Do any of you have basil plants that you keep at home? I do! It is really great. I just use a few leaves when I'm making pasta, since it's a great flavor booster. If I find that it's growing at a speed that I can't keep up with, I'll take some of the leaves and freeze them so later use. Since I live in an apartment with no balcony, I just keep the plant inside where the window is. I'll water it when I feel like it's been a while or if I notice that it's extremely dry. Sometimes, I just place a handful of ice cubes on top of the soil to melt. I don't know if that's OK - is that ice melting OK to water the plant? I assume that water is water, whether it's cold or hot or room temperature, but please let me know if this is a bad idea. I would love to venture out and try more plants or herbs, but I just don't have the room for them unless I want to crowd my whole window space.
I don't have basil plants, but now I want one! I do have some rosemary and fresh thyme. I love growing herbs, but my water bill is so high right now. So now I swap with my family. They grow a few plants and I grow others then we swap each year.
I bought a basil plant in a pot from LIDL and it's really taken off since I planted it in a bigger pot. I love the smell of basil on the terrace, and I often put a few leaves on a cheese or salad sandwich for added flavour. I wouldn't be without my basil plant now - in fact I wonder how I ever managed without it.
I have had basil growing on my kitchen window sill for several years now. It is propbably the easiest herb to grow and the one that I use in cooking the most out of all the ones I have. I have never tried using an ice cube to water them with. I have heard of people doing this to water their orchids before. The ice melts and waters the plants more slowly and prevents overwatering. I would guess that it would be ok for basil as well.
I'm not sure why you would want to put ice cubes on your basil plant, particularly since it has to be protected in winter and ice melts gradually, but in a short time. It's not as if it would help keep the plant moist. I don't know that doing that will hurt it, but you're better off giving it a good watering. I have two kinds of basil and I recently planted another.
I have basil, thyme, mint, Cilantro, rosemary all growing in my kitchen window sill. I just water them each morning as i cut fresh leaves for my cooking. Hers are the easiest to grow and are really useful. I also have a curry leaf bush and a ramba plant which I love to use when I cook any kind of meat or fish. I also love to use lemon leaves to change the flavor of my curries. I love experimenting. Once in a while I also have a crop of feenugreek growing in small icecream tubs which I use in my cooking. If I had more space I would definitely grow more.
Growing herbs is fairly easy. And I love using fresh herbs when cooking. I too have basil, thyme, mint, parsley and rosemary. I find basil the easiest to care for. I probably wouldn't use ice cubes because that's just way too cold, watering doesn't take too long anyway.
I grew basil this year and it grew to be around 5 feet tall. I love it and will grow basil every year. Next year I would like to try to grow a couple of different varieties. A little goes a long way.
Five feet tall?! That is nearly as tall as I am! Do you have any tips? Mine is just sitting by the window sill but it's not dying. It's actually doing quite well, even though the weather is getting cooler. It stays inside, always next to the window and I water it (or drop a few ice cubes in) every so often when I notice the soil is getting a little dry.
Some varieties are tall, but most don't grow very tall. Basil in pots are generally stunted. As long as they are bushy and nice they are fine, if not trim the branches. Why would you want your basil to grow tall if it is on your window sill? My basil plant is on the window sill too and it is nice and healthy. It is such a joy to see fresh healthy looking plants.
I agree with you - seeing my basil plant, even if it is very small, is really a nice touch to my apartment. I've never been a plant person, but I think it was because I was allergic to many flowers (pollen). But, the basil brings the nature inside - and it's even better because it actually is useful. I don't have to go out and buy basil - which is something I use frequently.
I must get with the program and grow my own herbs since I buy the dried herbs all the time. I know it's not as good and fresh as the ones that you grow yourself and I love to see plants grow. I don't have a green thumb but since you guys say they are easy to grow, I will try them and see what happens. It seems as though, I can't grow anything and I don't know maybe I just love on them to much, if that's at all possible.
I've always wanted to grow my own basil as well as other herbs, but my apartment doesn't get enough natural light in it, especially in the fall/winter months. Thankfully I live near a really great farmers market though that sells huge bags of it for only $2. That's a real bargain because they want like $4 for a tiny pack of like 3 or 4 leaves at our local grocery stores.
I just grew a bunch of basil plants from the herbs from the stems after using the leaves. I thought it would be a great idea to gift it to someone after reading this thread. My little plants are looking good and ready to be gifted.
That's great Maddie, I've never been able to do that with herbs. I've only been successful growing basil from seed, and usually I just wait until it flowers and then clip the seeds and lay them in the pot atop the soil to do their own thing. It's time to start some more new plants now!
Chanell, I have always grown basil from seeds.. in fact the invade all my containers like weeds.. a few weeks ago I cut out some of those and left the stems in water.. I was glad to see some roots develop and now I have a few nice looking containers of basil ready to be gifted; in fact this week end i exchanged one of my nice little containers for a cutting of lovely geranium .. I don't have this shade of mauve and I am hoping that this one will flourish
I grew my basil from seeds too. It was an impulse buy. They had the summer flip flops and coolers set up at the supermarket last year and there was a small shelf full of what looked like soda cans. The soda cans had a picture of basil and parsley on them and they said "Can O Herbs". Supposedly if you popped open the can ,you could grow some herbs. My daughter and I chuckled at how silly it was and kept walking. But a few weeks later, they were on clearance for 50 cents, so I said "Okay, I'll try a Can O Herbs." We got it home and popped the top off and it contained a seed packet of basil and parsley, some vermiculite or what ever that potting medium is called and you're supposed to plant them in the container. So we planted it and we soon got some sprouts which turned out to be the basil. Even though the parsley never grew, the Plant O' Basil is still with us and it's over a foot tall. I guess investing 50 cents in that ridiculous novelty product paid off. I have other herbs but the basil makes me smile because it came out of that silly can.
I just collected a bucket full of basil and decided to share it with my neighbors since I don't care too much for dried herbs. My plants grew to about three feet and I had to trim and prune the out a lot. This is the first time I have had so much of Italian basil that I am getting a little sick of it.
That is a great story! I have some basil seeds I got out of a box of Triscuits, lol. I didn't plant them last year because I had so much basil growing already. Now that I want more basil, I can't find the seeds! I just put a few seeds in the pot the lemon basil is in and the Thai basil is doing it's own thing (really have to control that one). I want to get a long trench-like container to put next to the house for aromatic herbs that deter insects. The pipe that removes water for the central air unit drips onto the ground keeping the area damp and it's too much trouble trying to collect the water and recycle it in the garden so I think water loving plants that can fend off mosquitoes and such would be the ideal solution.
