I freely admit that people here did warn me about the borage getting big. Ever since the tomatoes went in the ground, I have had to keep cutting the borage back to keep it from over-taking the tomatoes. Stuff is huge and incredibly fast growing. AND I never did see a single honey bee at it
. And it isn't actually very pretty, which seems odd for something with lots of blue flowers. But kind of coarse and weedy looking. Main plus to it is I did like the sweet, spicy borage flowers in salads. So I was out today and I was going to cut it back a bunch more. But the stems are hollow and when you cut it off it just leaves an open tube. I looked at all those open tubes and thought that is just an invitation to disease and pests. So I pulled it all out of the tomato bed. It's still in the herb bed, but that's a lot shadier, so the borage isn't so rampant. AS, I think you are the one who gets to tell me, I told you so!
In the meantime, the tomato plants which were my leggy seedlings are still looking a bit leggy and spindly. I don't think it's because they were leggy seedlings; if the conditions had been right, they would have recovered from that. But they are leggy now for the same reason they were before... not enough light.
When we bought this place 9 years ago, the patio was pretty much in full sun. But the trees along one edge have gotten a LOT bigger and are encroaching and shading it. I think tomorrow I will get my chainsaw out and take down a couple trees and a couple huge branches, let a little more sun back. I WANT one full sun spot!
I actually removed some of the borage leaves once already, I think. It IS an interesting contrast in leaf shape and texture, however. 