Rosemary is a super-stylish herb to grow in your garden. On hot summer nights, its scent floats across the whole plot, and if you look after it properly, it can form a really important structural part of your garden too.
But that’s quite a big ‘if, as if you leave rosemary to its own devices for too long, it sprawls everywhere and within a few months becomes miserably leggy and woody. So once your rosemary bush starts to grow enthusiastically, especially in this hot and wet weather that we’ve been gifted with recently, you’ll need to take action, and fast.
I prune my rosemary every six weeks, and remove more stalks on an ad hoc basis when I’m cooking something particularly herby. For the big pruning sessions, I get a pair of sharp secateurs out, and I cut the poor plant to within an inch of the new growth.
Now that my rosemary is looking like a new recruit to the army, and I’m carry an armful of stalks, I need to dry the prunings so none of them go to waste. Of course rosemary is at its juicy best when fresh, but it’s also pretty useful to have a stock of dried leaves ready and waiting for the times when you can’t be bothered to tramp into the garden.
You can tie the stalks into bunches with a ribbon and hang them upside down from door handles in dry, warm rooms in your house, which will make the place smell amazing. Or, if you have so much rosemary you are overwhelmed, push it into a large paper bag and leave it to dry there.
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frazzledsugarplummum
Love Rosemary. Thanks for the reminder about it getting leggy. Must give mine a prune before Spring gets here.
alberta ross
yet another call on time – love pruning the smelly plants – my Lavender needs a trim also – heady heady work
F&F
And what a treat it is too! If only all pruning were so pleasant…
Doug
I love rosemary, and really thankful to you for reminding me that we should remove its stalk every 6 week.
F&F
No problem: it’s one of my favourite flavours, especially in breads. Hope you have a good growing season Doug!