2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Savory (lat. Satureja) - a genus of annual and perennial plants, semi-shrubs and shrubs of the Lamb family, or Lipocytes. The genus has about 30 species, of which the most common species in culture is garden savory, or garden savory, or sweet savory. All types of savory are characterized by continuous long flowering. The natural habitat of savory is the Mediterranean and Asia.
Characteristics of culture
Savory is a herb, shrub or shrub up to 70 cm high with a stem covered with short hairs over the entire surface. Leaves are entire, lanceolate, opposite, gray-green, located on short petioles. The flowers are small, light purple, bluish-white or pinkish, 4-15 cm long, collected in whorled or loose elongated inflorescences sitting in the leaf axils.
Flowers of plants with their bright aroma attract many bees to the garden. The calyx is regular or two-lipped, bell-shaped, five-toothed. Corolla two-lipped, with purple spots in the pharynx. The fruit is a round or ovoid nut of dark brown or black color. Savory blooms in July-August, fruits ripen in September.
Growing conditions
Savory is a thermophilic plant, prefers well-lit areas. The culture is not demanding for soil conditions, but it gives low yields on poor, waterlogged, acidic and saline soils. Optimal are fertile, light, drained soils with a neutral pH reaction. Lowlands with stagnant cold air and melt water, as well as areas unprotected from northern winds, are not suitable for growing savory.
Sowing
Savory cultivation is subject to even a novice gardener. The seeds of the culture have good germination and do not need preliminary preparation. Moreover, subject to all the rules of care, plants can freely develop both in the open field and in pots in indoor conditions. Currently, there are no breeding varieties of savory, so local varieties are cultivated in each region. All of them differ from each other in color, size, foliage and ripening time.
Seeds are sown in early spring, sprinkled with a thin layer of soil and watered. The seeding depth is 0.5-1 cm. For the first time, it is advisable to cover the crops with plastic wrap. It is not forbidden to sow a crop with other annual herbs, for example, basil, coriander, watercress, purslane and snakehead. Savory can be grown in close proximity to beans. Young plants are able to withstand small frosts without any problems. In central Russia, winter sowing is encouraged.
Care and harvest
With the emergence of seedlings, crops are thinned out. If necessary, a second thinning is carried out after a couple of weeks. The culture has a positive attitude to feeding. The first feeding is carried out before sowing, for this they use humus or compost, ammonium nitrate, potassium salt and superphosphate. In the future, it is necessary to carry out a couple of additional dressings. Savory also needs weeding, loosening and watering.
In the first year, harvesting is limited to one cut, in the following - 2-3 times per season. Cutting is carried out before flowering. Young shoots with leaves are dried under a canopy.
Application
Savory is widely used in cooking and folk medicine. In some countries, savory is used to make sauces that are ideally combined with meat and fish dishes. Savory is often added to sausages, pork and potato pies, as well as turkey and veal rolls. Today, savory is used in the preparation of beans, peas and beans. The plant is also included in the composition of the Bulgarian ketchup.
Savory has been used as a medicinal plant since ancient times. It is useful for tachycardia, headache, dizziness, cystitis, gastrointestinal diseases, flatulence, acute respiratory infections, and rhinitis. In Germany and France, savory is used as an anthelmintic, antifungal and antibacterial agent. The essential oils that make up the plant are used in aromatherapy.
