How to Grow Salad Burnet at Home
Salad burnet is an easy to grow edible herb, that has an exquisite cucumber like taste, primarily used for salads. It is also used in various soups, sauces and dips. This herb can be grown from seeds or started from an already grown plant, which can easily be found at your local nursery. It is a perennial herb that returns every year.
Things Required:
– Salad burnet Seeds or a grown plant
– Pot or container
– Water
– Fertilizer
– Pruning saw
Instructions
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1
Get the seeds
Visit your local nursery to purchase the best quality, untreated seeds. Alternatively, you can also buy a grown salad burnet from the nursery and transplant it in your garden. -
2
Decide location
Salad burnet can tolerate almost any kind of soil, but it thrives best in fairly moist conditions. It is also forgiving about sunlight; however, almost six hours of direct sun are required for the plant to do well. It also prefers alkaline soil, mixed with a compost. -
3
Sow the seeds
The proper time to sow salad burnet seeds is autumn and late winter (2 to 4 weeks before last frost). You can start the seed indoors in a pot and transplant the seedlings when hard enough to handle, or can directly grow in the garden; however, the seeds germinate well when directly seeded.
If planting indoors, sow the seeds about four weeks before the last frost, and two weeks before the last frost date when directly seeding in the soil. Scatter the seeds onto the soil and cover them lightly with a thin layer (1/8 inch) soil. Keep the soil moderately wet until the seedlings sprout. -
4
Transplanting and thinning of salad burnet
If you started the plants indoors, transplant them outside into well worked garden soil only after the risk of frost is gone. Thin the directly sown plants, leaving a distance 12 inches between two seedlings. In the first year of sowing, salad burnet grows to about 8 to 10 inches. -
5
Water your salad burnet adequately
Since salad burnet thrives best in moist conditions, it is necessary to water your plant at least once a week. However, make sure the soil does not dry out completely between watering. -
6
Maintenance
While other plants need regular pruning for ample growth, pinching helps keep salad burnet fresh and juicy and encourages more leaves. Leaves left to mature become tough and lose taste as well. Also make sure you cut the buds and flower stalks on every harvest. -
7
Harvest
Harvest your salad burnet leaves once they have grown around four inches long.
