11 Uses for Borage

I LOVE BORAGE! Yes, I am that excited to share this info with you. Borage is an old plant that has a number of medicinal properties and culinary uses. It is beautiful!

 

What is Borage?

Borage (Borago officinalis) is an annual herb that grows quickly but self-seeds, so it continues to reappear year after year. ***Those reappearing plants are what I call free food***

So how can we use it?

-Companion Planting in your garden

It is a companion plant to Tomatoes, Peppers, Cabbage, Squash and Strawberries.

The borage companion plant is said to repel tomato worms and cabbage worms because borage attracts beneficial insects, such as bees and tiny wasps. As we know these are great plant pollinators, but they also repel garden pests. Additionally, borage works well in the garden alongside many types of herbs and flowers

-Attract Beneficial Insects

Another way that you can use borage in your garden is to attract beneficial insects and pollinators.

Honeybees, bumblebees, and butterflies love those pretty, bright, blue flowers. Grow borage in pots near your vegetable garden or along a fence close to your fruit trees.

 

-Eat the flowers!

These flowers are delicious and add a delicate touch to a homegrown salad

-Eat the volunteer sprouts that pop up each year

These volunteers are FREE FOOD and can be eaten as a garden snack or brought inside, rinsed off and added to a salad or meal

 

-Chicken food

Borage plants provide and abundance of leaves that can be continuously harvested to supplement your feed bill

 

-GREEN MANURE

If you end up with "too much" borage or you pull out the volunteers, you can always add them to your compost to provide organic matter for future gardens

 

-Borage Poultice

A crushed borage poultice can help with bug bites, bee stings, swelling, bruising, rashes, and boils. With summertime being a busy time in the garden (and bug bites), Borage is a handy herb to have on hand.

 

-Borage Tea

Borage tea has many uses. Herbalists use borage tea to reduce fevers, relieve stress, and stop coughing. As an added bonus, it's a refreshing iced tea on a hot day.

 

-Borage Tincture

If you are unfamiliar with tinctures, we have a few recipes on our blog. I prefer using dry herbs for my tinctures.

 

-Borage Salve with Calendula and Lavender

This recipe combines three potent, healing herbs to create the perfect salve for skin problems. You can use hemp or olive oil for your calendula, lavender, and borage salve. I like using olive oil. You could definitely add Borage leaves to our Calendula Infused Oil recipe if you like to "tweak" recipes

 

-Borage Lemonade

The leaves need to be mixed with lemonade, adding a hint of cucumber to your drink. This would be a great addition to our Basil Lemonade Recipe. A refreshing, naturally PINK drink with a hint of cucumber sounds delicious!