Lemon Balm
Lemon Balm is a pungent, attractive herb that can infuse and uplift your tea or why not add a couple of fresh leaves to garnish desserts and garden salads.
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Lemon Balm (Malissa officinalis) is a pungent, attractive herb that has lots of uses. A few leaves can infuse and uplift your tea or why not add a couple of fresh leaves to garnish desserts and garden salads.
How to grow lemon balm in a garden
- Choose a spot in the garden that receives full sun or a spot under a fruit tree. Enrich the soil with Yates Thrive Natural Blood & Bone with Seaweed. If the soil is clay based, add gypsum and fork in well.
- Sprinkle the seeds over a small area.
- Cover seeds lightly with soil. To retain moisture, mulch the sown area with pea or lucerne straw. Water in to keep the soil moist.
- Once they have sprouted you can then plant space is about 20 cm and space between rows is 20 cm.
- Feed every few weeks with Yates Thrive Natural Fish Seaweed+ Plant Food Concentrate.
How to grow lemon balm in a pot
- Choose small pots 150 mm wide. Position in full sun or partial shade or along the garden border and fill with quality potting mix, such as Yates Premium Potting Mix.
- Place a few seeds in each pot and cover them with the potting mix to about 5 mm deep.
- Water in well with a rose head fitted watering can.
- Once germinated keep them well watered, but avoid keeping the potting mix to wet.
- Feed them with Yates Thrive Natural Fish Seaweed+ Plant Food Concentrate every few weeks to promote foliage growth.
Harvesting
- Harvest the leaves by plucking the stems off as needed. Pruning them will encourage more vigorous growth.
Growing tips
- Prune hard in early spring
- Frequent picking ensures continuous supply
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Recommended products
Yates Thrive Natural Blood & Bone with Seaweed
A certified organic garden input boosted with NZ Seaweed to gently nourish plants, enrich the soil and encourage a strong healthy root system.
Yates Thrive Natural Fish & Seaweed+ Plant Food Concentrate
A complete plant food enriched with natural fish, seaweed, humates, molasses and more - boosted with NPK to improve plant and soil vitality.
Yates Premium Potting Mix
A premium potting mix, ideal for all potted plants and shrubs, including ornamentals, fruit trees, vegies and herbs.
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