Flowers & companions
Borage
Pollinators; great with cucumbers and squash.
- Outside
- Direct mid May; self-sows after
- Where
- In ground, near the squash and cucumbers
- Sun
- Full sun; takes light shade
- Water
- Water young plants in; grown, it lives on rain
- Harvest
- Flowers and young leaves, Jun to Oct
Care
- Water
- Keep the seedlings watered until they are up and rooted; after that borage runs on rainfall, and dry, sunny ground actually suits it. Grown in the ground, it barely wants the hose again.
- Sow
- A quarter inch deep right where it will live, since the taproot hates being moved; sow once the soil is warm in mid May, then thin the stand to eighteen inches or more between plants. It self-sows freely from then on.
- Feed
- Not a hungry plant in the least. It fends for itself on lean, dry ground, so there is no feeding routine to bother with; a handful of compost at sowing is as far as it pays to go.
- Ready
- Pick the blue star flowers as they open, and young leaves any time you fancy, before the bristles set and toughen. Neither one dries well, so use both straight from the plant, fresh.
- Trouble
- Runaway seedlings: it reseeds hard, so come spring you find it in spots you never planted; the volunteers hand-pull easily, gloves on, since the stems bite. Pests, for their part, mostly leave it alone.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 5–7 gal bag.
- Water
- A bag dries faster than the dry ground borage loves, so check it every couple of days in summer and water until it runs from the base.
- Sow
- Sow straight into the bag, one plant to a bag; the taproot resents being moved, so do not transplant it in.
Borage is the bee plant stationed near the squash and cucumbers, a bristly self-sower with blue star flowers from June to frost. Plant it once; it handles its own succession from then on.
Growing
Direct sow near the squash and cucumbers in mid May and stand back; it makes a rangy three-foot plant that bees work from first light. That traffic is the job, since a squash flower opens for one morning only and needs the commuters already in the neighborhood. Expect volunteers next year exactly where they are useful and in several places where they are not; the extras pull easily. Water the young plants until they take hold; grown borage manages on rain and looks faintly insulted by more.
In the kitchen
The flowers taste faintly of cucumber and dress drinks, ice cubes, and salads. Young leaves do the same job before the bristles arrive.