Garden marjoram and its cultivation

Marjoram is native to the Mediterranean, where it is also found in the wild, and is cultivated as a spice for canning, the production of sausages and drinks, adding to various dishes, as well as a medicinal plant. In the middle lane, the thermophilic garden marjoram can be cultivated only as an annual plant, since it dies already at a temperature of -12 degrees. This plant is sown for seedlings at the end of March. Marjoram seeds are very small, so when sowing they are mixed with sand for even distribution over the planting box. In the southern regions there is no need to use seedlings, you can sow directly into the ground.

For planting, you can add organic fertilizers, urea, superphosphate, potassium sulfate. For seed germination, a temperature of at least 20 degrees is needed. The garden marjoram needs the sun, in the shaded areas of the plant the content of essential oil decreases. Seedlings appear in 15-29 days. The distance between plants should be 15-20 cm, which must be taken into account when planting seedlings in the ground. If the sowing was carried out directly into the ground, then the plants are thinned out. In the aisles, the soil must be periodically loosened, the entire plantation must be weeded regularly, and in hot weather it must be watered.

Harvest the marjoram twice a season. In early summer, when the plant has not yet bloomed, the shoots are cut off, leaving 6-8 cm to the ground. The plant grows back over the summer and gives a second harvest in the fall. The collected marjoram is tied into small sheaves and dried in the shade so that its aroma does not disappear. When the plants are dry, the leaves are torn off from them, and the stems are thrown away, as they spoil the taste of the spice.