You should not be too generous when sowing marjoram. The herb is so spicy that you only need a few leaves to refine a dish. You just have to decide whether you want to plant one-year-old marjoram or two-year-old oregano.
How should you sow marjoram correctly?
To sow marjoram successfully, choose a sunny location, prepare the soil (loose, remove weeds, add compost if necessary) and sow the marjoram after the ice saints. Be careful not to cover the seed, as marjoram is a light germinator, and keep the soil moist until the plants germinate.
Sowing marjoram or oregano
Marjoram in its cultivated form is not hardy. It is therefore grown as an annual spice plant and sown anew every year.
Oregano, wild marjoram, can also tolerate temperatures as low as below zero. You can keep it in the garden as a two-year-old.
The right location
Marjoram likes it sunny and warm. A place in direct sun suits it very well, it becomes particularly aromatic.
Marjoram is incompatible with thyme and itself. Therefore, choose a location where no marjoram has been planted for at least three years.
Preparing the soil
- Loose the soil
- Removing weeds
- If necessary, work in some mature compost
Marjoram can also cope with very poor soils. If you want to add more nutrients to the soil, you should add mature compost before sowing. Later, marjoram no longer tolerates fertilizer.
To sow marjoram you only need to prepare a small piece of bed, as you only need a few plants to harvest enough fresh herb.
In the house, the spice can be grown on a warm windowsill from February and planted outdoors from May.
Care for sowing properly
Marjoram needs a minimum temperature of 15 degrees to germinate. So only plant seeds outdoors after the Ice Saints.
Spread the seeds widely. Since marjoram germinates in light, the seed must not be covered. Keep it moist with a spray bottle (€27.00 on Amazon) so that it doesn't blow away in the wind.
Make sure there is enough moisture until the seeds emerge. As soon as the plants are between five and ten centimeters high, pull out the weakest ones and leave only one to three strong plants standing.
Tips & Tricks
You can harvest your first marjoram after just two months. The leaves are particularly aromatic before flowering, but you can also cut fresh marjoram at any time until autumn.
