Overview
Basil is an easy herb to grow, and does well on a warm, sunny window sill. After about five weeks, the seeds will be ready for pricking out. You can keep basil plants indoors all summer, or transplant them outside in late-May.
Do it:
March - June
At its best:
May - September
Takes just:
ten minutes to sow the seeds
How to do it
-
Fill each pot with compost, water it with tap water and leave to drain. Don't use rainwater from a butt as it may contain bacteria, which can cause damping-off disease. -
Place the seeds on the surface of the damp compost, spacing them evenly. Take your time, as this can be a fiddly job. Then sprinkle a thin, even layer of fine compost over the seeds, ensuring they're not disturbed. -
Cover each pot with clingfilm - turns them into mini-propagators, that keep the compost damp, aiding germination. -
Label the pots and place them on a window sill in plenty of light. Aim to keep the room at
21°-25°C while the seeds germinate. -
After about five weeks, remove the rootball from the pot and gently separate each plant with a pencil. -
In a new pot containing multi-purpose compost, make planting holes with your pencil. Then, holding each seedling by its leaves, gently tease the roots into the planting hole. Firm the soil around each plant and water.
Comments and rating
Overall rating (from 11 ratings):
5 out of 5
Brilliant, step by step for us beginners. Thanks
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5 out of 5
thanx very much
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5 out of 5
Brilliant! I've germinated 6 varieties and they're all doing well. Thank you.
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I'm pretty much a COMPLETE beginner with gardening, and I think this is a brilliant guide. I've just planted my basil, with plans to do parsley in the same way if this goes well.
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5 out of 5
when do i start to prick out the leaves to bush up my basil plants, as they tend to grow talk and spindly?
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5 out of 5
4 out of 5
Very helpful as I have brought today both Basil and Coriander seeds and will be heading to the greenhouse tomorrow to plant the seeds with the help of my three year old budding gardner grandaughter. Just one question though how do I make the plants bush out?
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5 out of 5
cagneybuff rates this excellent video for novice would like to have seen care during growing period.
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5 out of 5
i've been looking for this type of info for quite a long time; great post having in mind the beginners ...like me...who really have no clues ...
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5 out of 5
As with everything Joe does, detailed enough for the beginner but not patronising to the more experienced. MORE JOE ON GW PLEASE!
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Hi, could someone help me i dont get much sunlight in my windowsill and i am wondering will my basil still germinate??
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5 out of 5
Great video, one of the best.
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Please help me somebody! I've been trying for 2 months to view the video's but am having no luck. The BBC are no help, I've emailed them twice as they've told me to do but that was five weeks ago - still no reply! I've downloaded and removed Adobe 6 times, what am I doing wrong - please help?
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Re mintymo's problem with the viewing of video content from BBC. Upgrade to the latest version of adobe flashplayer (right click the video and select about adobe flashplayer). Should be version 10 If you still can't view the video right click the video again and select global settings. On the displayed page click "Global Storage Settings panel" on the right hand menu. On the setting panel click the second tab and place a check mark in the second checkbox (Allow third party content...)
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daphnejones rated this article
29 January 2009
5 out of 5
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