The Popular Garden Herb You Shouldn't Grow From Seed

Herbs are great. Not only do they have a ton of uses in the kitchen, but they are also easy to grow and perform well in even average soils. However, keep in mind that easy does not mean foolproof. If you try to grow your herbs the wrong way, the experience can quickly become frustrating instead of rewarding. A perfect example is trying to grow rosemary from seeds. Obviously, you can do it, but it is far from ideal and not recommended at all. You might be wondering why? Well, that is because rosemary seeds have a poor germination rate, and they are slow to sprout. On top of that, they also have an inconsistent and erratic nature. Honestly, you will be better off with other methods of growing and propagating rosemary, like cuttings and layering. 

They are simple and straightforward to perform if you just have access to an established plant. For instance, for layering, all you need is a 3- to 5-inch cutting from a soft or new branch. Once you have a cutting, you just need to remove leaves from its bottom part and put it in a well-draining potting medium. Soon, new growth will emerge, and it will be ready to transplant. And one more thing: If you want, you can also propagate rosemary cuttings in water.

As for layering, all you need is to find a flexible, low-growing branch and then bury its middle part in the ground while it is still attached to the parent plant. The buried section will soon take root, and then you can just cut it and move it to another pot. Just one thing: Don't use dirty tools when taking cuttings or layering. It is a common mistake that too many people make when propagating plants.

Now that you know that there are better and faster ways to grow and propagate rosemary, you must be wondering: What is actually wrong with starting it from seed? First of all, rosemary seeds have a really poor germination rate. In certain cases, you might be lucky to get even 30% of them to successfully germinate. And, what does this mean for your growing efforts? Well, you will need to buy a lot of seeds and also make sure that you buy seeds from the best companies. But even if you manage to get good-quality seeds, there is another problem. Rosemary seeds behave really erratically. Plus, they are also very slow to germinate once in the ground. It can take them anywhere from 12 to 28 days or even more just to come out of the ground. 

On top of that, they are slow to grow, too. You will need to wait at least three years for a plant started from seed to reach a size that is suitable for harvest. And if you are still willing to go through all of that, there is another thing to keep in mind. Rosemary plants grown from seeds can be vastly different from selected cultivars. Not only do they taste different, but their growth habits are also variable. For instance, they might branch poorly or have an irregular growing pattern, which might make it very difficult to get a reliable harvest quality. Put simply, it is not worth growing rosemary from seeds. However, if you still want to grow herbs from seeds, there are many other easy herbs to grow from seed.