Clary sage: planting, care
Clary sage (another name is salvia) contains many useful properties, but there are also contraindications to its use. The plant is unpretentious in care and place of cultivation, it is one of the most useful herbs. In appearance, salvia has an attractive color and shape of its flowers. It grows up to 1–1,5 meters in height. The flowers are large, purple-pink are more common, and the least white. It dissolves its beautiful flowers for 25-30 days, these numbers fall on June and August. Salvia bears fruit in September, its fruits look like small nuts 3 mm long, they are brown in color.
Growing clary sage is a painstaking business. If you want to get a good harvest, you will have to work hard in order to provide the plant with favorable conditions for its growth. It is recommended to grow it in the ground with a temperature of up to 25-28 ° C, with plowed soil and the addition of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers – these are the nutrients that it needs most.
Although sage is quite a thermophilic plant, it can withstand cold temperatures down to –30 ° C. When clary sage is grown in the country, it requires a lot of sunlight, does not die during drought, but continues to bear fruit and delight the eye with its flowering.
When the sprouts are 40 days old and at least three leaves appear on them, they will need to be transplanted, carefully making sure that the soil is constantly loosened. Seeds should be sown in springtime in plowed soil to a depth of 3-4 cm, while carefully watering them.
The sage plant needs gentle planting and care, which will take a lot of time, but the results will be worth it. In the first year, it does not grow very quickly and is still not strong enough, so you need to monitor the presence of weeds on the site. One piece of land can be planted for no more than 4 years. The soil is weeded to a depth of 8-10 cm, in dry weather it is advisable to water the plant and add fertilizers: superphosphate, potassium salt, ammophos.
So that clary sage does not get sick with diseases such as white rot and powdery mildew, you need to observe the norms of planting, care, and harvesting the plant. First of all, you do not need to plant a sunflower next to it. In the fall, after harvesting, you should carefully remove all the remnants of the grass and dig up a piece of land. To protect plants from pests (sage weevils, mites, sage mosquito), treatment with biological or insecticidal preparations is most often used.
Sage leaves are usually cut before flowering for consumption. Usually fresh leaves are added to soups, salads and various sauces. Also, the leaves make delicious and healthy tea.
The leaves are collected for storage several times during flowering, between July and September. In the first year, it is advisable to pluck only the lower leaves, in future years it will be possible to collect all the leaves and tops of the shoots. Before proceeding to drying, everything is carefully examined for the presence of brown leaves, coarse stems are removed. Drying of leaves should be done in a well-ventilated darkened area. An oven is also suitable for drying, the leaves are dried at 60-80 degrees. You can store dried leaves for 2 years, always in a dry and cool place.
Take proper care of sage and it will serve as your home remedy. It will give you the opportunity to enjoy aromatic and medicinal tea. Decorate your facade with bright flowers.