I have never done that. (growing oregano from seeds). The reason being that I just need ONE oregano plant. If I needed to grow, say 30 of them then I would have done it.

If you know someone who has an oregano plant you can get a few cuttings and root them.

Germinating tiny seeds is a bit difficult. (1) you cannot plant them too deep. When you plant them shallow, they dry up fast. So you have to start them in a dome and have a mister handy.

What's the germination period on your seeds? Oregano has a bit of a longer germination time than say basil, which sprouts right away.

You'll need to give them at least 10 - 17 days to germinate. As with most woody herbs, be patient with germination.

Once it has germinated, oregano likes very, very well-drained soil. It's probably just in my head, but the oregano I water least tastes the best.

Oops! Double post.

This post was edited by Tatreanna on Sun, Aug 25, 13 at 11:15

Oregano is really easy to start from seed but it grows incredibly slow. I have 3+ yr old plants I harvest from and have oregano starts to fill in my herb garden that I will not harvest from. Personally if you want to harvest the year you put in garden I would start with a plant from the nursery or cutting from a friend. Otherwise it is an investment of time/patience to grow the seedlings into harvest ready plants. Mine germinated in under 10 days and all seeds were viable. I just picked up a packet of seeds from my local nursery, so nothing special.

Same experience of gjeanna. Germinated from seed about 3 years ago and it has slowly gotten bigger each year. It is probably the hardiest plant I have grown from seed, as I do not water or fertilize it at all and it grows just fine. Just be patient with the germination...