Growing herbs indoors is super easy and you can do it too!
As you know, there are many varieties and hybrids of basil, none more sought after than the Greek or sweet basil, everyone loves pesto right!?
Dark Opal – Perfect for salads, quite peppery.
Holy – Great for cleansing water, will remove excess fluoride in tap water!
Lemon – Stir fry dishes, deserts and cocktails.
Greek – Everyone’s favourite Pesto
Sweet – Bruschetta, salads and Pesto
Dwarf – Can be used in all culinary dishes but generally as a garnish.
Thai – Thai dishes cocktails and desserts
Basil seeds germinate very easily, the key for fast germination is a fairly moistened soil/grow medium, temperature and humidity.
TEMP – 23-27c
RH % - 72-100%
Types of basil seed planting.
Single seed: to be trained into a single mother plant for further cuttings or to keep vegetating as an ornamental bush.
Mass propagation: layering a carpet of seed over the growing medium to create a micro-green effect.
As the basil seed starts to germinate, a layer of mucilage forms around the seed shell, soon after the tap root breaks the medium the cotyledons will appear about 12-24 hours later, keep in humid conditions for approx. 1-2 weeks after the seedling has germinated.
Feeding tips:
For leafy green production. Purchase a base nutrient that favours a higher amount of Nitrogen, Magnesium and Iron.
For flower production. Use a base nutrient that has a much lower concentration of Nitrogen and a higher amount of Phosphorus and Potassium.
Growing Basil is actually quite simple and is probably the easiest plant to practice your gardening skills on, give it a go next time you’re in the garden!
