Herbs have played a central role in the culinary world. They provide enhanced taste and are a great way to season foods. Herb gardens can be as small as a potted container to a 4 by 6 feet patch in your garden. Herbs are grown not just for their use in cooking but also for the pleasant aromatic properties. Herbs are used as garnish in salads to enhance the flavors of vegetables or to add flavor to meats and stews.
Sage is also known as salvia or garden sage. It is an herb with sprawling tendencies that works greatly if you love to plant herbs in your garden. Here is some of the information about sage.
- Sage is a woody perennial plant that consists of oblong leaves with gray-green colors. The color of the leaves is darker on top compared to the underneath leaves. Because of the sprawling habit, sage may reach up until 2 feet in height.
- White and purple leaves with hints of pink are the trademark for tricolor sage, while ictrina sage has green and gold leaves. Purpurascens sage has purple leaves.
- If you want to grow sage, there are few methods, which are the stem cuttings, crown divisions and seeds. These methods are capable to make the sage grow. You have to make sure that when planting sage, the area where the sage is planted has well-drained soil and receives plenty of sunlight.
- Avoid planting your sage herbs in an overly wet and heavy soil as it may cause the roots of the sage to rot. Make sure to create space at least 15 inches apart from one another for the plants to grow. You can harvest the sage before blooming by cutting the leaves about 8 inches and leave them to dry before using them. Sage is great to be used as dried herbs for many uses especially for cooking.
- Sage is mostly used in foods such as for rabbit, fish and pork seasoning or for poultry stuffing such as chicken and turkey. Some will use the sage as tea by steeping the dried leaves into hot water.
- These herbs can also be used as remedy for symptoms related to menstruation and menopause. However, you should not use and consume sage oil as it is very toxic and shall not be consumed.
There’s nothing more rewarding than to reach out to your supply of herbs when cooking and know that it game right from your very own herb garden prepared by yours truly. From the ground to the plate, the thought of knowing that the herb you use comes from your own efforts is enough to boost the taste itself! Now that you know how to choose which herbs to plant, maintain and care for your herb garden, the next step is to know how to harvest your hard work.
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Additional Reading:
The Herb Gardener: A Guide for All Seasons
