When I think about sage, so many thoughts come to mind. First, I think of autumn and squash ravioli. It makes me think of spirituality. Just the smell of it burning... It also bring visions of hippies at farmers markets. So much.
Sage is from the Lamiaceae family, also the Mint family which includes lavender, thyme and basil. Apparently all these guys have square stems. Though, I am reflecting upon basil and cannot seem to picture this square stem.
I bought some seeds and planted them in with my patty pan squash. The squash has grown in a single direction and has gone over the side of the pot. So there is plenty of room in the pot for other plants and it gets a lot of sun. I am concerned because the seed package tells me that it is easy to grow from seed, but some other random website says it is tough from seed and should be grown from cuttings. I have tried to keep it especially moist to encourage sprouting and even planted some more seeds in with my strawberries. So far, after only 8 days one seed has sprouted.
Fun Facts About Sage
- The latin name for sage is salvia, which means to heal.
- At some point, sage has been said to heal every ailment including warding off evil and encouraging women's fertility.
- It is one of the historical ingredients of "Four Thieves Vinegar" which was thought to help people ward off the plague.
- You should prune your sage regularly to encourage more growth of leaves rather than flowers.
- Germans apparently use sage in their eel dishes. Anyone tasted this?
I grew sage from seed a couple years ago. Came up easily and turned out to be massive, prolly my most successful herb-from-seed attempt ever. It comes up every year on its own after the long and treacherous New England winter! Pretty impressive. It is true about the flowers though, you have to pick them off, they totally stunt the growth of the leaves. Good luck!
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