Many scents can bring back fond memories.

Growing sage can bring the opportunity home of making holiday dinners your family will remember.

Growing your own herbs make a lot of sense these days, especially with rising food costs. An additional bonus is the enjoyment of using fresh ingredients in your meals. All the savings you earn gardening, leaves you a surplus of time and money to put back into your garden

Sage, (Salvia Officinalis) has a long memory that goes back to the ancient Romans who imagined that growing sage imparted wisdom and improved mental sharpness. Perhaps that is the reason we never forget foods cooked with sage!

Growing sage—

Sage is a hardy perennial that can thrive up to five years. This herb is a native to the Mediterranean, and tends to grow well in most soils. Like Thyme, sage enjoys direct sunlight. The growing sage needs watering once every seven days. It is preferable to water the herb more during hot seasons, if you live in a high temperature climate.

Always sow the seeds indoors within two and a half months before planting out-doors. It is best to water the seeds with warm water.

At the time of seed germination, place the planted seedlings where they will receive full sunlight. When growing sage, it requires temperatures of 65F degrees. Water the soil slightly damp.

Use a bed of well draining soil. Add a half-cup of bone meal two times during summer while the sage is still growing.

Purchase ready planted pots from the garden center to start growing sage quickly.

Once the danger of frost has disappeared, one quick journey to the garden store, and you can start straight away. This might remove the fun of getting your hands dirty, but it is a time saving direction to go. You can plant the store bought sage directly in the garden.

Growing sage in an area that has a shallow water table could be troublesome, so try using containers or raised beds. Protect the plants from extreme weather conditions.

Harvest sage leaves just before the plant starts to flower. To harvest, cut the leaves, leaving about half of the foliage on each branch.

To dry sage, spread the leaves out on a window screen in a ventilated area away from direct sunlight. To store the dried sage, place in sealed storage bags or air-tight containers.

You may notice the herb becomes “woody” when growing sage, especially after a few years.

It is time to turn over a new leaf. Either start again from seed, or use cuttings from another plant. If you allow your growing sage plants to flower and set seed, they will self-sow and do the job for you.

Benefits of Growing Sage

Growing sage has numerous health benefits, the secrets of which have been handed down from generation to generation.

Herb tea made with sage is a stimulant used to treat all sorts of ailment and disorders. It also promotes healthy gums and cleans teeth.

Headaches can vanish with the aid of a sage compress.

The use of sage tea can prevent hot flashes during menopause.

A Thanksgiving feast would not be complete without turkey and dressing flavored with sage. It is even used throughout the year in poultry seasoning. The list is endless of foods that are seasoned to perfection with the addition of this tasteful herb.

And every cook, chef and home maker knows that a kitchen is never complete without a bundle of sage.

Do not leave sage out in the cold!

Every family should have a try at growing sage.