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Any tips for growing basil (indoors)

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  • Thank you. That’s very useful. 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Good luck - and it's worth sowing a succession of seed too. It will depend on how much you use, but if you do some new sowings every few weeks, you'll have a good supply  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • PlashingPlashing Posts: 328
    I sow mine on compost in a five inch pot then place a poly bag over the pot in the greenhouse in march and it grows very well, if it gets to warm I take the bag of and put it back on  at night, I have found that the lemon basil seems to grow better than some of the other ones.
  • Thank you. I’m going to try the lemon basil. 
  • I've still got a pot of Basil on the kitchen windowsill which I've had for 17 months now! Probably this indicates that I don't think of using the leaves often enough. It originally came from a well-known supermarket, and I put in a larger pot.

    Once they flower, then tend to deteriorate, and it surprises me that this pot-full has kept going. I've removed (and eaten) most of the flowers, but not all of them, and it's also produced seed - doesn't take long after flowering that the flower-remains dry up, and you can probably see 2 or 3 large black seeds per flower, so very easy to collect them.

    I sowed some in the autumn, but they haven't thrived over winter (too cold, no doubt, even though the adult plants have kept going). I'll sow some more once spring warms up.

    Watering: I very much agree that the "how often?" question cannot have a precise answer. You have to learn. If it's cold and humid, then will stay wet for ages (and you can guess the opposite conditions). It won't die due to occasional water shortage, so just wait until it maybe wilts, or the soil is obviously dry. Or if you want to be 'techy', then why not weigh it (wet and dry), then you'll know how fast the water is disappearing, and when it reaches the 'dry' weight again.
  • Thanks. I’m probably overwatering then. 
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