Can we talk basil?

MrsK
MrsK Posts: 22 ✭✭✭
edited October 2018 in Our Garden: Growing Food
I have problems with basil and cilantro, so I'm no help, just commiserating.

Comments

  • MrsK
    MrsK Posts: 22 ✭✭✭
    edited October 2018
    I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one!!! I just can’t figure it out ... I’ve just stuck mint, lavender, rosemary and oregano cuttings into the garden and they grow no problem!! Basil ... it hates me.
  • H_D
    H_D Posts: 384 ✭✭✭
    edited October 2018
    ive always had better luck growing basil hydroponically than in soil lol i had so much basil and the leaves were so big (larger than my 6'3" hubbys hands!) last year we were in basil overload , everything I cooked had basil in it lol
    heather
  • Cherlynn
    Cherlynn Posts: 169 ✭✭✭
    edited October 2018
    Basil does not like wet feet. Probably the reason I can grow it so well!  I get busy and forget to water things.  Then I run around with a hose watering everything and nothing gets enough water.  This year I was not allowed to water and my basil really flourished and I even have a full pint jar of seed.   I collected little baby plants and brought them in before the freeze and snow hit.  I have never had much luck growing Basil inside but so far it is doing ok.  Maybe with me being so busy it will survive.   I worked a year in a nearby herb farm and learned the proper way to start herb seed.  They use little cups with holes in the bottom inside another cup that has water in it.  After the little plants get strong roots they get transplanted into a larger pot.  I have grown to love herbs so very much.  Yes some are easier to grow than others.  I keep them in a nice light soil and they don't like to be feed either.
  • peppypoblano
    peppypoblano Posts: 92
    edited October 2018
    I feel rather fortunate after reading the posts. I've had mine for a couple of years.  I bring it in for the winter and the rest of the year it spends on back deck.  I don't do much with it other than try to remember to water it.  Although it'll probably die off now that I've talked about it....
  • alindsay22
    alindsay22 Posts: 129 ✭✭✭
    edited October 2018
    Are the people who are successful in a humid or dry climate?  I'm in Northern CA and I think it's just too cool - and I have lots of clay soil - but even in beds it's not done great.
  • Cherlynn
    Cherlynn Posts: 169 ✭✭✭
    edited October 2018
    I am on the open prairie so dry most of the time.  I like herbs because they are not fussy.  They don't demand to be feed or watered.  I water whenever I think about it usually once a week but this years drought we couldn't water by regulation and they all did just fine.  Not fussy at all.  Now they are inside where I can notice droopy leaves and water them.  In the Spring time I throw a little compost on all the beds that is all they get toward feeding. I quit harvesting because my baby girl wanted my dehydrator and is finally done with it.  So I can get back to dehydrating stuff.  The basil I pulled before our first freeze dried nicely in the bucket I parked it in.  Got plenty of seed and basil.  First time I ever let it go like that but rather enjoyed getting seed and baby plants out of the deal.
  • peppypoblano
    peppypoblano Posts: 92
    edited October 2018
    We're in zone 7.  Usually hot and humid.
  • H_D
    H_D Posts: 384 ✭✭✭
    edited October 2018
    its not so much that basil doesnt like water at the roots, it likes proper drainage and oxygenation. my hydroponic basil roots were constantly in water, moving water though not standing water without oxygenation. It was simply the largest and tastiest basil I have ever grown :)

    Heather
  • AmyWhitney
    AmyWhitney Posts: 5
    edited November 2018
    Where I live (north of Atlanta, GA), some of the basils get a disease called Basil Downy Mildew. The usual green basils (Genovese, Sweet, Lettuce-Leaf, etc) get this the worst. They look ok for a few weeks, but then they start looking puny - kind of thin and yellowed, and the backs of the leaves get a slight purplish tint.

    I have better luck in my (hot, humid, rainy) garden with Red Rubin Basil - a kind that is resistant to that disease but still tastes like basil. I already bought seeds for a Thai Basil to try next year, alongside the Red Rubin, because I've read it also can stand up to the Basil Downy Mildew.

    Could your plants also be having a disease problem, like mine? Maybe some different basils would do better in your yard.

    Seed-catalog season is nearly here, so this may be a good time to look into other varieties, if you think that might help.

    Hope your basil does better next year!

    -Amy