Sunday, March 21, 2010

I Didn't Kill My Rosemary!


I have a tough time overwintering my rosemary.  Every year, I kill it sometime in February.  It either dries out or gets this white powdery stuff and turns brown.  This year, I had a beautiful plant and I really wanted it to last through the winter, so I did a lot of reading of many different sources on how to help it survive the winter.  Maybe it was just a fluke that it didn't die, but here are the things that I tried:

  1. I watered the rosemary a couple of times with water in which I had soaked some willow branches.  This willow water is supposed to boost the defense system of plants.
  2. I put the rosemary in a clay pot at the beginning of the summer so that I could move it indoors without disturbing the plant's roots.  It didn't have to go through any transplant shock.  The clay pot was used to guard against overwatering.  Rosemary doesn't like to stand in too much moisture.
  3. I watered regularly.  In the past, I didn't water much because rosemary can be sensitive to too much water.  I think that I under-watered and dehydrated the plant.  The clay pot allowed me to water more frequently without having to worry so much about overwatering.  
I wasn't able to put the plant in full sun.  I don't have any full sun windows in my house.  In fact, I overwintered the plant in a north facing window.  I can tell that the lack of light has impacted the plant.  The new growth is spindly looking and soft.  However, this new growth has been fine for cooking.  I'l be able to start reintroducing the plant to the outdoors over the next couple of weeks.  I'll start it off in a shady, protected spot and eventually move it into full sun in a less protected location.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts with Thumbnails