Borage

[nikki]

Anyone know if borage adds anything to the soil?

I have borage taking over my garden (literally!) my whole potatoe patch where I had been nice and let more borage than usual live is now sprouting edge to edge baby borage in all areas I have dug potatoes (about 3/4 the patch). I love Borage I think it is pretty, we eat the flowers and it is a great bee magnet which is why I originally planted it. I am not sure if I should let it grow almost like a cover crop (hey no weeds can grow there it is so thick!) or if this will make it reproduce 10 times more and though I do still love it it is turning into a garden pest and I really do not need more of it next year than I had this year. Any thoughts from anyone else out there?

[bluelacedredhead]

SSSSSHHHH, You shouldn't have told people how invasive it is, and maybe they would have bought plants from you. :p
I used to grow it Nikki, but I had it confined in an area that it couldn't escape from.
If I remember correctly, it's a member of the mint family and as all mints do, it likes to run...

[ipaintedmyhousewhite]

I have read that it is good to plant near strawberries and that planting it near vegetables makes them taste better. I have no idea why this would be the case. My sources do not say.

[flowerpower]

Someone just gave me some Borage seeds. Wouldn't it be an annual herb for me? Does it spread by seed and runners?

[Lavandula Girl]

Borage is an annual, but it self-seeds so readily that most people give it a permanent spot in the garden. Some borage acts like a biennial, so if it doesn't flower the first year, don't pull it out in frustration. Once it does flower, it produces little nut like seeds, four per flower. FYI - borage is supposed to enhance the courage of those who eat it - the Celtic warriors would drink a fermented drink that included it before battle. Also, as a companion plant, it is supposed to make the plants around it "braver", by making them more resistant to insects and disease. Traditionally, it's planted with strawberries, and I've heard that the strawberries do some good for the borage, as well. Just don't let the borage bully the berries - it's generally a lot bigger.

[Helen Wong-Joe]

Thanks nikki, I am glad you started this thread because I bought some borage seeds and don't know much about them. I guess now I will have to grow them a large pots. Am I suppose to plant them now??? Spring? Summer?? Are they cool weather or hot weather plants????

[nikki]

I planted mine originally in the spring when I put my tomatoes in- this was a few years ago. I did plant some white borage the next year but have not planted any new since then. My book tells me it is a companion to tomatoes, sqaush and strawberries; deters tomatoe worm and improves growth and flavor. The herb book I checked out from the library (with not near the info I wanted about herbs) says that it can be planted in early spring or fall. It prefers full sun. Maybe it would be less prolific in shade? I do not know that growing it in pots will stop it from reseeding itself. It will still drop seeds. The good news is the roots are not deep to start- it is easy to pull, and has a nice cucumber smell when you pull it. Even with it taking over I would still plant it again if I was for some reason to lose what I have.

I am helping my boys to be couragous! Maybe that is why they never cry on first days of preschool- but I do. We just experienced this, what is it that a mom needs on those days!?

Lavendula girl- do you have any other just good general herb books that you can think of? I can get things from interlibrary loan if I know what to ask for. Thanks!

[Lavandula Girl]

Nikki - honestly my first go-to book on herbs is the Rodale Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs.... not totally complete, but pretty dang close! There are some really in-depth herbals out there, but in-depth and correct are two entirely different things, right? As to preschool - Moms need a big mocha (the mommy version of a fermented borage drink!) after they drop the kids off the first day! My kids are older now (11 and 8) but preschool was way more traumatic for me than for them!

[johno]

I'm gonna need more than borage or mocha - mine girls will be going off to college before long...

[Lavandula Girl]

Yeah - but we frown on that kind of courage at 8:AM.... not socially acceptable! Just kidding, Johno - think of it this way - they could be following a very different path than going off to college. You should be proud and call it well done! (Of course, I think there are hypnotists you can see who will erase your own college experience from your mind, at least temporarily, just so you can get some sleep!)