How to grow borages

Borage is a fast-growing annual herb that home gardeners tuck into a bed mainly for its flowers, small, star-shaped, and a true sky blue, that draw bees and other pollinators into the surrounding crops. The plant grows into a coarse, hairy-leaved clump two to three feet tall within a season, and both leaves and flowers carry a mild, cucumber-like flavor that shows up in salads and cold drinks. It germinates quickly from seed sown directly in place, so gardeners often treat it as a companion planting scattered near squash, tomatoes, or strawberries rather than a crop grown in its own bed.

The hardest part of growing borage well is that it resents being moved. University of Maryland Extension notes the plant is difficult to transplant and grows best from seed sown directly where it will stay. A second-year gardener used to starting seedlings indoors and setting them out once the weather warms often starts borage the same way, and the transplants sulk or die even when hardening off went fine. The fix is direct seeding after frost danger passes, but a gardener who has not hit this once assumes it behaves like any other seedling.