Oregano is a perennial herb with rose-purple or white flowers and a taste reminiscent of thyme. Here’s how to grow oregano plants in your garden—plus, delicious recipes using oregano. Oregano’s taste is zesty and strong and is commonly used in Italian dishes. It is a hardy plant and makes for a good ground cover.
Here’s how to grow oregano plants in your garden—plus, delicious recipes using oregano. Oregano’s taste is zesty and strong and is commonly used in Italian dishes. It is a hardy plant and makes for a good ground cover.
The best answer is oregano begins blooming in late spring or early summer depending on the variety. The flowers are tiny, only measuring about 3 to 4 mm, but each flower spike has an abundance of flowers on it.
One of the next things we asked ourselves was what is oregano flowering?
Oregano is an aromatic plant cultivated worldwide for its special taste that gives a distinctive flavor to many recipes. While most of us grow these herbs for their leaves, when they reach maturity, oregano plants develop flowers to produce seeds and to ensure the propagation of the plant.
This is what our research found. oregano is native to mountain areas with shallow, slightly acidic soil. It prefers a p. H between 6.0-8.0. You can place wood ashes around oregano plants in the winter to help lower the soil acidity if you need to. Oregano prefers soil that drains well.
Although it is grown predominately as a culinary herb, oregano makes a nice edging plant and ground cover, requiring little maintenance . The smaller varieties also do well in rock and alpine gardens. Bees love oregano flowers and will cover the plants as they take up nectar and pollen.
Can oregano grow in winter?
Oregano is quite sturdy and will survive the winter with only a few preparations. First of all, you should stop fertilizing your Oregano plant at around August. This will discourage any new growth that would not survive the winter and only waste the herbs Energy.
A frequent question we ran across in our research was “Does oregano grow in cold weather?”.
We can dig in. Oregano is a very robust winter herb that grows in cold season because it can easily withstand the frost of winter . The more harvest made from oregano, the bigger it grows.
Can you eat oregano seeds?
Oregano typically does not produce true seed, meaning the seed will not grow into an identical plant. The resulting plant can be much less flavorful than its parent, so you might as well harvest the flowers after the bees have had their chance. Oregano flowers are edible but have a more delicate taste than the boldly flavored leaves.
One answer was overwintering In cold-winter climates, cut back the stems of the oregano plant after the first frost kills the foliage. Leave a short umbrella of stems to protect the root ball, Cover the ground with 3 to 4 inches of dry mulch for the winter. Remove the mulch in spring as soon as the snow melts.
If you allow the oregano plants to reach maturity, they will make lots of flowers . Bees, butterflies, some species of flies, and all kinds of pollinating insects seem to adore the pollen from the flowers of oregano. Therefore, if you can’t find another use for these parts of the oregano plants, just leave them in their care.
You might be thinking “How to grow Oregano from cuttings?”
Plant the seeds/ cuttings in well-drained soil anytime after the last spring frost. The soil should be around 70ºF. For thin plants, plant 8 to 10 inches apart. The plants will grow 1 to 2 feet tall and spread about 18 inches . Oregano makes a good companion plant for any vegetable in the garden.
When is the best time to plant oregano?
Oregano is generally planted in the spring or fall , either from potted nursery starts or plant divisions. It grows quickly and will provide leaves suitable for cooking almost immediately.
Another frequent question is “How do you know when to pick oregano?”.
As with most herbs, oregano leaves taste best before the plant flowers. The flowers should be pinched to keep the plants bushy and prevent it from bolting to seed. The flowers stalks are spiky and may be white, pink, or purple. You can begin harvesting when plants have reached 4 to 5 inches in height .