GrowingHQ
Herbperennial herbStraightforward

Oregano

Origanum vulgare

A hardy Mediterranean perennial that wants sun and sharp drainage and rewards being left alone. Its flavour is markedly stronger in poor dry soil than in rich moist ground, which is one of the clearest cases in growing where the conditions that produce the biggest plant are not the ones that produce the best crop.

Position
Full sun
Water
low demand
Drainage
Free-draining
Grows to
30–60 cm × 30–45 cm
Hardiness
H5
Harvest
May to September
Difficulty
Straightforward

Described view

An oregano plant in flower with clusters of small pinkish-purple flowers above oval green leaves, insects feeding

August

In flower · Harvest

Oregano’s year

Resolved for United Kingdom (general). Every window is stored against a climate event rather than a date, so a late frost pocket runs later than the band shows. What else August calls for.

ActivityJFMAMJJASOND
Sow under coverFebruary. March.
PlantApril. May. June. July.
In flowerJuly. August.
HarvestMay. June. July. August. September.
DivideMarch. April.

Names that cause confusion

marjoram — Sweet marjoram is Origanum majorana, a related but distinct and less hardy species with a milder flavour. 'Wild marjoram' is this plant.

Timing that travels

The band above resolves this plant's windows into months for one region. These are the windows themselves, stored against a climate event rather than a date — which is the form that survives being carried to a colder garden, a frost pocket, or next year.

  • Sow under cover4–8 weeks before your last spring frost
    source

    Sourced guidancehigh confidence

    • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — sowing

    Checked 2026-08-13

  • Plant0–12 weeks after your last spring frost
    source

    Sourced guidancehigh confidence

    • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — planting

    Checked 2026-08-13

What kind of herb this is

Herbs are a kitchen grouping rather than a botanical one, and the plants in it want opposite things. This is the one distinction that decides how to treat it.

Mediterranean woody herb

Growing regime
source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — growing

Checked 2026-08-13

Wants sun, poor free-draining ground and very little water once established. Far more of these die from winter wet at the roots than from cold air, so drainage matters more than hardiness ratings suggest.

Treated the same way: bay, borage, chamomile, hyssop, lemon thyme, marjoram and 7 more in the same group. The herb bed, split by regime

Why winter wet kills a Mediterranean herbTwo soil cross-sections side by side. On the left, a well-drained planting: the crown of a rosemary sits slightly proud of the surrounding soil on a low mound, the root zone is open gritty soil with air between the particles, and arrows show winter rain moving down and away past the roots. The plant above is dense and well furnished. On the right, the same herb in heavy soil in a hollow: the crown sits level with or below the surface, the root zone is dense soil over a compacted pan, and winter rain has nowhere to go so a water table stands in the root zone from November to March. The roots there are drawn broken and dashed to show they have died, and the plant above is sparse and thin. The point is that the plant looks unharmed all winter because an evergreen with a full canopy asks almost nothing of its roots in January, so the loss only shows the following spring when it fails to grow.Sharp drainagecrown proud, water moves throughroots stay firm and paleair between the particles all winterWinter wetcrown in a hollow, water standswater table, Nov–Marcompacted pan — nowhere to goroots dark, soft and sourand the plant above still looks fineopen gritty soilheavy soilstanding waterliving rootsPlanting on a low mound, adding grit, or standing a pot on feet all do the same job: get the crown above the water.
The damage happens in January and shows in May. An evergreen herb asks almost nothing of its roots in winter, so a drowned root system stays invisible until the plant is asked to grow and cannot.
Indoors
Not worth growing indoors
Where the indoor assessment comes from
IndoorsSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — growing indoors

Checked 2026-08-13

Almost any herb will sit on a windowsill in July. This is about whether it is still there in March, which is the part a pot on a supermarket shelf does not tell you.

What happens when it flowers

On a herb this is rarely a problem and rarely nothing. It is the point at which the plant stops being what you grew it for — by a lot, a little, or not at all.

Leaves coarsen
source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — harvesting

Checked 2026-08-13

Flavour is at its strongest just as the flower buds form, which is the moment to cut for drying. Left to flower the leaves coarsen, and cutting the plant back afterwards produces a fresh flush of soft growth.

source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — harvesting

Checked 2026-08-13

What it is worth to pollinators

Recorded only where the evidence is specific to this plant, because “good for bees” attached to everything means nothing attached to anything.

Nectar value
high
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Plants for pollinators

Checked 2026-08-13

In flower
July, August, September

Picking it and feeding bees are not the same plan

A real one, and the sharpest in this list. The moment oregano is best for the kitchen is just before it flowers, and cutting it then removes the whole of its pollinator value. Growing two plants and cropping only one is the honest resolution.

Conditions it needs

Light
Full sun
Direct sun
6 hours a day or more
Frost
Hardy
Hardiness rating
H5 (RHS)
Grows best at
15–28 °C
Germinates at
15–25 °C
Soil
Sandy, Chalky, Loam
Soil pH
6–8
Drainage
Free-draining
Water needs
low
Drought
good tolerance
Waterlogging
poor tolerance
Heat
good tolerance
Wind and exposure
good tolerance
Where these figures come from
LightSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — position

Checked 2026-08-13

Direct sunHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

FrostSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — hardiness

Checked 2026-08-13

Hardiness ratingSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: RHS hardiness ratings

Checked 2026-08-13

Grows best atHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Germinates atSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • OSU Extension Service — Oregon State University: Herb seed germination temperatures

Checked 2026-08-13

SoilSourced guidancehigh confidence

Flavour is stronger from poor dry soil; rich ground gives lush growth and a weaker herb.

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — soil

Checked 2026-08-13

Soil pHSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Origanum vulgare

Checked 2026-08-13

DrainageSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — soil

Checked 2026-08-13

Water needsSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — watering

Checked 2026-08-13

DroughtSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Drought-tolerant plants

Checked 2026-08-13

WaterloggingSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — soil

Checked 2026-08-13

HeatSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Origanum vulgare

Checked 2026-08-13

Wind and exposureHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

On your soil

Computed by comparing this plant's recorded requirements against each soil's recorded characteristics. A recorded horticultural fact overrides the comparison where GrowingHQ holds one.

SoilVerdictWhy
Heavy clayWorks, with one conditionOregano will crop on heavy clay, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
SandyPrefers this soilSandy suits Oregano as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 8, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Sandy soil is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
Chalky and alkalinePrefers this soilChalky and alkaline suits Oregano as it stands: The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Chalky soil is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
LoamPrefers this soilLoam suits Oregano as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 8, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
SiltyPrefers this soilSilty suits Oregano as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 8, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Peaty and acidWorks, with one conditionOregano will crop on peaty and acid, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
Shallow over rockPrefers this soilShallow over rock suits Oregano as it stands: The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
Made ground and urban soilWorks, with one conditionOregano will crop on made ground and urban soil, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.

Not sure which you have? Four hand tests will settle it.

Space and spacing

Mature height
30–60 cm
Mature spread
30–45 cm
Rooting depth
30 cm
Spacing
30 cm apart
Where these figures come from
Mature heightHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Mature spreadHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Rooting depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

SpacingSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — spacing

Checked 2026-08-13

How far apart to plant oreganoThree oregano plants drawn in a row at their recorded spacing of 30 cm between plants. The spacing is drawn to scale against a one metre rule; the plants themselves are symbols rather than scale drawings, so the distance between them is the part to read.30 cm
Measured centre to centre. Plants set closer than this compete for light and water long before they look crowded, and the crowding cannot be undone once they are in.

In a container

Minimum volume
5 litres or more
Minimum depth
20 cm
Where the container figures come from
Minimum volumeSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Herbs in containers

Checked 2026-08-13

Minimum depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Grows well in a pot and tastes better in one, provided the compost is lean and gritty rather than rich. Keep it out of the way of anything that gets watered regularly; the commonest reason a potted oregano is bland is that it was standing among thirsty neighbours.

Value to wildlife

Recorded only where the evidence names a resource and the months it is available. Most plants flower; that on its own is not what this section is about.

Nectar
A significant source
In flower
Jul, Aug, Sep
Where these figures come from
NectarSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Plants for pollinators

Checked 2026-08-13

What keeping this costs

A real one, and the sharpest in this list. The moment oregano is best for the kitchen is just before it flowers, and cutting it then removes the whole of its pollinator value. Growing two plants and cropping only one is the honest resolution.

Where and how you can grow it

Each way of growing is assessed separately, and “not assessed” is a real answer rather than a gap we have filled in with a guess.

MethodSuitabilityWhat it needs
Open groundWell suited
Sourced guidanceDepends on conditionshigh confidence

Applies when: On free-draining soil in sun; poor on heavy wet ground.

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano

Checked 2026-08-13

Sharp drainage; Full sun
Raised bedWell suited
source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mediterranean herbs

Checked 2026-08-13

ContainerWell suited
source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Herbs in containers

Checked 2026-08-13

Gritty compost; Sparing watering
Traditional dug bedWorkable
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Grit worked in
Vertical growingWorkable
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Suits the drier upper tiers.
HydroponicsWorkable
source

GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence

Grows readily and tastes of less. The oils that make Mediterranean herbs worth growing develop under drought stress and bright light, and a system removes the first entirely.

  • GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ

Checked 2026-08-13

WindowsillMarginal
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

Survives indoors but grows soft and loses flavour; better outdoors, where it is hardy.

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

GreenhouseMarginal
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board — AHDB: Mediterranean herbs under protection

Checked 2026-08-13

PolytunnelMarginal
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board — AHDB: Mediterranean herbs under protection

Checked 2026-08-13

Growing it

  • PruningCut back after flowering to keep the plant compact and produce a flush of fresh leaves. Cut the whole plant to near ground level in early spring.
  • WateringWater only in prolonged drought once established. Regular watering produces lush growth with noticeably less flavour.
  • PropagationDivide established clumps in spring, or take softwood cuttings in early summer.
  • FeedingDo not feed oregano if you want it to taste of anything. This is the plant where the trade-off is starkest: rich moist ground gives a big lush plant with markedly weaker flavour, and poor dry ground gives a smaller one worth picking. A pot needs nothing beyond fresh compost in the top few centimetres each spring.
  • HarvestingPick from late spring until the plant dies back, and take the heaviest cut just as the flower buds show in July — that is when the oils peak, and it is the material worth drying for winter. Cut stems back by up to half rather than picking single leaves; the plant responds with fresh growth and stays compact.
  • PlantingPlant in spring in full sun with grit or coarse sand worked into heavy ground. Give it more room than it looks as though it needs — a mature clump spreads to about 45 cm — and keep it away from anything that will be watered regularly, because a well-watered neighbour is enough to spoil it.
Where this guidance comes from
PruningHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — pruning

Checked 2026-08-13

WateringSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — watering

Checked 2026-08-13

PropagationHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — propagation

Checked 2026-08-13

FeedingSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — cultivation

Checked 2026-08-13

HarvestingSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — harvesting

Checked 2026-08-13

PlantingSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — planting

Checked 2026-08-13

Where to make a pruning cutFour stems compared. The first is cut cleanly on a slope about five millimetres above an outward-facing bud, sloping away from it, and is labelled correct. The second is cut too far above the bud, leaving a long stub that dies back. The third is cut too close, into the bud itself, which loses the shoot. The fourth is cut sloping towards the bud so rain runs onto it rather than away, which rots it. In every case the bud points outwards, away from the centre of the plant.Correct5 mm, sloping awayToo highstub dies backToo closebud lostSloping inrain sits on the bud
The bud you cut to becomes the new shoot, and it grows in the direction it points — which is why an outward-facing bud opens the plant up and an inward-facing one crosses the middle.
Four ways to make more plantsFour propagation operations compared, each showing where the separation is made and what must be present on both sides of it. Division: a clump cut between crowns, with roots and at least one growing point on every piece. Stem cutting: a shoot cut just below a leaf node, because the node is where roots form, with the lower leaves removed. Runner: a plantlet already rooting where it touches the ground, severed from the parent only after its own roots have taken. Offset: a young shoot at the base of the parent, separated with its own roots attached. In each case the cut is marked and the part that must be retained is labelled.Divisioncut between crownsroots on every piececut below a nodeStem cuttingroots form at the nodestrip the lower leavesRunnerlet it root firstthen sever the linkOffseta shoot at the basetake its roots with it
The rule is the same in all four: the new piece needs both a growing point and roots of its own. A cutting is the exception that has to make its roots afterwards, which is why the node matters so much.

Is it worth putting under cover?

Whether it will grow there is on the methods table above. This is whether the space is well spent, which is a different question and usually the one being asked.

StructureWhat protection is worthWhat decides it
GreenhouseWorse under cover
source

GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence

What protection is worth for this crop, judged against the same standard as every other record in this file.

  • GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ

Checked 2026-08-13

Winter humidity, on the same mechanism as thyme — and oregano loses more of its oils in a shaded, humid house than any other herb here.
PolytunnelWorse under cover
source

GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence

What protection is worth for this crop, judged against the same standard as every other record in this file.

  • GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ

Checked 2026-08-13

Winter humidity.

On a windowsill

Spring to autumn
source

GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence

How long the crop is actually productive on an ordinary British windowsill without added light.

  • GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ

Checked 2026-08-13

 Productive from roughly March to October and not after. Growth stops when the light does, and a plant pushed through the dark months usually does not recover. Light and airflow. A bright sill suits it in summer; in winter it goes leggy and loses most of the oils that make it worth having.

Growing it without soil

Nearly anything can be grown in a soilless system by somebody with enough equipment. The useful question is whether it is worth it, in which technique, and what goes wrong.

Works with conditions

Succeeds when the conditions listed here are met and fails when they are not. The conditions are the answer, not a caveat.

source

GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence

Grows readily and tastes of less. The oils that make Mediterranean herbs worth growing develop under drought stress and bright light, and a system removes the first entirely.

  • GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ

Checked 2026-08-13

The general finding for this whole group, and the reason none of them reaches `suitable`: a well-fed, well-watered thyme is a bigger and blander thyme.

Techniques that suit it

  • Drip-fed mediumSolution is dripped into an inert medium around each plant. The most forgiving technique and the one that suits large, long-season, heavy crops.
  • Ebb and flowA bed of inert medium floods and drains on a timer. The medium holds moisture between floods, which makes it far more tolerant of interruption than NFT.
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Root space
Small; it wants sharp drainage rather than volume.
Lighting
Needs supplementary light
pH band
5.5–6.5
Where these figures come from
Root spaceHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

LightingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

pH bandSourced guidancehigh confidence

Outside roughly this band, individual nutrients become unavailable even when they are present in the solution — which is why a crop can starve in a full reservoir.

  • Purdue Extension — Purdue University: Hydroponic solution management — pH

Checked 2026-08-13

What actually goes wrong

  • Warm solution. Above roughly 22 °C the water holds much less dissolved oxygen and root disease follows quickly, which is why summer is harder than winter in an indoor system.
    source

    Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

    • Purdue Extension — Purdue University: Solution temperature and dissolved oxygen

    Checked 2026-08-13

No nutrient recipes here

GrowingHQ records pH bands, which are measurable properties of nutrient availability, and deliberately records no EC or PPM targets and no mixing instructions. Published targets vary by cultivar, growth stage, water source and technique, and the figures that apply to your system are on the product you bought.

Harvesting

  • When it is readyPick from late spring. Flavour peaks just as the flower buds form, which is the traditional point to cut for drying.
  • How to pick itCut whole stems rather than stripping leaves.
  • Keeping itOne of the herbs that dries best, and is arguably better dried than fresh.
Where the harvest guidance comes from
When it is readySourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Oregano — harvesting

Checked 2026-08-13

How to pick itHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Keeping itHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Grown with, grown after, grown instead

Every relationship states its mechanism. A pairing nobody can explain is a pairing nobody has checked, and it does not go in.

  • Grown togetherThyme
    Both Mediterranean sub-shrubs wanting poor sharply drained soil and full sun, so they share a bed and a watering regime without either being compromised.
    Sourced guidanceDepends on conditionshigh confidence

    Applies when: A shared-conditions grouping rather than an interaction between the plants.

    • Royal Horticultural Society: Mediterranean herbs

    Checked 2026-08-13

Sources for this page

Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board · GrowingHQ editorial synthesis · OSU Extension Service · Plant Finder · Royal Horticultural Society

Each figure on this page carries its own citation, under the “where these figures come from” note in its section. Record last reviewed 2026-08-13.