Oregano

Planting window

When to sow, by microclimate — foggier blocks run a different calendar than sunnier ones.

Sunlight

How well it does at each level of direct sun per day.

Soil depth

Root room it needs — useful for sizing raised beds and containers.

Soil pH

The soil acidity it grows best in — most crops sit just below neutral, so this mostly matters for heavily amended or long-reused beds.

Spacing

Room each plant needs — along the row and between rows — for sizing beds.

Growth habit

The shape it makes in the bed and how tall it gets — what tells you whether to give it a trellis, a stake, or just room.

Habit

Low mound

Mature height

1–3 ft

Low and self-supporting — no staking needed.

Growing in containers

Whether it does well in a pot, planter, or window box — the SF balcony-and-deck question, weighing its footprint, form, and staying power, not just root depth.

Happy in a pot, planter, or window box — no garden bed required.

How to start it

Sow it where it grows, or raise it under cover and set it out — and how far ahead to start the seedlings if it's the latter.

Usually

Direct-sow

Sown straight into the bed it will grow in.

Getting started

How it goes in the ground — how deep to sow or set it, and the soil temperature it needs to wake up. The cold-soil floor is the real limiter for direct-sowing in a foggy SF spring.

Started from

From seed

Ideal soil temp

68°F

Sow depth

0–0.125 in

Time to emerge

7–21 days

Watering & feeding

How thirsty and how hungry it is — the water it wants and how much feeding the bed needs to keep it producing. In the fog belt even a thirsty crop drinks less than it would inland.

Water need

Low

Gets by on less — water deeply, then let it dry out between; forgiving of a missed day.

Feeding

Light feeder

Undemanding — good soil is plenty; a rich, fed bed does more harm than good.

A tough Mediterranean herb — water sparingly and let the soil dry between; it resents wet feet. Needs little to no feeding, and richer flavor comes from lean soil.

Pests & diseases

What tends to trouble this crop — what it is, what you'll see, and what to do about it, least-toxic first.

Our sources document no specific pests or diseases for this crop; it's generally grown without major pest trouble in home gardens.

Harvest & storage

How to tell it's ready to pick, and how to keep it once it's in.

Keeps

DaysBest eaten within a few days of picking.

Ready to harvest

Snip sprigs frequently once the plant is established; the flavour is strongest just before it flowers.

Storing

Use fresh sprigs within a few days — oregano dries especially well: hang bundles in a warm, dry place, then jar the leaves.

Culinary use & nutrition

What it's for in the kitchen, and the nutrients a 100 g raw serving is a notable source of.

Pollinators & wildlife

What this crop offers the garden's wildlife once it flowers — often the payoff for letting a bolting plant stand.

Bees

Honeybees and natives — bumble, mason, and sweat bees — working the flowers for pollen and nectar.

Beneficial insects

Hoverflies, lady beetles, and parasitoid wasps that keep aphids and caterpillars down.

Stop cutting it by midsummer and the froth of tiny flowers works for weeks, bees over the top of it and aphid-eating hoverflies down in the shallow florets.

Sources