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Old June 10, 2010   #5
habitat_gardener
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: California Central Valley
Posts: 2,540
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Yes, it needs a larger container -- at least 12 inches in diameter, according to the Storey booklet on growing herbs in containers! Borage has a taproot, so the larger the container, the better. I'd keep it at least until it goes to seed, then put aside that container and hope for reseeding. (For wildflowers, at least, I get higher germination from self-seeding than from planting the seeds myself. I start with one plant, let it go to seed, then I have it every year.)

In my garden, the past 2 years I've had borage plants get as tall as 4 ft. and up to 4 ft. wide -- easily 2-4 times the size that most books cite. They're all volunteers, and I let them grow at the corners of beds until I need the space. One plant was encroaching on a path and blocking access to the raspberries, so I cut it back by half in one direction and by half again on the other side. It's still a monster. When I finally compost the monster plants, the main stem is 3-5 inches in diameter. (I need to remove the biggest plant soon to make room for tomato plants, so if I remember I'll measure it.)

I haven't noticed any aphids. I occasionally notice a lone ant when I'm eating the flowers in the garden, though. The main problem is that the ones growing in shadier spots get mildew. Since I have plenty of plants and a robust seed bank in my soil, I pull them out when the mildew starts showing up.

I just love borage. Bees love it, too. Sometimes I stand in front of my plant and eat some flowers, maybe 50 or 100 of them -- it hardly makes a dent. The flowers don't travel well, and wilted flowers don't look very appetizing, so I end up eating them right in the garden as I watch the bees.

Sometimes I make borage tea for my plants -- a bucket filled with cut-up borage, then filled with water. Since borage has a taproot, it brings up minerals from deeper in the soil. It's an especially good source of silica and potassium.
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