Oregano
Grown for its strong tasting and pungent leaves, oregano is a perennial herb that thrives in a warm, sunny position. An important herb in Italian, Greek and Mexican cooking, oregano is often used dried rather than fresh in strongly flavoured dishes in which ingredients such as chilli, garlic, tomatoes, onions, olives and wine predominate. Leaves and flowering tops are infused for tea.
Jobs to do now
- Continue harvesting
- Prune
- Lift and pot up plants for winter use
Month by month
Sow
Oregano can be brought as ready-grown plants from garden centres or grown from seed.
Common oregano can be started from seed sown indoors from February to May. Fill a small pot with seed compost and sow a few seeds on the surface. Cover with a light layer of sieved compost, water and place in a propagator to germinate. When seedlings are large enough to handle, prick three out into an 8cm (3in) pot of multi-purpose compost.
Grow
Water pots regularly, but avoid overwatering or the roots may rot. Keep plants compact by trimming growth after flowers fade in summer, then give pot-grown plants a boost by applying a liquid fertiliser.
Cut back dead stems to the base in winter. Plants do not like to be too wet in winter, so place pots in a sheltered spot and raise onto pot feet to allow excess water to drain away. For a winter supply of leaves, lift plants in autumn, pot them up and place them in a well lit spot under cover.
Plant
Grow indoors until early summer or until all danger of frost has passed, then plant in a sunny, sheltered spot in well-drained soil. Alternatively, plant into a 15cm (6in) pot filled with multi-purpose compost.
Common problems
Aphids
Look for colonies of greenfly on the soft shoot tips of plants or on leaves. They suck sap and excrete sticky honeydew, encouraging the growth of black sooty moulds.
Remedy
Use your finger and thumb to squash aphid colonies or use biological control in the greenhouse.
Glasshouse red spider or two spotted mite
Leaves become mottled, pale and covered in webbing, on which the mites can be clearly seen; leaves also drop prematurely.
Remedy
They thrive in hot, dry conditions, so mist plants regularly. Use biological control in the greenhouse.
Harvesting
Harvest oregano leaves as required from late spring onwards – simply snip off a few shoots, then strip off the leaves. The flavour is best before the flowers open.
Use the leaves fresh or dried. They can also be frozen in ice-cube trays.
To dry oregano leaves, hang up sprigs in a dark, well-ventilated place for a few weeks. When fully dried, strip off the leaves and store in an air-tight jar.
Recommended Varieties
Common
Forms a dome of mid-green leaves in summer with later purple-pink flowers and then dying back in winter, height 45cm. It’s a hardy perennial with the leaves giving a medium strong flavour to dishes. Oregano-Marjorams dry exceptionally well.
Greek
A much stronger flavoured oregano giving a similar flavour to wild mediterranean Origanum. Growth is similar to common but with a hairy leaf and tiny white flowers.
Hot and Spicy
A shrubbier form that does have distinct heat and a robust flavour. The leaf is oval, slightly hairy and green. ‘Hot and Spicy’ is particularly useful in Mexican, Turkish and Middle Eastern cooking.
Lemon-scented
A lemon-scented, lighter green-leaved variety of ‘Common Oregano’ which gives a mild citrus accent to chicken and pork dishes, stuffings, marinades etc.
Za'atar
Origanum syriacum
A hot peppery Middle Eastern Oregano that, at best, is only half-hardy in this country. Woody upright stems carry small downy grey-green leaves & tiny white flowers. The dried leaves are often found as a spicy condiment in the Middle East. Use fresh but drying does concentrate the flavour.
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