Tag Archives: Oregano

From Seeds

Garden,

Growing from seeds is trickier than planting already growing plants.DSC04001 This Vinca is the only plant I got after planting about 160 seeds.  However, since it is perennial, it will last a long time and just get bigger.

DSC03998  This is some extra oregano which I planted from seed nearly a year ago.  It has thrived recently, spreading and growing relatively better than the marjoram next to it.  So I took out the excess that was nearly invading the space of the marjoram.    After washing and removing the stems, we got five loosely packed sandwich bags each containing  about half a cup of oregano leaves.  We put these into the freezer to use for cooking.  Some of the leaves did have holes in them, so I do not dare eat them fresh, for fear of catching a liver fluke.

DSC04000 After it gets growing, the stems lie on the ground, and put out roots, then bush out above this.  It looks like this  plant can keep going by vegetative reproduction. I transplanted a stem like this into the garden in front of the fence.

A Garden Learning Curve

Garden, Kitchen, , , , , , , , , ,

Marjoram DSC01757 This marjoram plant is a real survivor.  Planted last fall, most of its sibling plants did not grow, or started to grow, and died.  I tasted a bit of its leaf, and this plant has a definite herbal flavor.  A few other plants may have survived, but the true marjoram is rather difficult to distinguish from a certain weed which is right now about the same size.  Lesson learned:  Plant marjoram in the early spring.

The fall planted plants which did not fare very well were chives, short dill, short radishes, dill which was lower lying right next to the back edge, carrots, beets, onions, sage, basil, sorrell, marjoram, oregano.

Oregano and either weeds or marjoram DSC01758 The shorter, more bluish plants are oregano.  They also have an herbal taste.  but the taller plants might be weeds, or they might be marjoram.  I cannot tell yet.

So I have to learn to tell some weeds from seedlings.  When I have just planted seeds, and a lot of them sprout soon afterward, this is easy.  When I have planted a lot of seeds, and they do not grow well, it is hard to tell if a plant is a weed or a sprout.

I need to learn to plant the seeds of different kinds at the right time to maximize their growth.   The plants which eventually grew fairly well were large radishes, larger dill, lettuce, parsley, cilantro.

I need to learn which plants are annual, and which are perennial.  For example, I understand that most vegetables are annual, and may even be planted several time a year.  But herbs can vary in this respect.  For example, sorrel is perennial, parsley is biannual, and cilantro is annual.

I need to learn how much of the different kinds of plants we like to eat.   Perhaps, though we may not get very much sage, we may not need very much sage.