Crops · Pillar

Basil Cultivation

Basil is a heat-loving annual. A drop to 8 °C leaves it in mourning.

1 min read

If the supermarket basil dies on you in three days, it's not you: it's the cold hallway and the waterlogged root ball in the blister.

Transplanting

Separate the supermarket bunch into 2-3 plants. Pot size 5-7 L, coco-perlite, sunlight. Do not leave it on the windowsill below 12 °C.

Cut above a couple of leaves before it flowers. More branches, more pesto. The flower is edible, but it's for the leaves.

Black leaves: cold or sunburn with wet leaves. Aphids in the greenhouse. Water when the surface dries a bit.

Pot size 5-7 L and well-draining substrate. Basil does not want a full plate or air conditioning drafts.

Perennial?

In practice, annual. In a warm indoor environment, it sometimes lasts, but loses quality.

Next to tomatoes?

Good company on the plate and in the bed, as long as the tomato doesn't completely overshadow it.

Seed or seedling?

Both. Seed in a warm seedbed; seedling if you're late to May.

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