Growing herbs is one of my favorite things about gardening, and winter sowing sage is no different. In the past, I’ve had terrible luck with herbs. As a beginning gardener, I remember planting so many herb seeds. Every single seed tray that I tried was a complete failure. It wasn’t until I discovered the winter sowing method that I had my first delicious taste of success in growing herbs.
Sage is no exception. Unlike things like mint, sage seeds are quite large. Even so, the first time I attempted to grow them from seed, I only managed to get one tiny seedling which completely failed to thrive. Fast forward one year, and I was swimming in a sea of insanely fragrant sage!
Though sage often behaves as a perennial herb depending upon the variety and your growing zone, I tend to treat this herb as an annual. There’s really not a good reason that I choose to do this, aside from the fact that my garden is so small and I find myself moving plants to different locations every year. I’ll admit that it sounds a little silly, but it does help me get as much food (and flowers) for my space as physically possible.
In general, I like to begin the process of winter sowing sage seeds at the end of January and into February. This allows the seeds plenty of time to begin the germination process. By the time my last frost date comes, I am left with large sage seedlings that are able to stand up to weed pressure that is ever present in my garden beds.
