How to grow Borage in the UK
Star-shaped blue flowers that bees can't resist - so your squash, beans and strawberries get pollinated.
- DifficultyEasy peasy
- WhereBeds or Pots
- Sunfull sun or part shade
- Grows to60cm
- Spacing45cm
- Time to first pickabout 8 weeks
- Typeannual
When to sow, plant and harvest borage
| Sow outdoors | early April to late June |
|---|---|
| Pick | mid June to late September |
Dates are for central England. Sow about two weeks later in the north and Scotland, and up to two weeks earlier in the south and south west. Get the dates for your postcode.
Sowing it outdoors
- Pull out any weeds and rake the top of your bed until it's crumbly, like cake crumbs
- Make a little line in the soil (1cm deep) with your finger or a stick
- Drop the seeds in, about 45cm apart each way
- Gently cover them with soil and pat it down
- Water with a watering can that has a sprinkler head
- Push in a label so you remember what's there
Top tips for growing borage
- It gets big and floppy - give it room at the end of a bed.
- It seeds itself everywhere, so pull out the ones you don't want.
Soil and feeding
Poor soil - really!. Nasturtiums flower best in poor soil. Feed them and you get all leaves and no flowers.
Harvesting and eating borage
Pick the blue flowers when they're fully open.
How to eat them: Freeze the flowers in ice cubes - they look amazing in a drink. They taste a bit like cucumber.
Companion planting
Grows well with
- Butternut squash: bees for pollinating the flowers
- Courgettes: bees for pollinating the flowers
- Pumpkins: bees for pollinating the flowers
- Summer squash: bees for pollinating the flowers
- Cucumbers: bees for pollinating the flowers
- Strawberries: bees for more and bigger berries
- Cherry tomatoes: bees for more tomatoes
- Runner beans: bees for more beans
Saving your own borage seed
Late summer and autumn, as the flowers fade.
- Stop deadheading a few flowers - let them fade on the plant
- When the seed heads are dry and brown (and the seeds rattle), snip them off on a dry day
- Shake the seeds into a paper bag
- Spread on a plate to dry for a week
Where to buy borage seeds
Thompson & Morgan · Suttons · Amazon
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Borage questions
When should I sow borage in the UK?
In the UK, sow borage outdoors from early April to late June. These dates suit central England; sow about two weeks later in the north and Scotland and up to two weeks earlier in the mild south and south west.
When can I pick borage?
Borage is ready from mid June to late September. Pick the blue flowers when they're fully open.
How long do borage take to grow?
Roughly 8 weeks from sowing or planting until the first harvest.
Are borage easy to grow?
Borage are rated 'easy peasy' for beginners, and can be grown in the ground or a raised bed or in pots and containers.
Plan your own garden: it tells you what to do and when, for your postcode.
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