Fresh herbs and spices elevate good food to great food. Growing your herbs is also simple.
It can save you some money too.
There are, however, some tips for growing and harvesting your own herbs that could create an even more bountiful harvest for you.
You want your oregano plant to keep growing and giving you fresh herbs. Harvesting oregano is not difficult. When your oregano is harvested properly, it will keep your plant healthy and stimulate new growth.
However, if you just take all of the stems, you may actually kill your plant. It is best to harvest only half of your plant at one time.
In this article we will cover the best method of harvesting your oregano plants.
We will explain how you can harvest your plant to encourage new growth and support its health at the same time.
We will also share some other practices in caring for your oregano.
Read on for all that you need to know about growing a healthy oregano plant.
What Is Oregano Used For?
Oregano is an herb that is used by many people.
People add it to pasta, pizzas, chicken, salads, and soups.
The flavor of oregano is complimentary with different kinds of meat, many sauces, and many vegetables.
It can be used in virtually unlimited possibilities. Oregano can also add good flavor to cheeses, egg, fish, and beans.
When using fresh oregano, be sure to add it at the end for cooked dishes.
Dried oregano can be added at the beginning time to use in a cooked dish, the flavor of fresh oregano does not hold up to long cooking time.
For longer cooking times, add the leaves at the end, or use dry oregano.
There are lots of varieties of oregano.
The most common are:
- traditional oregano
- Greek oregano
- Italian oregano
- Cuban oregano
Regardless of the variety, the growing conditions and the harvesting is not much different.
How Does Oregano Grow?
Oregano often grows in long, slender stems that lend themselves well to crafts.
Oregano stalks can grow anywhere from six inches to two feet. For this reason, hobbyists use the stems to create wreaths and other crafts.
The oregano plant has large, oblong leaves that taper to a point. The leave are green and slightly grayish in color. Certain strains of oregano may produce flowers.
The flowers production may be small clusters that are either purple flower or white flower. If potted, oregano looks bushy and shrub-like in its fullness.
As the leaves branch out to access more sunlight, the flowers do not appear to have stalks but instead possess branches.
Harvesting Oregano without Killing the Plant
It’s simple to gather your oregano plant.
To be technical, clipping off the leaves or cutting off the stem is all that is required.
However, if you chop it off randomly, it could lead to killing off your plant, meaning you won’t get more good oregano from it when it comes back next time!
So let’s discuss the best way to harvest oregano.
First of all, don’t ever harvest more than half of your plant. Another tip for you is to harvest frequently. Plants get used to being cut back, and new growth makes an appearance faster when we cut them back frequently.
Begin at the tip of the stems when harvesting. As you move down the stem, harvest the leaves.
You do not have to cut all of the leaves off at once, just cut the ones at the top and harvest several leaves from below.
When your plant has enough time to regrow its leaves, just repeat the same harvest process as before.
Proper Tool: You should always use a sharp pair of shears to harvest your oregano. The cleaner the cut, the better your plant will remain healthy and it will encourage new growth while also preventing diseases from invading your plant.
When Is the Best Time to Harvest Oregano?
Hold off on harvesting your oregano until it has fully matured.
After your seeds germinate, you will want to wait up to around 8 weeks before cutting any leaves.
For your first harvest, you will want your plant to be at least 6 inches tall.
If you’re harvesting in order to make dried oregano, you will want to harvest your plant in mid-summer, just before it blooms with small white or purple flowers.
This is when the flavor is at its deepest intensity.
You can get an even better flavor harvesting the leaves early in the morning, just after the dew has dried on the leaves.
Harvesting Personal Oregano Plants
A great number of us grow our own personal oregano plants.
We often or only harvest herbs for cooking when we want to put them in a meal. If you just want to use a little to season your dinner, you can always “pinch off” leaves from the top of the healthily growing oregano plant.
It is important to position your fingers just above a pair of leaves (leaf node) and “pinch” the stem off.
When large harvests, you would use this method with scissors or shears and cut the stems from top-down.
Pruning Oregano Plants
Harvesting is a great way to keep your plants healthy and trimmed.
It helps produce new leaves. But what happens if you don’t harvest your oregano plant?
Do you need to prune?
Yes you need to prune oregano. Oregano will continue to grow tall. It eventually starts to spread out. It becomes, what is referred to as being “leggy,” at a certain point.
You will see that it is not as bushy looking and there will be space between the leaves.
A leggy oregano plant is not as healthy as a bushy one. You can cut back or prune a leggy oregano plant.
Be sure to cut back before your plant is about to flower. Once the flowers bloom, the oregano leaves will start to lose flavor. This typically occurs at the end of the summer.
Go easy: Just cut back the stems by half their length. Just like in harvesting, when you cut, make your cut right above leaf nodes. Leaving height in your stem above the leaves does not help with new growth being produced.
Storing Freshly Harvested Oregano
Fresh oregano can last for up to a few weeks if kept under ideal conditions.
If you will use your fresh oregano within the next few days to two weeks after harvesting it, you can store it between slightly moistened towels and place it in the fridge.
If you have stems of oregano that will be used in the next week or two, you can keep the stems standing up in a glass or similar vessel in water, changing the water every couple of days for the best longevity.
You can also store whole oregano leaves in the freezer in airtight containers or bags.
The leaves will last for up to a year stored this way.
Making Dried Oregano
Dried oregano is simple to make.
Now you can do this whenever you have an overabundance of oregano; or a reason to use the pruned (cut back) leaves from the plants.
Here are the steps for drying oregano:
- Wash oregano clippings
- Remove any moisture there might be from the leaves
- Hang the oregano (in a bundle) where it is dry and warm
- Eventually crumble it when it is completely dry and brittle
If you don’t want to hang the sprigs, you can put them between sheets of parchment paper.
When using this method, use a single layer of sprigs.
Wrap Up
When you harvesting oregano correctly, it keeps the plant healthier so that it can produce tasty new leaves in the future.
If you indiscriminately chop some stems, it brings disease & damage, and could even kill the plant.
Never take leaves all at once. Always cut your oregano from the top downwards.
And always make clean cuts just above the leaf nodes.
This helps keep your plants healthy by allowing for new growth in the future.