right place for borage
Borretsch needs a sunny spot. The ideal soil for the herb should be loose and moist, but well-drained. Nutrient-rich substrate is good for growing borage and the pH should be between 6.5 and 7.5. Soil that is too firm must be loosened before planting and possibly enriched with sand or potting soil. For planting borage, we recommend a high-quality, peat-free soil such as our Plantura organic tomato & vegetable soil. This is also very good if you have borage in awant to plant tubs. Due to its growth height and its deep-reaching taproot, you should choose a plant container that is as deep and large as possible.
What are the habitat requirements of borage?
- Sunny
- Loose, moist, well-drained soil
- Nutrient-rich substrate
- Ideal pH between 6.5 and 7.5
Sowing Borage: Instructions
The sowing of borage is very simple. First, the bed in which you want to sow the borage should be well prepared. Loosen the soil and remove all weeds and stones from the bed. Basically, seed grooves do not have to be made for the borage. When sowing borage, you should keep a distance of about 40 cm to other plants in all directions. If you heed the correct planting distance when sowing, the plants no longer have to be separated later. There is a risk of damaging the taproots. Since the herb belongs to the dark germs, the seeds should be well covered with soil to germinate. Therefore, press the borage seeds about 3 to 5 cm deep into the ground or put about 3 to 5 cm of soil on the seeds. Now the seed is well watered. Depending on the conditions, the seeds should start to germinate in about five to ten days.
Step-by-step instructions: sowing borage
- Prepare the bed: loosen, mix in potting soil or sand as required
- Planting distance: 40 cm
- Cover seeds 3 - 5 cm with soil
- Water well
- Germination time: About a week
- Separate after 4 weeks
Tip: Borage not only tastes similar to cucumbers - unfortunately it is also afflicted by similar plant diseases. It is therefore better not to plant your borage too close together, otherwise it will be more easily attacked by fungal diseases such as powdery mildew (Erysiphaceae).
Warning: Excessive and regular consumption of borage should be avoided as it contains alkaloids that are potentially liver-damaging to humans and possibly even carcinogenic. We explain this in a separate article about the toxicity of borage.
Mixed culture with borage
Borage attracts pollinators to your garden, which also benefits its neighbors in the bed. The deep-rooting plant goes particularly well with cucumbers (Cucumis sativus), zucchini (Cucurbita pepo subsp. pepoconvar. giromontiina), basil (Ocimum basilicum), mint (Mentha spec.) and Strawberries (Fragaria spec.). In America, borage is also planted next to tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) because it repels the local pest tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculatus). He would prefer less directly next to parsley (Petroselium crispum ssp. crispum), chives (Allium schoenoprasum) or arugula (Eruca sativa). It can grow up to 80 centimeters high - so it easily overshadows other herbs.
Caring for Borage
Borage is a very low maintenance plant. After sowing, you should keep the soil sufficiently moist by watering. The heavy, succulent stalks can easily tip over in the wind - if you want to prevent this, you can offer it a support.
If you want to prevent self-seeding, you must cut back the seed heads of the borage in good time.
Tip: Perennial borage is frost-tolerant down to - 18°C. If it gets colder, you should cover the plants with fleece, for example.
Borage is a highly consuming, i.e. nutrient-hungry, plant. In order to cover the withdrawals from the soil, we recommend fertilizing with our Plantura organic universal fertilizer. The animal-free, primarily organic complete fertilizer not only feeds the borage, but also supplies the soil with organic material. The organic entry ensures that plants in your garden find fertile soil in the long term.
You can find out how borage came to us, how it is used for culinary purposes and how it is propagated in our profile on borage.