Does anyone have any tips on how to germinate sage and rosemary seeds? I've heard they can be quite iffy...
germinating rosemary and sage?
There's a great book on germinating seeds called, Park's Success with Seeds, by Ann Reilly (Unfortunately, my guess is that it's out of print.). Following are the entries for rosemary and sage:
"Rosmarinus officinalis
Germination: Sow seeds outdoors in early spring as soon as soil can be worked, or sow indoors, maintaining a temperature within the medium of 55 degrees F during germination which takes 18 - 21 days."
Culture: full sun, 12-18" apart, light, dry, limey, well drained soil. (We have wintered the "Arp" variety outdoors in the past, but the one thing that will do it in is being covered in snow and ice.)
Salvia officinalis
Germination: same as above, except maintain the medium during germination at 60 - 70 degreesF which takes 14 - 21 days.
Culture similar to above with soil on sandy side.
I always soak and drain the trays before sowing seed, lightly dust with peat after sowing (or dust before sowing, if the seed is very tiny or should not be covered) because it seems to protect against damp-off fungus, and put the whole business in a plastic bag with the end loosely draped.
But -- you know those plastic packs of herbs that grocery stores sell in the produce section, now? At $2.00 a pack in ordinary groceries and 99 cents for a more generous pack in local asian stores, I think it's cheaper and easier to root those cuttings instead of financing today's more expensive packets of seed. I stick the cuttings either in the ground or in a pot under recycled glass jars or soda bottles pruned to a miniature greenhouse (a neighbor has success with tents of plastic over cuttings in the ground), and find this more foolproof and economical than starting by seed.