Salvia officinalis (Kitchen Sage)

I have a sage plant (growing in my Kitchen Garden) that is several years old now. Would like to keep it healthy and going on for the next year. What sort of nutrients can I feed it and when should this be done? I live in New Jersey....can I cut it back for the winter without harming the plant? When should the leaves be harvested? Hope someone experienced out there is willing to share information with me. Tried to "Google" for info., but didn't get too much.

Also, as a side issue......I love dill but have not had too much success. My dill is "spindly" looking, and there is never enough to really be useful for cooking or pickling. Maybe I have the wrong type growing? At the grocers I see nice large, fragrant fronds, but I can not get mine to grow like that. Are there different varieties? Is there a special variety that would do better in my Kitchen Garden?

sage is quite hardy, and I think in new jersey, it could develop into quite a bush. if you leave it untrimmed it will bloom beautifully next spring, and then you can trim it back after it blooms (the flowers are edible) and have nice leaves for harvesting by mid summer...the timing of trimming depends on if you want it to bloom. up this way, blooming isn't always going to happen anyway, and I tend to want some fresh, less woody plants after about 3 years....
meanwhile if you plant dill seed early in the spring, and then plant again, as you would plant lettuce, you will get a continual supply of fronds while the weather is still cool. You need lots of seeds to keep up with the grocery store type havesting- check out cooks gardens or another good vegi garden seed source and there will be "non-bolting" varieties (though they all bolt eventually) the later planted dill you can leave to go to seed, and harvest seed heads later for pickling. If you are really on top of things (some how this doen't happen too often for me) you can sow another late planting when the weather cools down a bit, and it will supply you with lush fronds into the fall... I grow dill 2 ways, one as sort of an ornamental with my flowers and other herbs (these are mostly self seeded) and then for the kitchen, I grow in rows in the vegi garden....

Good advice!

Only things I can add is not to fertilize now... you don't want to try to force new growth just before the really cold weather arrives.

All great advice. I only want to add that the extra depth of flavour that fresh sage adds to your cooking is wonderful. I tend to pick a few leaves to use as I need them throughout the year. Try making tea with them as well, it's wonderful. (It should be noted though that pregnant or nursing women should not use sage as it will dry up milk.) Pinching back and trimming the plant in the spring and summer actually gives you a more compact bush. Mine bloom every spring. There are newer varieties out now that stay more compact. Most GHs now are selling a variety called 'Grower's Friend' as common culinary sage. A variety called White Dalmation has pink flowers and less bitterness, smoother taste. For containers and small spaces I like dwarf sage (Salvia officinalis 'Nanna'), the leaves are a little smaller and the bush stays lower and more compact.

Dill comes in many varieties. I've found that the shorter fernleaf dill has less flavour. Common dill is excellent, but I really prefer the larger Dukat or Hercules varieties for the leaves. Although they do require some space to grow in. I too plant dill about 3 times during the growing season and let it go to seed for an early crop the next spring. I give them their own little corner of the garden and mulch them with a little fresh compost as soon as the new plants are big enough to handle it in the spring. To much fertilizer might tend to reduce flavour.

Hrm, I had never heard of dwarf sage! I sure wish I had known of it before. I have plain old regular sage in my herb garden and it's trying to take over the world. Thankfully it's planted near my Greek oregano and French Tarragon, so they all fight amongst themselves usually instead of fighting with the less aggressive plants :-) (Although my poor creeping thyme is wishing that it wasn't so near the oregano.) I also have tri-color sage, golden sage, and purple sage, but all of those are very well behaved and keep entirely to themselves.

How much smaller is the dwarf variety than the standard kitchen sage?

Many thanks for the good advice!! At least now I know more than before. Thank you All for being generous and sharing your knowledge and experiences.

Jeanne, that is exactly what I wanted to know....am certainly going to try Dukat or Hercules seeds. :-))

Try making a tea with sage and mint combined. That is a traditional mediterranean (Jordan/Lebanon etc) tea. They are often mixed with black tea. We have an excellent falafel restaurant near us that is run by a Jordanian family. They serve this mint/sage flavoured tea. It is excellent. Folks will order this hot tea even in the heat of summer!

Thank you for the info about the tea. I have mint growing in the garden, as well. I know that sage and mint both have a medicinal value to them. My Dad used to have stomach trouble, and my Mom always made mint tea for his digestive problems. The recipe for sage, mint, and black tea sounds as though it might be a good tonic to benefit for the physical system!

Funny cooincidence that both sage and mint repel cabbage worms and are excellent companions to plant with cruciferous plants (kale, collards, bok choy, mustard etc)

Nataraj

Calypsa, dwarf sage grows to 10" and has lavender colored flowers. It's supposed to be hardy to zone 4a. I've only grown it in containers personally though. Sometimes goes by the name 'Compacta'. Has nice flavour and smaller more silvery leaves than common sage. I have a fondness for sages and tend to collect them. At the GH last year we grew a new version of the tri-color sage that is variegated with yellow instead of pink. Looks like this one will have less bitterness (or less camphor actually) than the Tri-color we are used to. Haven't tested it for winterhardiness in my own garden yet. Tri-color has never been reliably hardy for me here. The appearace of the new bi-color tri-color (as the supplier is calling it) is lighter with more obvious variegation than golden sage. Works really well in combination with other herbs in containers.

I love the sage and mint tea even without using black tea. Because sage also contains estrogen it was a great help while I was going through menopause. I make a wonderful summer iced tea using pineapple sage, lemon verbena and mint. It has a nice cooling effect.

JeaneTH: Oh, wonderful! I will try to keep an eye out for the dwarf sage. And I'm looking forward to a new version of tri-color sage as well. What will it be called? I admit that I do not generally use any of the other sages that I have in cooking. I have used some for garnish, but the flavors do not usually gel with what I'm cooking.

As for hardiness of the tri-color sage, I was surprised that mine made it through the winter. But both of my plants did, and they grew beautifully this summer. I mulched them more than most of my other plants. And, well... we did have a very mild winter last year. So I cannot say that it's due to my gardening skill lol.

Sage is one of the main seasonings for poultry stuffing. Try using it fresh in your Turkey on Thursday, the flavour is wonderful. Although don't get to heavy handed with it. I also use it in some soups and stews. Pineapple sage is good fresh (doesn't hold it's flavour when dried) in fruit salads and cottage cheese.

I've found tri-color sage will make it some years and not others. Not sure that temperature is the reason. Will have to try mulching it better next year. Don't have any in the ground right now. Just pots. It does fine in a cold frame. The only name I have for the new one is bi-color tri-color. The plugs come from Fischer in Germany. Will have to look it up to see if it's pattented. If not I'll take some cuttings from the one I have.

The traditional tri-color has some camphor content in it, as does the golden, and purple has the most giving that bitter medicinal taste. Making them unsuitable for cooking. However tea from the purple sage is supposed to be good for coughs. The fruity sages, like pineapple, don't hold their flavours when dried and need to be used fresh. Although you can make a simple syrup with them and store them as ice cubes for winter drinks, etc.
Jeane

Tom DeBaggio says his favorite sage for culinary use is 'Bergaarten'.... so of course, that's the one we have! :-)

there is a legend that planting sage by your front door deters evil from entering your home...

my sage blooms beautifully every year, and I don't do anything to it but cut it back when it takes over the walk in my front bed. Its flowers are beautiful dried and you can make a lovely kitchen wreath with the flowering branches that the cook can snip from until it's gone. Add oregano, rosemary, thyme, and it is a lovely thing to give someone for a present.

Many Thanks janiejoy.....what a wonderful idea; had never thought of making a wreath of the herbs! The ledgend is nice, too (and suspect that it may be true)! Hedy

I grow quite a few kinds of sage and though they usually over-winter safely, I do take a few non-flowering shoots and they root very readily in the cold frame over winter ready for planting in spring. I use the sage in meat and poultry dishes and sometimes finely chopped with a mixture of other herbs sprinkled in a pan of potatoes sauteed in plenty of butter. It is lovely in stews, but just be careful not to use too much as it is quite strong flavoured.

I find the tricolour sage not quite as frost hardy as some, and have to keep the pineapple sage indoors during our winters. I am trying a new kind bought as "broad leaved sage". This has made a nice compact plant and as it says has very broad good flavoured leaves. Just picking the shoots keeps the plants bushy and compact, but if they do get a bit leggy I trim them over with the shears in spring and haven't killed one yet!

I am in an apt. so my herbs are grown in planters on my patio. We had a sudden frost last fall and I let them die off over the winter... well, one of them is sage, and I noticed today that thing has some growth on it! I cannot believe it survived the winter... :) Any advice from anyone who has had a similar experience? Should I cut the new growth at the root and replant it in some new dirt or leave it alone or propogate or what? Much thanks! I took a picture but it didn't turn out so great...you get the idea - it's green... lol

Ambuzz ~ I would leave it alone until a little better established. You might look at the rest of your herbs closely, quite a few will come back from the roots, rather like a perennial. What else were you growing?

Rosemary is out there as well as thyme and dill. I think that's it. Those all look worse though... :)

I'd bet they will all come back bigger and better.

That's exciting news..... and I am reading the kitchen sage becomes woody in its 2nd year! Thanks for your input! I will refrain from the temptation to repot it, etc. for awhile... :) Happy gardening!

The sage I currently have in my herb bed has been there for at least 5 years. Yes it does get woody but since I only use the leaves it doesn't really matter.

gardengus, do you do anything for it in the spring or just leave it be and let it do its thing? (Mine are in planters..)...Thx!

I usually cut it back by half in the spring , but it has to be early , if yours has already started to sprout do not cut it . some years I am late and just let it do it's thing.

I planted 4 new baby (2 inch or so) sage plants last year. One of them died (possibly some sort of insect, I'm not sure which one) and the other three did well. Down here in Savannah they're evergreen, so I had fresh sage for Thanksgiving and Christmas stuffing. I wasn't sure what to do, so as an experiment I left 2 plants alone and cut one back down to the ground about 6 weeks ago. The 2 untrimmed plants are blooming like crazy, and the one I cut back to the ground is sprouting all sorts of new, tender shoots. What I may do is add one more plant this year, so I have 4, and then let 2 bloom and cut 2 back every year. That way they'll stay a manageable size and not get overly woody.

Thanks to whoever it was up-thread who posted about sage and mint in black tea. I'm a tea drinker and that sounds fabulous. It would be good hot, but I'll bet down here in the deep south where the summers are frightful it would make a spectacularly refreshing iced tea. I can't wait to try it. Thanks again.

I've been growing salvia officinalis for years. It is very hardy here in Oregon and has overwintered in every variation of weather we have here, which is a broad range. I let it bloom and go to seed and collect seeds every year. In the spring I plant a few seeds in pots just in case I need to replace a plant. I never have had to, but they do provide some nice young tender leaves readily accessible in the kitchen window. I like to tear up a few leaves into a garden salad for a surprise flavor.

Fried sage leaves is another nice addition to a salad and as a garnish for flavorful meats. And the resulting oil adds a nice touch to home-made vinaigrette.

Z