Borage, also known as a starflower.
Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Borage
Planting
Where to Plant
Borage likes full sun but also does well in light shade. While it loves a loamy site, it will grow quite well in drier sites with loose, well-draining soil. It’s not picky about pH.
In the vegetable garden, plant borage in a sunny spot at opposite edges of a cucumber bed or near tomatoes, strawberries, and squash as a companion plant to keep away pests such as cabbage worms.
Honeybees love borage. If you’re planning to use borage in the kitchen, grow one borage plant for cooking and another two to four plants for tea or preserving.
If you’ve got the space, create a large patch of borage—the seeds can be bought in bulk quite affordably. The pure pollinator pandemonium is well worth the investment, and the flowers often last until well into fall, providing a source of pollen for honeybees when little else is blooming.
When to Plant Borage
Borage is best directly seeded outdoors after the last frost in spring when the soil has warmed. It has a tap root that doesn’t take well to transplanting. But if you must sow indoors, start about a month before spring frost dates.
For hot climate gardeners in zones 9 and 10, try fall planting for winter and spring growth. In locations with winter frosts, direct seed borage into the garden about the time of the last frost in spring.
For culinary harvesting or continued pollinator attraction, succession plant every 3 to 4 weeks throughout spring and into mid-summer.
Remember to harden off seedlings before transplanting them into the garden.
How to Plant Borage
To direct seed borage:
- Prepare the seedbed by removing rocks, roots, and weeds.
- Ideally, mix aged compost or organic matter about 12 inches down before planting. You can also plant in a container that is at least 12 inches deep.
- Sow in rows, three or four seeds per foot, ¼-½ inch deep, and water well.
- Then, thin seedlings from 18 to 24 inches apart once they are 4 to 6 inches tall. Space rows 18 to 24 inches apart too.
- For larger areas, borage can be broadcast across a freshly raked surface and covered with a layer of compost or soil.
To start borage indoors:
- Sow seeds in soil blocks or prepared trays of well-moistened seed starting mix. Use deeper cells as borage develops a tap root.
- Plant the seeds about ¼ to ½ inch deep.
- If using cell trays, sow two seeds per cell. Once they have germinated, thin to one per cell if necessary, snip the extras.
- Keep the seed starting mix slightly moist but not soggy.
- Harden off and plant outside once the last frost has passed.
- Transplant to a 12-inch spacing.
- ‘Bianca’ is a compact variety with rare white flowers. It’s well suited for growing in containers on the deck or patio.
- Common borage is the standard blue-flowered plant, and it can be used in flower beds or as part of a larger mix in a naturalized bed or meadow. It’s readily available both in packets and in bulk.
- ‘Variegata’ is a less common (and more expensive) variety with splotched leaves. The blue flowers remain attractive to pollinators while the leaves provide a bit of unique coloring.
Cooking Notes
Borage is a versatile herb in the kitchen. Its furry leaves become pricklier with age, so they must be picked young and chopped finely. The leaves and the stalks can be chopped and cooked like any vegetable.
The leaves and flowers taste like cucumbers. They are added to salads, used in stocks, soups, and stews, or brewed to make a refreshing tea. The edible flowers add color to summer salads, can be candied for cakes, and look lovely floating in summer drinks and “mocktails.”
Andy Wilcox
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