Kitchen Garden Forum

I once planted Borage in a bed at least ten paces away from the bed that is now taken over by Borage. This is my strawberry patch, Iv'e been pulling borage seedlings up since the spring and though I had got rid of them and whilst I do love Borage, this is silly. The other bed thats overcome with Marigold was themed I had sowed Borage inane whilst Borage is in there look at the Marigold.

I suppose this is a lesson learned in getting rid of stuff before it sets seeds though the large seeds of both Marigold and Borage do take very easily I hadn't considered they would migrate ten paces. Thats the Borage, but not the Marigold, Why ?

It's all very pretty but I'm now wondering about the future of these beds.

I too once bought a borage.
Never seen the seed, I'd assumed it was small given the area it now emerges from on my plots.
One consolation Richard, they are very easy to pull up.

You can use them as comfrey.

Great those beds, aren't they, Richard? Bees and other insects will come from far and near to feed on your borage and pot marigolds! Yes, as Peter says, both are very easily pulled up when young and old, but if you are putting them onto your compost heap, just watch that you pull them up before the seed sets, otherwise you will spread them for years to come!

peter wrote:One consolation Richard, they are very easy to pull up.

Well-yes, I've been pulling borage out from between strawberry plants ever since the spring. When my strawberries stopped producing I stopped pulling the borage and whilst I'm concentrating on other things it erupted to the point I didn't have the heart to stop them because as Geoff points out, it's good nutrition.

I wasn't sure about the marigolds, they took over a row of lettuce and presumably my laziness last year meant I let the seed heads drop on the soil.

Oh well, they look good and I make regular tea from the borage, I'm not sure what it does but my local 'White-Witch' assures me that it's doing good. The Romans eat or drank borage to sustain them before going into battle. Oh goody.

I just realized I'm doing it again, as the flowers die and seed heads form I clip,them off and they fall to the soil. Now I had assumed that the unripened seed heads wouldn't be viable, I didn't grow marigolds in that bed but I did move soil around regularly from one bed to another so maybe that is the explanation for both the borage growth and the marigolds.

Nicest weeds I ever grew.

Oh dear - and I've just gone and planted a borage in amongst the dahlias. I was thinking of putting the flowers into ice cubes for G & T's. Seems like I'm in for a boozy year if they grow as well as yours!

Yes my garden's the same I'm weeding out an excess of borage, marigolds and evening primroses that come up everywhere. Earlier in the year it's forget me nots fox gloves and ajuga not to mention the aquilegia. Looking outside there are rather a lot of self seeded nastirtiums as well. Never mind they pull up easily and look pretty as well as providing nectar and pollen for the insects.