"Growing Borage in your herb garden."
Borage has many medicinal properties and has been used over centuries for treating various ailments - from sore throats to poultices for swellings.
 Nowdays we tend to just chop up the leaves, which are cucumber-flavoured and add them to the salad bowl :-) However, a cup of borage tisane every day drives away stress and worry, and should be tried. The flowers can be candied and used to decorate special occassion cakes. The borage plant is rather droopy and boring until the flowers starburst all over it. The blue is an awesome colour. And it will attract bees and butterflies to your garden.
Borage may overwhelm your heart with gladness, but it will also overwhelm your garden if you're not careful. Borage is a hardy plant and will tolerate most growing conditions, but needs to be controlled. Borage likes full sun and although it's not too fussy, the plants will be bushier and healthier if grown in a rich soil. Add lots of well-rotted compost before planting. Once borage finds it's home, it will probably seed itself - depending on your climate - and you'll need to watch for baby plants turning up all over the place! Borage can also be successfully grown in containers indoors or out, but make sure you place the pot in a very sunny position.
 Growing borage - planting:
Plant out small plants or seed after the last frost. Borage likes a well-drained soil, but needs to be kept moist. The plant will suffer if too dry. Borage grown in containers needs to be watered regularly. Sow your seeds thinly in short lines. Borage plants grow fairly big, and will eventually need about 12 inches of space each. When the seedlings are large enough carefully remove some and re-plant somewhere else or in pots to give away as gifts. Borage doesn't always transplant well though. Sow a few seeds every few weeks to keep a good supply going. Check on the seed packet for your region's individual sowing instructions but in general sow your seed when the soil is warm enough in the spring and all danger of a frost has passed. Thompson and Morgan online suppliers have borage seed available for UK deliveries....
Looking after borage:
As long as you keep the small plants weed-free and watered, borage should get quickly established in your garden. Make sure your borage plants never dry out, and watch out for the take-over bid... Next spring get out there early in the year and dig up all the baby plants that will appear! In very cold winters, it's possible borage may die off and you will need to sow again every year.
As with all herbs, borage is best used fresh, but can be stored in different forms... Drying: Dry the leaves and flowers to make tisanes during the winter months. In a dark airy place, hang the stems or dry on trays, turning regularly. When completely dry, store in airtight glass jars.
Freezing: Freeze the tiny blue flowers in ice cubes or freeze quickly on trays and store in sealable freezer bags. Label. I've never tried freezing the leaves. They seem too floppy already!
Preserving: If you want to make every possible use of your plant, you could always preserve the flowers in sugar! Candied borage flowers have been used for years as cake decorations.
As mentioned above, apart from going to work on the 'feel-good' glands, borage has been used in many different medicinal remedies. It is said to reduce swellings when applied as a poultice, and has been used as a gargle to treat sore throats. As with all herbal remedies, you should take care before experimenting.
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"Borage"
