Borage is also known as Burrage, Common Bugloss, Bee-bread, Bee Fodder, Cucumber Herb, Star flower, Ox's tongue and Cool Tankard. Borage originates from the Mediterranean Area and it has a fresh and slightly cucumber-like flavour. It's well-known and used in herbal medicin for it's fortifying and diuretic properties.
The taste is remotely similar to the taste of cucumbers. Hence the name Cucumber Herb. This herb is also used in cooking. The attractive white flowers are used as decoration and the gray-green hairy leaves are used fresh and finely chopped in salads and with fish dishes. It can also be added to soups and sauces, for example, but only at the last moment so that there is no loss of flavor. This decorative plant with its striking white flowers and gray-green hairy leaves and stem is also a very popular garden plant that is visited by bees and butterflies. Annual. Height: 45-90 cm.
Outdoor sowing: March - June
Germination: 7 - 12 days
Germination temp.: 18 - 22°C
Sowing depth: 1 cm
Plant distance: 40 - 50 cm
Plant position: sunny - half shade
Harvest period: June - October
Sow outdoors from the end of March - June. Sow in a sunny spot with half shade and well moist and well drained soil. Sow sparingly and about 1 cm deep. Cover the seeds with a layer of seed soil. Keep the seeds well moist and weed free. When the seedlings are large enough to handle, thin out at 40 - 50 cm. Keep well moist and weed free.
Protect them from any night frost. This decorative garden plant is very attractive to all kinds of bees. Borage can sow itself very easily. The attractive, white flowers can be eaten. Use them in salads, for example. Harvesting is possible after about 50 days. The leaves and flowers can both be harvested at the same time. They are both edible.
