Sow in spring or midsummer
As with most other herbs, St. John's wort should be sown in spring. The period between March and April is ideal for a preculture. No-till sowing is best done from May onwards.
also read
- How can you overwinter St. John's wort?
- St. John's wort: when is it in its prime?
- Make the right choice - St. John's wort location
If you have completely forgotten to sow in spring, you can still sow the seeds in the bed in midsummer (a preculture at home is then no longer useful). But watch out: then the St. John's wort will not bloom until next year.
Put the seeds in the ground
If the timing is right, you can start! The seeds are tiny and are sown as follows:
- Bowls or pots with Sowing soil fill or prepare the bed
- Sow seeds
- either cover with a gossamer layer of earth or just press it on (light germinator)
- moisten and keep moderately moist
- Germination temperature: 18 to 22 ° C
- Germination time: 14 to 24 days
Plant the preferred young plants in the correct location
As soon as the seeds have germinated and the plants have grown to a size of at least 5 and a maximum of 10 cm, they can be planted out. A good time to do this is in mid-April. Feel free to enrich the soil at the site with a little compost.
This should be emphasized when planting out:
- 30 cm distance
- Earth: deep, permeable, well ventilated, calcareous
- do not plant in a strongly acidic substrate (St. John's wort absorbs toxic cadmium)
- sunnier to partially shaded Location
Seeds from own harvest or bought
You can harvest the seeds for sowing St. John's wort yourself from existing plants. The seeds usually ripen in late summer to autumn. Simply harvest the berry-like fruits and remove the seeds! You can the Seeds but nowadays also available in the garden center or hardware store.
Tips
If the soil is too acidic at the location, you can simply mix it with ground eggshells. The eggshells give St. John's wort a lot of lime and alkalize the subsurface a little.
