Basil Plant

[suziquzie]

boy i sure dont know much.... I think it just looks a little stressed.... I know it likes to be kept moist and not go wet dry wet dry........
cut the brown one off and see what happens. the leaves at the bottom look happy enough.....

 

[sattie]

Hey Deelady... I think your plant is fine... looks a bit heat stressed. Cut what you have off and leave 2 inches of stem and just a couple of leaves. When the plant grows back, the new stems will be soft. Water the plant every day. Also, your rosemary needs water as well. Drench it each morning or evening. Not sure what the weather is like where you are at, but if it is above 85 degrees on a consistent basis, be sure to at least check to see if the soil is moist.

Rosemary likes lots of water too.

 

[sattie]

Yea... like suzie said!!

 

[suziquzie]

basil queen!!!!

 

[deelady]

Ok I'll try to cut it and see what happens, I try to water them all nightly right after the sun goes down give or take a night here and there but for the most part I'm pretty good at remembering. I know I read somewhere thyme and rosemary don't need as much water so I just water them enought o moisten the soil but not flood it. It has been in the high 80's consistently so I'm sure thats part of the problem....
Are you sure it was my rosemary that looked dry to you ? because I thought that one looked the best condition......
So the basil I do cut off is not harvestable right?

 

[deelady]

tomatoes is my venture next year!!

 

[sattie]

Hey deelady... the coloring maybe off on one of the photos, but the one on the left (rosemary) looked like it could use some water (Ok, was that Rosemary?) If not, don't mind me!!!! The other one looks great. I planted my rosemary in the ground and it does good. But they do need more water. Specially if they are containerized.

As for your basil... yes, you can use what you cut off. I am guessing that your stems may be a little tough, but you can pinch of the leaves from each stem and use them for whatever you wish.

My basil plants look alot like suziquzie's, but I think mine might be a bit bushier because of chopping them down. It is almost an indistructable plant. Have no fear!!! Basil Queens are here!

 

[sattie]

Hey.... my bad, I see that it is thyme!!!! I took some pics... just gotta get DH to load them for me.

 

[deelady]

Thanks Sattie, you guys def are the basil queens! Will be waiting on the pics so tell DH to shake a tail feather!! J/k

 

[sattie]

Sorry, took me forever to get the pics loaded.

First pic is plant 3 which has not been harvested yet...

Next plant has been harvested and has already come back...

This plant I just harvested about 2 weeks ago...

And here is my rosemary bush.... every things looks so green cuz of the 4 inches of rain we got!

 

[Robo410]

use your pesto in a vinaigrette and pour over warm sliced new potatoes! awesome

 

[deelady]

wow Satie! I am jealous those look so nice! What are the other plants on the table? And other than mother nature how do you assure your basil to get a nice green color? That first pic is a beauty! thanks for sharing!

 

[deelady]

sounds like a great idea Robo but I have to first see if I can scroung up enough basil to even make a pesto!

 

[sattie]

Hey Deelady... I replanted all of them into bigger pots, used some of my compost in the bottom of the pot and add just a bit of organic tomato and pepper fertilizer. Not much tho, it is too strong for basil.

The other plants is a cayenne pepper and a jalapeno plant on it's second year. I wintered them in the house. There is a 4 year old lemon tree I started from seed. And the biggest plant is a tomato. It fell over last Thursday when the storms came in and the bottom branches broke off, along with any possible tomatoes. So I'm hoping what is left will fruit.

I think the biggest key is keeping them fertilized. Specially tomato plants that are in containers. Next year, I'm going to get a bigger pot for my tomato plant. The one I'm using is not quite big enough to nourish the fast growing nature of these plants.

Honestly... I stink when it comes to the green thumb... so I really lucked out this year!

 

[YT2095]

I feed mine ammonium nitrate soln once a week, it`s in a 2x2x2 inch pot on the kitchen windowsill and gets watered from the bottom once a day, but each week I add a Teaspoon of concentrated AN soln to the water.
this works quite well whilst it`s in season, and then towards the end of the season I`ll use potassium nitrate to encourage healthy seed growth ready for next years crop

 

[GotGarlic]

Hey Deelady... I replanted all of them into bigger pots, used some of my compost in the bottom of the pot and add just a bit of organic tomato and pepper fertilizer. Not much tho, it is too strong for basil.

The other plants is a cayenne pepper and a jalapeno plant on it's second year. I wintered them in the house. There is a 4 year old lemon tree I started from seed. And the biggest plant is a tomato. It fell over last Thursday when the storms came in and the bottom branches broke off, along with any possible tomatoes. So I'm hoping what is left will fruit.

I think the biggest key is keeping them fertilized. Specially tomato plants that are in containers. Next year, I'm going to get a bigger pot for my tomato plant. The one I'm using is not quite big enough to nourish the fast growing nature of these plants.

Honestly... I stink when it comes to the green thumb... so I really lucked out this year!

I'm just curious - you seem to have a big yard, so why are you putting these plants in containers? They would do much better in the ground.

Here's a shot of my garden from a couple of weeks ago. There's basil in front of and behind the marigolds, roma tomatoes on the right in the back, heirloom tomatoes on both sides, and a pimento pepper in the lower left. And lots more that doesn't show here.

 

[DramaQueen]

use your pesto in a vinaigrette and pour over warm sliced new potatoes! awesome

Of all the things I use basil and basil pesto for, I never thought about using it in a vinagrette and pouring over sliced potatoes. What a great idea!!! Come to think of it, you can pour this over a plate of sliced tomatoes, red onion, and capers.

 

[DramaQueen]

Hey Deelady... I replanted all of them into bigger pots, used some of my compost in the bottom of the pot and add just a bit of organic tomato and pepper fertilizer. Not much tho, it is too strong for basil.

The other plants is a cayenne pepper and a jalapeno plant on it's second year. I wintered them in the house. There is a 4 year old lemon tree I started from seed. And the biggest plant is a tomato. It fell over last Thursday when the storms came in and the bottom branches broke off, along with any possible tomatoes. So I'm hoping what is left will fruit.

I think the biggest key is keeping them fertilized. Specially tomato plants that are in containers. Next year, I'm going to get a bigger pot for my tomato plant. The one I'm using is not quite big enough to nourish the fast growing nature of these plants.

Honestly... I stink when it comes to the green thumb... so I really lucked out this year!

I was growing basil that was bland and had no aroma for a couple of years. I got several books on container gardening with herbs and all of them state that if you fertilize basil you will lose the aroma and the pungent flavor. They were right. I never fertilize my basil anymore and it is so much better. When I touch it I can smell it without getting close. I just use a good quality potting soil and I'm assuming there is a plant food in the soil already so no more is needed.

 

[sattie]

Maybe it was the type of fertilizer you were using... the basil I have has not lost any flavor or aroma... it smells great. But as stated before, I use very little of it. And it is not used on a regular basis.

GG... I tried putting stuff in the ground last year and it got eaten up by bugs and everything else. I know plants do better in the ground, Containerizing just works better for me at the moment.

 

[deelady]

that was one thing I could at least say about my basil it did have a great aroma! Its just never reached a bright green that I expected. I only used miricle grow soil that has fertilizer in it already. Eventually I would like to grow in ground as well but I need to prep an area first (GG I would be in heaven if it looked like yours!!)
Sattie you may think you don't have a green thumb but you def give great tips!!
Thanks!

YT0295....sorry but everything you said sky rocketed over my head!