The wonderful sage… so many benefits and uses in the kitchen!

Sage is one of the easiest herbs to grow but it does take a lot of patience too to enjoy it all year-round. With 8 hours of sunlight and enough water to thrive, growing sage indoors is just so easy and fun!

Growing sage from seed using an herb kit is a good start. You can grow this herb on your windowsill or in a pot for an indoor herb garden. Here’s a guide to help you know more about sage and how to grow it indoors from seed.

Sage: Plant Description and Uses

Sage is a small shrub that belongs in the mint family. The size makes it ideal as an indoor plant and can grow in containers too! This herb has many varieties and not all of them are edible. The most common varieties are:

• Garden Sage
• Purple Sage
• Tri-color Sage
• Golden Sage

The plant produces pale, velvety soft gray-green leaves that are quite aromatic. Sage is often used to season pork, poultry, and lamb. It's often used as a seasoning for Thanksgiving stuffing so it's often associated with holiday cooking.

Benefits of Growing Sage in the Garden

Whether you use starter plants or grow sage from seed using an herb growing kit, the herb offers a lot of benefits, such as:

Low-maintenance plant: Sage may be slow to mature but it’s incredibly easy to maintain. It’s drought-tolerant so water only when the soil is dry to the touch. It’s not prone to diseases except when it’s exposed to excess water. Sage doesn’t grow too big so it’s so space-efficient, perfect for small gardens!

Fast-growing: Once established, sage grows so quickly - it’s part of the mint family, after all! You can grow some sage plants from seed and once these mature, you can propagate the stem cuttings. The more frequent you harvest the leaves, the bigger the plant becomes.

Long growing season: Sage is known for its long growing season so it makes a terrific decorative plant before it matures. And once the plant matures, you will have plenty of fresh sage leaves to season your food, give away to loved ones, or sell!

Attracts pollinators: Grow different varieties of sage plants in your garden and in no time at all, your outdoor space will be full of pollinators of different kinds. Sage’s nectar is one of the main food sources of bees, butterflies, and migrating hummingbirds.

Medicinal benefits: Sage is also prized for its medicinal properties. It's used to improve memory, soothe stomach ailments, and menstrual pains. It’s also used to treat common colds and coughs. Added to everyday dishes, sage is rich in antioxidants, essential nutrients, and anti-inflammatory that promote better health.

How to Plant Sage from Seed?

Are you using starter plants, or will you grow sage from seed using an herb garden kit? Outdoors, the best time to plant sage is 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost when the ground temperature reaches 65°F. Indoors, sow a couple of weeks before the last frost under a plant light.

This herb requires the full sun, although it can be grown indoors using a plant light. Sage is slow to mature, so growing this plant from seed using an herb kit will require patience because of the slow germination. It will take about 3 to 4 weeks for the seeds to germinate. Once the seedlings grow, you can start preparing the soil for transplanting.

Sage cannot tolerate wet soil and standing water so plant this herb in well-draining soil. This herb loves sandy, loamy soil with a pH between 6.0 and 7.0 and a temperature between 60º and 70ºF. The growing pot should have several drainage holes to keep excess water at bay. Set the plants two feet apart, giving the plants enough room to grow.

Don't over-fertilize the soil if you're growing this herb for cooking because the flavor becomes less intense. Sage cannot tolerate harsh heat and humidity very well, although it requires the full sun to grow, albeit with some shade.

Sage can be grown alongside rosemary, cabbage, and carrots but do not grow it close to cucumbers because this can affect the herb’s flavor. When grown in zones 5 to 8, it becomes a hardy perennial. But if grown in zone 9 or any humid zones, it will become an annual plant.

Growing Sage with ECOgardener Herb Garden Kit

Sage is often used to season holiday dishes but don’t wait until Thanksgiving before using this aromatic herb! This plant is so easy to grow that a complete newbie won’t have a hard time growing it from seed using an herb kit. It has a long growing season, but once it matures, you’ll have plenty of sage leaves to season your everyday dishes.

ECOgardener herb kit offers best value to grow herbs that are perfect for indoor and outdoor gardening. Get our kitchen herb kit for you or gift this for a loved one!

Learn more about our herb kit and gardening supplies here and explore the wonders of growing different herbs indoors or outdoors.