The Rosemary Experiment

Since I began my journey towards self-sufficiency I have become more and more aware of waste, whether it’s water, energy or food. I hate seeing even small amounts of leftover food going to waste, even if I don’t have an immediate use for it. I will put it into an appropriate container in the fridge or pantry and try to use it within a few days.

A few weeks back I cut a sprig of rosemary to use as a prop in some photos. When I was finished the shoot, I popped the rosemary sprig into a glass of water and left it on the window sill in my kitchen, right beside my cooker, ready to use in a future dish. It looked quite pretty and gave off a lovely aroma, and after a few days I forgot about trying to use it in a dish, but viewed it more as a cut flower. I expected it to wilt and die, but it did not. I topped up the water often and it wasn’t until a few weeks later when I went to move it to a fresh glass that I discovered it had sprouted roots.

Beautiful long roots after just 3 weeks.

I can never have enough fresh herbs growing and I currently only have one rosemary bush, so I decided to plant my sprig to see if it would grow. I thought back on all the times I bought a supermarket container with a few sprigs of rosemary, only to use one or two in the dish and have the others wilt and die in the fridge. Could I have used these to propagate my own rosemary plant? I was about to find out.

I have planted the sprig and set it in my sunny conservatory with my other herbs. The roots were long and already the new plant looks strong and healthy. I will let you know how it progresses in a few weeks.

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I carefully removed the leaves from the bottom 4 cm to allow deep planting.

I watered generously (using the water from the glass – waste nothing!)

I popped it into one of my gorgeous red pots…

and set it on my conservatory window with my other herbs and seedlings.