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Borage and Squishy Kitty
Our Borage flowered over the last few days and wow is it ever gorgeous! It tastes and looks so good! Squishy is in the photo also..
- rainbowgardener
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I'm with you. Love growing boragee for its looks, attractiveness to bees, but only use it as garnish in iced tea at this point.rainbowgardener wrote:a folk name for borage was "bee's bread" because the bees love it.
Still not convinced about eating those fuzzy leaves, but I have read of people blending it up into smoothies or whatever. That might be acceptable.
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Interesting ideas for putting this strange plant to use. Do you stake your borage, or let it flop?
I staked mine the first year, and it ended up sort of scraggly and leggy looking between the leaves. This year when it surprised me by popping up again I let it flop over and I like the look of it much better, and I think I got more flower stalks out of it. Like most of you, I can't bring myself to deal with the leaves either. I don't even like touching them!
I staked mine the first year, and it ended up sort of scraggly and leggy looking between the leaves. This year when it surprised me by popping up again I let it flop over and I like the look of it much better, and I think I got more flower stalks out of it. Like most of you, I can't bring myself to deal with the leaves either. I don't even like touching them!
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Yes it tastes just like cucumber, it is best to eat the smaller leaves as they taste the best, and the leaves are a stronger taste than the flowers. Very nice flavour in dips and cold drinks! Enjoy folks! We will have seeds of Borage if anyone wants to do a seed exchange this fall! Just let me know!
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I'd never heard of borage until I was recently reading about growing strawberries and someone said it's an excellent companion plant for them. Does anyone know if this is true, or have details that would help me (new gardener)? I'm thinking about ordering some borage seeds to start this winter and put in with my few strawberry plants in the spring (if they're still alive). I am trying to take baby steps with gardening, though -- I have limited space, limited budget, and limited mind-space to keep track of too many new plants/techniques at once, so I don't know if borage should be one of my top priorities for 2015. Thanks!
Borage is an annual and it helps many plants because it contains nectar and attracts other beneficial insects like parasitic wasps. People don't realize that beneficial insects' larvae stages do most of the pest control in the garden and the adults need nectar too. Borage has fuzzy gray green leaves that don't like to get or stay wet, they will rot and turn black, so I usually plant borage in the late Spring or early summer. Actually, most of the time it reseeds itself and comes up around that time. It usually only lasts a couple of months and dies again.
I don't know if borage planted now will still be around when the strawberries are planted next year.
I don't know if borage planted now will still be around when the strawberries are planted next year.
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JodalinVA - as noted borage can be good for your garden generally because attractive to pollinators and beneficial insects. However if the space in your strawberry bed is limited, I wouldn't put it there. Borage gets pretty big and bushy/weedy. It is likely to shade your strawberries and perhaps out-compete them for nutrients. Put it somewhere else in your garden!