How to Plant Rosemary - How to Care for and Grow?

[angelaaloisio]

I have been trying to grow rosemary. Not having any success. I can keep it alive just fine. I don't think I over water. I trim off some stems to use, but nothing grows back. The plant never goes anywhere. Once I have used the rosemary there is no new growth. I am a balcony, container grower. Any suggestions would be helpful.

[gumbo2176]

I keep my Rosemary plant in the ground and it is huge, about 3+ ft. tall and 4+ ft. across. No way I can use that much of the herb. My plant gets at least 10 hrs. of sunlight a day and is watered about 2 times a week when it is dry for a deep watering.

What type potting soil are you using and how old is it? Is the pot large enough? Perhaps the root system has become root bound over time even though there is no new upper growth. Do you fertilize it with something like Osmocote or Miracle Grow. Potting soil has nutrients in it but they are used up over time and need to be replaced.

[Odd Duck]

IME rosemary likes (but doesn't have to have) lots of sun (even in the south) and good drainage. My trailing rosemary seems to tolerate a bit more shade, and a bit more moisture, than upright rosemary. It dislikes having it's foliage excessively or repeatedly wet. It likes plenty of air circulation around and through the plant. I'm more a fan of organic fertilizers instead of chemicals on things I'm going to eat. Most herbs don't need a lot of fertilizer, but in a pot, that changes things some. You must replace nutrients as gumbo mentioned.

Tell us more about your pot, location, etc, so we can give better advice.

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, lots of sun, well draining, sandy, alkaline soil. Rosemary won't tolerate the winters where I am, so I bring mine in for the winter in a container. I was having trouble keeping it going indoors. This winter I gave it 1) supplemental light 2) almost daily misting (it prefers to take most of its water in through foliage instead of soil) and 3) a little bit of baking soda in the water when I did water, because it was in potting soil with peat, which is acidic. If it had been in a cactus type mix, I wouldn't have had to do the baking soda. Anyway, this year it did make it through the winter.

[angelaaloisio]

It gets about 5-6 hours of morning sun. I think my balcony faces in as somewhat easterly direction. I'll try the baking soda. I use potting soil with organic tomato fertilizer that's low in everything

[Susan W]

I have that rosemary tends to have deep roots. Mine in the yard may have roots to China! When I put one in a container I try for tall almost more than wide. You might try a larger container (with good drain holes) fresh dirt and re-pot. I use something less rich and wet than Miracle Grow potting mix. It needs some nourishment, but not like for some other plants.

I am forever starting new plants. Guess I fear for the huge one in the yard, and just because they are so pretty and tempting at the garden center. (yes, admit to a problem here!) I put one new one, good sized 8" start in a very larger tub last spring. 18" or so, the kind large shrubs come in. It didn't do much all summer, just waited out the winter. This spring putting on new growth. A couple weeks ago I freshened the top 6" or so of soil, added more, cleaned up etc. It is kickin' in now! Looks to be adding roots, perhaps where a lower branch is now down in the dirt. The one I babied inside (smaller pot) I potted up to 10" pot and it said Thanks, Finally! I think there is another one I just potted up also in a pot deeper than wide. Then there is the sprawly one that seems to be kicking in this season with fresh dirt and cleaning. (Did I say I had a problem here?!)

By outside in the ground rosemary seems to be migrating. With pruners and loppers cut off dead from one side, but it seems to be spreading on the other. I think it is putting down roots where branches hung low on the ground.

On rosemary, we have a big pretty one in the herb garden at Ft Toulouse (AL). I was there this past wkd cleaning up. I hit the rosemary with my pruning clippers trying to clean it up. The fellow doing some cooking for us for lunch asked me to pass him some rosemary springs, so brought him whole branches!

[thurkun]

I have found that Rosemary in containers grows very slow while the plants put in the ground just explode.For most herbs both growth rates are about the same, but Rosemary and Bay grow much faster in the ground.
Pat

[Tony02905]

I Rosemary as a plant and as an herb. I tried my hand at growing Rosemary from seed. I read that itsdifficult to germinate. I also read that the common mistake is that people try to maintain perfect conditions for the seeds. I just plopped some seeds into the peat cells that expand when exposed to water, and in two weeks later I have Rosemary sprouting like mad.

Now what do I do??? LOL...

[Barefoot Herbalist]

You may need a deeper container...it likes to have long roots! Plus if you like to do any companion gardening Rosemary & Sage love each other...I planted all of my rosemary and sage togther (I have 8-10 of each plant).

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, but you live where you can plant them in the ground and leave them all year round. OP didn't say where in calif, which spans a huge range of climates.

In my climate, I would not plant rosemary and sage together, because the rosemary has to be brought in for the winter and the sage stays out. So I would be digging them apart from each other all the time.