Those who know me know that my fingers aren’t very green. I think it’s safe to say that I’ve neglected a large number of plants over the years and my gardening skills are limited to hacking at the grass with a mower or a strimmer. In an effort to cultivate my, err, love of botany SWMBO bought me a herb garden for Christmas last year.
Sometimes I even remember to water the plants and generally they ‘re doing suprisingly well. Apart from the Basil. I’m already on my second plant and this one doesn’t look like it’s long for this world. The leaves are looking somewhat dessicated. If I can get my act together I’ll take a photo and post it up here.
In my defence I think we’ve got creepy crawlies in our garden. Not only that but they really like the leaves and are doing their best to eat them all as quickly as possible. Meanwhile my tomato and prawn risotto is missing that certain je ne sais quoi. Does anyone have any suggestions? Other than telling me to buy basil in the supermarket of course.
Gardeners Question Time.
The trick to Basil is to water it from the base, soak your plant in a tray of water whenever the top soil feels dry, which I would guess is daily in your climate. You must then remove it from the water. When watered from above, the water runs straight through, or worse still pools at the bottom of the roots and rots them.
I hope this helps!