There is a trick to multiplying rosemary and always having it on hand indefinitely, year after year.

During our lunches and dinners it has occurred to us more than once to season our dishes with aromatic herbs that make them tastier and even more perfumed.

We have many options available, from parsley to thyme, bay leaf, sage and many others but in particular one of the most common, especially combined with chicken with potatoes, is rosemary.

Rosemary: characteristics

Sage rosmarinus Schield, this is its scientific name, grows spontaneously in the Mediterranean air along the Tyrrhenian and Ionian areas and is widespread throughout the peninsula, especially from the Adriatic coast to Molise and in the parts bordering Garda.

The plant itself is evergreen and can reach a height of about 50 to 300 cm with long, persistent leaves of 2 to 3 cm that give off a particular and characteristic smell.

Its maintenance requires that this plant be exposed in sunny areas and not in cold areas since it does not resist rain and harsh winter climates and if it is kept on the balcony of the house it must be grown with soil mixed with sand.

Rosemary multiplication, how does it happen?

Its multiplication can be done by cuttings, that is, a piece of plant that is cut from the mother plant and regenerated in the soil, making it grow and grow to give life to a new plant specimen.

And it is thanks to this method that we can get more rosemary plants by multiplying them infinitely without having to buy a new plant from the retailer.

Plants born from cuttings mature faster than the mother plant born from a seed, since rosemary plants have fairly long germination times.

Otherwise, a rosemary plant obtained through cuttings will grow and be the useful size for use after a few months from the time the potted cutting was grown.

This is very important since the clone plant will be identical to the mother and will have the same flavor and characteristics as the one born from the seed, with the same strength of resistance and smell.

The technique of cutting cuttings.

In addition, removing a piece of plant from the main plant does not damage it in any case, since removing a small piece does not create any problem for the rosemary plant and we could fill our balcony or windowsill with as many cloned plants as we want.

To do this in the most optimal way, it is always best to cut the young, green and fresh stems that are usually found at the base of the plant, avoiding the browner and more woody ones that can be insidious both when cutting and for growth.

To detach these twigs, use very sharp scissors and the chosen stem should be at least 10 cm long. It is always better to cut more than one if the chosen one is not very green or does not take root.

Once the sprig has been removed, remove the rosemary needles from the bottom and then place it in hot water in a warm place, possibly without direct sunlight.

The water carries oxygen and must be changed every two days and tends not to deteriorate the cuttings that will give life to the new rosemary plants. After about 4-8 weeks, if our cuttings have survived, we will see roots on each stem.

In this case, they must be transplanted to a larger pot with sandy soil and making a hole in the soil, introducing the cutting by exposing it to direct light for at least 6-8 hours a day.

Once it has grown and reached the size of about 15 centimeters, the plant can be used and eventually new cuttings can be cut to generate others however without harvesting 1/3 of the plant, as it grows slowly.

If, on the other hand, our cuttings are brown and the needles are easily removed, it means that the cutting has not survived and we will need to take another one to multiply our rosemary plant.