Fragrant, beautiful, and delicious, rosemary is a wonderful herb you can grow indoors in a pot or outdoors in your garden. It’s easy to cultivate and doesn’t require much attention, making it a favorite among gardeners. This hardy perennial can thrive for years and adds delightful flavors to your dishes. Here are six essential tips to help you start, care for, and harvest this versatile evergreen shrub.
1. Start with a Cutting
Instead of planting seeds, find a mature rosemary plant and take a 4-inch cutting. Remove the leaves from the bottom inch of the cutting—this part will be planted in the soil. If you don’t remove the leaves before planting, the stem may rot instead of rooting.
2. Propagate Rosemary
Dip the cut end of the rosemary cutting in rooting hormone (available at any garden center) to encourage root growth. Plant the cutting in a small pot filled with two-thirds coarse sand and one-third peat moss. Place the pot in a sunny location, although direct sunlight is ideal. Water the cutting regularly and keep it warm; roots should form in about three weeks.
3. Transplant Seedlings into Individual Pots
Once roots have developed, transfer the rosemary into individual pots or plant it directly in your garden. Rosemary adapts well to most growing conditions and is very hardy. It can withstand snow and high temperatures and thrives in nearly all soil types, provided it drains well. Be cautious, as rosemary can suffer from root rot in overly wet soil.
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