Borage Seeds

(P) Pkt of 100 seeds
Item #00337-PK-P1
 width=
Quantity

Description

Your vegetable garden's best friend

Days to Maturity: 56 from direct sow

It makes strawberries fruit more heavily, keeps hornworms off the tomatoes, and increases yields of cucumbers, gourds, and other fruiting plants. Borage is more than just a pleasant edible herb. It's a garden guardian, and it belongs in your sunny annual bed as well as the vegetable patch and herb garden.

An annual (or biennial) with handsome small blue blooms as well as long, toothy leaves, Borage Seeds grow quickly and self-sows readily. It needs to be direct sown where it is to grow, because it forms a long taproot that does not transplant well. So after you've transplanted your tomatoes and set your strawberry runners, drop a few seeds in holes ¼ to ½ inch deep and spaced about a foot apart in full sun. Cover with ½-inch of soil, and within 2 weeks you will see green shoots.

Borage flowers in early to midsummer, and the blue blooms make lovely garnishes for salads and cakes. The young leaves have a cucumber flavor, and are quite edible as well, though they can become tougher with maturity. Try them in tea and in potpourri.

But aside from its culinary use, Borage is simply your fruit and vegetables' best friend. It is a bee magnet, and seems to repel several types of predatory pests while simultaneously welcoming "good bugs" into the garden. Strawberries are its boon companion, and it has been shown to increase the yields of this fruit. Tomatoes also benefit. There is simply no place in the sunny garden that borage shouldn't go.

This herb self-sows, so if you want to avoid unwanted seedlings in the spring, choose which plants you allow to go to seed. (Simply snip the bloomheads off the others and remove them from the garden, using the flowers as garnish or flavoring.) Let the others remain through fall, and nature will do the rest.

Borage reaches about 2 feet high, with 1½-inch star-shaped blooms of brilliant azure. We didn't even mention the reason many gardeners grow it: its beautiful ornamental appeal. An all-around must-have for any sunny garden spot.

Details

Skip Product Specs
Genus Borago
Species officinalis
Item Form (P) Pkt of 100 seeds
Bloom Start to End Mid Summer
Days to Maturity 56
Habit Upright
Seeds Per Pack 100
Plant Height 24 in
Plant Width 6 in - 12 in
Bloom Size 1.5 in
Additional Characteristics Bloom First Year, Butterfly Lovers, Direct Sow, Easy Care Plants, Edible, Flower, Fragrance, Herbs, Pest Fighter
Bloom Color Blue
Foliage Color Medium Green
Harvest Season Early Summer, Mid Summer
Light Requirements Full Sun
Moisture Requirements Dry, Moist,  well-drained
Resistance Deer Resistance, Disease Resistant, Heat Tolerant, Humidity Tolerant, Pest Resistant
Soil Tolerance Normal,  loamy, Poor
Uses Beds, Cuisine, Outdoor, Wildflowers

Product Review Summary

Based on 2 reviews
The average rating for this product is 5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 5.0/5.0

Customer Reviews

July 14, 2012

Most Useful Plant

This shopper rated the product 5 out of 5 stars

This stuff is amazing!! Last year, I planted some borage seeds (very late) near my tomatoes. The tomatoes got tomato worms before the borage had grown. As soon as the borage came up, though, the worms left, and we never saw another. This year, the borage self sowed from last year's plants. It is much more abundant that last year. Even during this drought, the borage is very tall and looks great. My pollinators LOVE IT!! All of the time, I can find butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds on it. I have also seen finches perched on it. Family members live on our road as well. We all have several hummingbird feeders. As soon as my borage started blooming, their hummingbirds all moved into my back yard. I have also read that it has nutritional benefits. Both the leaves and the blooms have a really cool, refreshing flavor. I would say it is most similar to cucumber. I haven't tried it yet, but it seems that it would be good in lemonade. This is an all around amazing plant. I would reco

Jenni from IN
January 14, 2012

controls tomatoe worms

This shopper rated the product 5 out of 5 stars

borage works great at preventing romatoe hook worms.,...also self sows year to year

jet from CA

You May Also Like