Rosemary - Herb - Gardeners?

DorsetDude

DorsetDude

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Keith
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How come I see quite a few rosemary plants on roadside verges, in peoples hedges etc but when I google on how to plant one in a pot it says they are mediterranean and must be protected form frost and taken indoors at the first hint of cold. o_O

if my cuttings in a glass of water ever root, any recce's for what compost to use in the pot to plant it/them in?

Ta.
 
Mind's in a pot Keith..always has been.
Were planted in bog standard potting compost and has been fine now for nine years.
Never bought it in in the winter either, nor covered it, etc.
 
I've got a decent size Rosemary bush living outside here in North Yorkshire, so definitely not Mediterranean only. But I think you end up with a much woodier shrub in the colder climates rather than the much more delicately stemmed ones from the med. But the green leaves that you actually use are still great tasting.
 
I have rosemary in a pot on an indoor window sill. I tried to grow it outside. It died very quickly. Seems to thrive indoors. I've also got thyme and chives. Both seem to do well. I tried basil but that just got the pox and I had to chuck it.

Some supermarkets have herbs in pots. Buy one and report in a larger pot and it will be quite happy. Mine are about a year old now and not dead so they've got to be reasonably tolerant of bad gardeners :)

If you have cuttings I think you need rooting compound then stick them in normal soil or bought composty soil stuff.
 
We dug one out of the front garden that was over ten years old and massive.

As above they do get 'Woody' the upside of which is barbecue skewers for lamb ;)

I miss mine, but our front was a tad overgrown and we're clearing it all to make a fresh start.
 
Very hardy, but prefer good drainage and won't like sitting wet all winter. Quite hard to kill really, safe bet for a novice gardener.

To propagate cutting, just break off a stem and push into damp compost. I think they strike quicker from a heeled cutting. They may root poorly on must a glass of water - not enough oxygen. Yes, you can drown a plant/cutting. Just pushing a rosemary cutting into the garden soil outdoors will strike most of the time.
 
Ours was against a South facing fence and survived everything bar the cat deciding it was perfect for her to sharpen her claws on - she ring barked it! Should be OK outdoors in reasonably well drained soil/compost in either the ground or a pot, especially in the South of England. Either keep pinching the tops out for a bushy plant or nip any side shoots out for a "standard".
 
Alastair said:
I think they strike quicker from a heeled cutting
Click to expand...
:thinking: heeled?

I'll try and get some composty soil stuff and plant it/them up I think. MAybe mix with grit but that then means buying grit from somewhere I guess. And then storing a 3/4 bag full of grit for evermore in the garage. :D
 
I've read there are some varieties of Rosemary that are susceptible to frost, but I have never found one.

Although of Mediterranean origin they are very tough. At present I'm sitting about 25 feet from one growing in a garden at about 58 degrees North on the west coast of Scotland. The only thing they don't like, as mentioned above, is water logging, though that is true of many plants.

I think they are a good addition to a garden - attractive to look at, very easy to grow (apart from a bit of pruning and perhaps replacing after a number of years) there is nothing to do, as far as I know pretty much disease and pest free, and useful in the kitchen.

Dave
 
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DorsetDude said:
:thinking: heeled?

I'll try and get some composty soil stuff and plant it/them up I think. MAybe mix with grit but that then means buying grit from somewhere I guess. And then storing a 3/4 bag full of grit for evermore in the garage. :D
Click to expand...


Heeled = pull the little branch that you're going to use as the cutting down so you tear a little bit of the next biggest stalk's bark off with the cutting.

The grit that gets washed/rubbed off the high grip surface they sometimes put down at zebra/pelican crossings will do. You only need a handful for a normal sized pot (to start with.)
 
Nod said:
You only need a handful for a normal sized pot (to start with.)
Click to expand...
Already got a huge pot lined up ready. Well, empty anyway. Its the big empty pot thats prompted me to plant something in it.
 
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I've got a couple growing in my herb patch that have survived a winter or two. Since all the attention they get is when I chop a sprig off to cook with, their survival is not down to my gardening skills. Only other herbs I have left are sage (which has gone bananas) and mint, which keeps popping up everywhere. All the others I planted out died!
 
I have a few growing outside- one in a trough and two in the border. They've been there for about 12 years.
The one in the trough is a bit woody, but not too bad.

I stay outside Edinburgh and we've had temperatures down to -20C in the time the rosemary has been planted...
 
onomatopoeia said:
I've got a couple growing in my herb patch that have survived a winter or two. Since all the attention they get is when I chop a sprig off to cook with, their survival is not down to my gardening skills. Only other herbs I have left are sage (which has gone bananas) and mint, which keeps popping up everywhere. All the others I planted out died!
Click to expand...
As an aside, the generally accepted wisdom for growing mint is to plant it in a pot and then plant that in the ground still in the pot - it stops it being so invasive and taking over the garden like some kind of very small but sinister triffid.
 
I keep meaning to plant mint as there are other plants taking over so I'd rather have one that smells nice...
 
My experience of rosemary has been mixed. Grown in very poor stoney soil along a fence it thrived and overtook the bed (no problem, I love the smell and taste). But then I moved to a second floor flat with a North-facing balcony. Planted in compost on the balcony, it kept dying. I finally managed to get it to grow on my balcony last year by putting indoors in a windowsill until it was a decent size, before transferring to the balcony in a mixture of compost soil and a small amount of grit/gravel for drainage, and it managed to survive the winter.
Basically, it needs sunlight, good drainage and (apparently) not too rich a soil. It can survive a coldish winter if it's a bit woody, but this late in the year I'd keep a juvenile plant indoors on your brightest windowsill, don't pick it, and plant out in spring.
 
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