Sage Growing Calendar: Pruning, Picking, Cuttings and Winter

The shape of the year

Sage asks very little, but the few jobs it does need are tightly tied to its stage of growth rather than to the calendar. The whole year turns on four moments: the spring prune once new shoots are visible, the main harvest just before the flowers open, cuttings taken in summer, and the autumn cutoff that stops you forcing soft growth into the cold.

Spring: prune, then plant

Wait until you can see small green shoots breaking along the stems before you touch the plant. That growth shows you exactly where the live wood ends, and the whole rule of pruning sage is that you never cut below the lowest live shoot on a stem. Take about a third off last year's growth, cutting just above an outward-facing shoot, and remove anything dead, crossing or lying flat.

Once frosts have finished, plant out anything you raised last year, 18 to 24 inches (45 to 60 cm) apart in full sun and unimproved soil. This is also the moment for mound layering an older plant, and the moment to sow seed indoors at 65 to 70F (18 to 21C) if you are starting from scratch.

1. Check what survived before you prune Scratch the bark on a doubtful stem with a thumbnail. Green underneath means live; brown and dry means dead, and it comes out at the base.
2. Refresh the grit mulch Top up the gravel around the crown to about half an inch and clear out any tree leaves that collected over winter.
3. Decide now which plants to replace A plant that is bare in the middle with stems leaning outwards is in its last useful year. Mound layer it in spring or plan cuttings for summer, so the replacement is ready before you pull it out.

Late spring and early summer: the main harvest, then the flowers

Oil content peaks in the weeks just before the flower spikes open, so this is the batch to cut and dry for the year. Pick in the morning after the dew has gone, cut sprigs rather than stripping leaves, and take up to a third of the growth from an established plant.

Then decide what you want from the flowers. Sage flowers are excellent for bees and perfectly edible, and leaving them costs you a few weeks of leaf quality. If you want leaves instead, shear the spikes off as they fade along with an inch or two of stem beneath them, and a fresh flush of foliage follows within a few weeks. On a first-year plant, remove the flower buds entirely so the plant builds its frame instead.

Do not water an established plant through this period unless there has been no rain for three weeks. Midday wilting in strong sun that recovers by evening is normal and is not a reason to water.

Mid and late summer: cuttings and a second cut

This is the reliable window for propagation. Take three to four inch (8 to 10 cm) semi-ripe cuttings from shoots that are not flowering, strip the lower leaves, insert them into half compost and half sharp sand, and keep them in bright shade at around 65 to 70F (18 to 21C). Expect roots in four to six weeks.

The regrowth after the flowers were sheared off gives you a second harvest, softer than the early crop but good. Take it, and keep an eye on the shoot tips: late summer is when rosemary beetles and powdery mildew both appear, and both are trivial to deal with in the first week and tiresome in the third.

1. Take more cuttings than you need Five or six in a single five inch (13 cm) pot costs nothing. Losing two or three to rot is normal, and spares are useful.
2. Look over the tips weekly Shake the plant over a sheet of paper to find beetles, and check the center of the plant for white dusty patches. Cut out mildewed shoots immediately.
3. Thin the center if it is crowded Removing a few inward-facing stems in late summer lets air through and cuts the risk of mildew and of winter rot at the crown.

Autumn: stop early and change nothing else

The most important autumn job is one you do not do. Stop harvesting roughly eight weeks before your first expected frost, and do not prune, feed or tidy the plant. Anything that pushes new growth now produces soft shoots that cannot harden, and those are what blacken and die back first, often taking the stem behind them.

Instead, spend the time on drainage. Refresh the grit around the crown, clear fallen leaves out of the middle of the plant, and move containers under an eave or against a wall, raised on feet so the drainage holes stay clear. Rooted cuttings from summer stay in their pots somewhere sheltered rather than going into cold, wet ground.

Sage keeps its leaves through mild winters, so you can still pick the odd sprig for the kitchen. Picking a leaf is fine; cutting for a harvest is not.

Winter, and the notes that make next year easier

Established plants take hard frost down to around 5F (-15C) with dry roots, so winter care is about water, not warmth. Leave the old top growth on to shelter the crown, keep the base clear of wet leaves, and water containers only once every three or four weeks and only if the compost has dried right through.

Winter is also when to write the year up while you can still remember it. Record the date you pruned and how far back you cut, the date the first flower buds colored, the date of your last harvest, and the age and position of each plant. Come spring those four notes tell you whether you pruned too hard, when to plan the main cut, whether a late harvest cost you a plant, and which sage is due for replacement, which is more than any general calendar can tell you about your own garden.