On 7/22/2007 4:45 PM, Eigenvector wrote:
"George Shirley" wrote in message
...
Eigenvector wrote:

I may have goofed, this is my first herb garden and I think I planted the
wrong items next to each other.

I have rosemary planted next to my lavender plants and it looks like the
rosemary is going to take over the entire section - it's easily 5 times
larger than it was when I planted it in March. So now the lavender is
leaning to the sun, growing into the rosemary with the rosemary spreading
out in all directions growing into the lavender. The only thing that
grew more than the rosemary is the catnip - that thing is HUGE!

When I planted it I understood that rosemary was a bush, but I wasn't
expecting it to be a large bush. Can I clip it back and still maintain
its health - if so how do I clip it and where?
My rosemary has a trunk about four inches in diameter and can grow four
feet high and four feet wide in one growing year. I live in USDA Zone 9b
so it's pretty warm here. I've been in Seattle a time or two and it gets a
bit colder but rosemary will still grow into a tree if not pruned.

I whack mine back by about half the height and half the width each year.
Hasn't hurt it yet. YMMV

George


Yikes, I wasn't expecting a something that large. I guess I assumed
rosemary would be like thyme - something bushy but small and controllable.

So do you just cut it wherever? I just didn't want to kill the branches by
cutting them in the middle to shorten them up. I guess as a benefit I can
then tie the branches up and hang them in the kitchen - make it smell nice.

Either remove a branch entirely or else cut it above the lowest foliage.
Rosemary and lavender are somewhat related. For both of them, cutting
a branch below the lowest growing foliage will kill that branch.

My rosemary is about 6 feet tall, taller than I am. The trunk is about
4-6 inches in diameter. Because the branches have interesting twists
and bends, I prune it to expose the trunk and main branches.

Take a 12-inch branch of rosemary with foliage. Strip the foliage into
a blender. Add 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, and 3-4 cloves
of garlic finely diced. Blend to puree the garlic. Pour into a Ziploc
bag. Put chicken parts or large cubes of lamb into the bag. Marinate
at least overnight. Grill, basting with the marinade. Yum!

(The garlic must be diced before blending. Garlic is fibrous and will
not be chopped enough by the blender.)

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/