Content
- How to cut lemon balm properly
- Cutting for the harvest - that's what melissa is all about
- Autumn pruning Melissa - that's how it works
- Harvest seeds before cutting
- Tips & Tricks
How to cut lemon balm properly
These are two occasions when amateur gardeners cut back lemon balm. First and foremost they reach for the scissors to harvest the aromatic leaves. In addition, there will be a complete pruning in autumn. The details can be found here.
Cutting for the harvest - that's what melissa is all about
Lemon balm is one of the particularly vigorous herb plants. Lovingly cared for, she delivers up to 4 crops per season. How to handle it correctly:
Experienced hobby gardeners immediately conserve a harvest surplus by drying, freezing or inserting. In this way, lemon balm is preserved for up to 12 months to serve as an ingredient for refreshing drinks, hot or cold food. In addition, the leaves find multiple uses in nature-related medicine.
Autumn pruning Melissa - that's how it works
Knocking Frost on the garden door, the lemon balm pulls back into her hardy rhizome. The branches, flowers and leaves have fulfilled their task for this year. Optionally, you can prune the shoots before or after winter.
Anyone who feels disturbed by the withered optics, before the first frost takes a near-ground pruning. Otherwise, the branches remain as additional winter protection on the plant until shortly before the next budding.
Harvest seeds before cutting
Foresighted hobby gardeners secure a stock of seeds for propagation in time before pruning in the fall. The seed is in the brown fruits. These are picked before they burst open and scatter the seeds in all directions. Keep dry and cool, sow the next generation of vital lemon balm in the house starting in March.
Alternatively, sow in the warm autumn soil. This has the advantage that particularly robust seedlings thrive from the seeds.
Tips & Tricks
Do you reluctantly relish the refreshing lemon balm during winter? Then cultivate the aromatic lemon herb simply as a houseplant. On the sunny windowsill or in the partially shaded corner, you can harvest the delicate leaves all year round.
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