Herbs
Oregano
Origanum vulgare
Timings for your region
Suggested: Moderate · Explained in the glossary
Start indoorsmid March – early May
Plantingearly May – mid June
Harvestearly June – mid October
Practical tip
The flavour peaks just before flowering — cut it in bunches then and dry it. A light germinator, so do not cover the seed.
Origin & history
Origanum vulgare is native to Germany — as wild marjoram it grows on sunny banks and dry limestone grassland, where it is one of the best insect plants going. The name is usually traced to the Greek oros ganos, “ornament of the mountains”. It still played no part in German cooking for a long time; it only became the pizza herb with the Italian restaurants of the post-war decades.
Varieties
The key point when buying: “Origanum vulgare” on its own often gets you the mild native wild form with pink flowers. The strong pizza flavour sits in subspecies hirtum, Greek oregano, with hairy leaves and white flowers — look for that detail on the label. Golden and variegated oreganos are ornamentals with weak flavour. Seedlings vary widely in aroma, so a plant raised from cuttings is more dependable than a packet of seed.
Care
Oregano gets its strongest flavour on poor, limy soil in full sun — on a well-fed bed it grows lush and tastes of little. Harvest only sparingly in the first year; from the second, cut the whole clump back by half after flowering and it will push out fresh growth again. Remove the old dry flower stems in spring. It spreads by short runners and self-seeds; dividing it every three or four years keeps it vigorous.
What can go wrong
The commonest disappointment is not an infestation but a lack of flavour, and the cause is nearly always the wrong subspecies, a part-shaded spot, or too much water and nitrogen. In heavy soil the crown rots over winter — so plant slightly raised, with sand or grit in the planting hole. In muggy summers mildew sometimes shows up in crowded stands; cut back hard, plant further apart and water at the base instead of over the foliage.
Harvest, storage & kitchen
Oregano is one of the few herbs that taste stronger dried than fresh — here the storage jar is not a poor substitute. Strip the leaves from the stems only after drying and store them as whole as possible; rub them between your fingers straight over the pan, otherwise the aroma fades in the jar. Cut about a hand’s width above the ground so leafy shoot bases remain. In tomato sauces it can go in right at the start.
All timings are guide values for the given climate, not a guarantee. Weather, aspect and variety all have a say.