Planting lovage: location and care

Lovage, bot. Levisticum officinale, is easy to care for. The culinary herb thrives on almost everyone Herb gardenif there is enough space.

Location

Lovage does not make any special demands on the location. However, it takes up a lot of space. Therefore, the distance to neighboring plants should be between 50 and 100 centimeters. The culinary herb flourishes

• sunny and
• partially shaded

Places. Since Levisticum officinale survives the cold season in the bed without any problems, you do not have to change the location every year. If it comes to a change of location, then you should take into account that the umbelliferae are intolerant to themselves. That means that a new planting should only be done after four years in the same place. Because after this time the soil has enough nutrients again for heavy consumers.

Note: Since the lovage is undemanding in terms of location, you can also plant it in an unused corner of the garden.

floor

Since heavy eaters need a lot of nutrients in order to develop optimally, the soil should have the following properties:

• profound
• nutritious
• a pH between 6 and 7

Therefore, you should enrich the soil with sufficient humus before planting it out. The herb does not like sandy soils because they are too permeable. However, you can mix in sand with other soils to make them more permeable.

to water

If the plant stays dry for too long, it begins to draw the necessary moisture from the shoots and leaves, which has a negative effect on the taste of the herb. Therefore, you should always keep the soil moist. But be careful, the heavy eater cannot tolerate waterlogging. If there is no rain, stale rainwater is ideal for the Maggi herb. But you can also water it with stale tap water, because the herb can tolerate a certain amount of lime in the soil.

Tip: When you mulch the soil, the soil stays moist longer because the moisture doesn't evaporate as quickly.

Fertilize

Since lovage needs plenty of nutrients, you should give it extra nutrients on a regular basis. Ideally, the soil is upgraded with compost in March / April. The second compost is added in July / August. If there is no compost, you can use Levisticum officinale during the growth phase with an organic liquid fertilizer, nettle manure or Clippings fertilize.

Cut

Maggikraut is extremely easy to cut. Since it can grow up to two meters high, you should cut the herb regularly if it is not to be used as a privacy screen. The leaves on the young shoots are particularly suitable for harvesting. You can remove the side shoots so that the plants do not widen too much. However, you must then expect the herb to grow rapidly. Because the plants now put all their energy into the main stem. You can cut back these if necessary. The actual pruning of the main stems takes place in late autumn or early spring. The dead shoots are removed so that they do not hinder the new growth.

Bucket culture

If the lovage is kept in the bucket, then it should get a partially shaded or a place with light shade. A sunny spot is not so ideal, as the substrate in the bucket dries out faster.
When choosing a planter, you should choose a larger container so that Levisticum officinale has enough space. To avoid waterlogging, you should create a drainage layer at the bottom of the pot. To ensure a sufficient supply of nutrients, the herbs in the tub culture are fertilized with a liquid fertilizer every two weeks from April to August.

Note: In the bucket culture, Levisticum officinale is not winter hardy. Therefore, you should wrap the pot with a plant fleece and place it on a wooden or styrofoam plate.

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