Glossy Basil

The basil is taking off in the garden.  I will never grow just one plant ever again (I've got 4 so far with 2 seedlings in the works).

Stay sweet,

Christine

Back to Basics

Although January 7th is about 3-4 months before zone 6-7's last frost date, some plants can be started whenever you'd like. I've decided to start a crop of basil indoors now. I can transplant it all to the garden in May or continue to grow it indoors.

I'll be tracking the growth of the basil from planting to germination to centimeters high. Hopefully other container gardeners will find this information helpful.

So here we are: Jan 7th, 2013 at 1 pm. Approximately 8-10 basil seeds have been planted in a 9 cm tall, 12 cm wide pott with Miracle grow potting soil and about 4 tbsp of water.

Caprese Salad!

This caprese salad brought to you by:

• 1 garden-fresh tomato, 
• 1 handful of sweet basil leaves, 
• 1 wedge of fresh mozzarella from Giant Food, 
• 1 sprinkle of sea salt, 
• 1 drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

1. Cut up and combine.
2. Try not to eat the entire plate in 3 bites.

If you've got balsamic vinegar it can be nice to add a little to the mozzarella for a kick.  I love how fresh tomatoes are so rich inside that they're practically purple.  If I get a few more tomatoes I'll post a goat cheese bruchetta recipe.  

Happy October!

Christine

Seeing Red

!!!

The first tomatoes are almost ready!  They're very nearly perfect.  You may notice that the one on the left has some brown cracks near the stem.  That can happen when you over-prune the plant and cut back the leaves that protect the fruit from sunlight.  Oops.  It's harmless, just ugly.

I've already decided what I'm going to use the fruit for-  caprese salad!

From Egg Carton to Pot

Ready to re-pot as of a week ago, to be honest.

Remember my fantastic tutorial on egg carton gardening?  Well, all three types of seeds sprouted.  The cilantro grew fast and furiously, overcrowding and killing off several stalks, despite the fact that I only put one seed per segment.  Two of the three basil seeds sprouted healthy plants, although one took off for absolutely no reason.  Two of the three serrano chilies sprouted, one section sprouting three plants. 

You can tell it's time to re-pot your plants when any of the following occur:

• Your plant reaches a height that is wider than its container
• The roots of your plant attempt to get out of the bottom of the container either by cracking it or finding a hole to crawl out of
• Your plant, after happily growing for a few weeks stops growing abruptly
• Leaves from one plant begin to cover leaves from another plant
• Your plant suddenly wilts over, depressed with his current living situation

All of the above happened for me (sorry, plants) and it was high time to re-pot.

Houston.. we have sprouts!

Whoaaa

Against all odds, the cilantro, basil, AND serrano chilis have sprouted (far right column).  That packet of seeds traveled all over the world, lived on a bookcase for 2 years, then the bottom of a box for 2, and finally... sprouted.  In fact, they've actually sprouted more little shoots than the basil has. 

In other news, I am sad to say RIP to my original basil, parsley, and rosemary plants.  Some sort of bacteria/fungus took them over.  I'm in the middle of moving, so I kind of didn't treat them until it was too late.  Plus side: I've got new basil on the way!

Progress Report

Tomatoes!

Everything's growing here in Apartment 434! The tomatoes are shooting off like crazy, although one is growing a bit more than the other (who knows why).  I just plucked off the lowest leaves today to reduce the risk of leaf fungus.

Cukes!

Of the craigslist plants, the cucumbers have grown the most in the past week.  It's a good thing we're moving soon or else all these plants would outgrow their plants and need to be repotted.

Baby Basil!

Look what's growing now! The winner of the basil-cilantro-chili race is basil, with a lead of 1 plant.  It looks like the cilantro will be coming up next.  No sign of the chilies (color me unsurprised), but it's too early to say whether or not they'll ever grow. 

Hope you are all growing well!

Christine

Egg Carton Gardening

 

The Supplies

For a basic egg carton garden you will need:

• 1 egg carton (paper works better than styrofoam)
• potting/starter soil
• seeds
• 1 plastic spoon
• 1 sharpie
• scissors

Before starting, decide how many plants you want to sprout.  I decided on 9: 3 sweet basil, 3 cilantro, 3 serrano chilies.  I've never tried growing any of these plants from seed, so I have no idea how successful I'll be.  I'm betting the cilantro will come out the best, since I've purchased Burpee seeds before.  The basil comes from a "Welcome to PNC Bank!" type goodie bag we found in front of our apartment one day.  The chilies.. well.. the chilies came from a restaurant in London called Wahaca.

Great marketing

It was one of my first trips to London, so I was still in my "everything is British and therefore awesome" phase, and thus collected matchbooks and business cards wherever I went.  I thought that this was a match book- it's most certainly not.  That was about 4 years ago.  I just found the seed book (like a match book, of seeds!) at the bottom of a box in the closet and thought... why not?

Anyway, back to the task at hand!  Cut the egg carton to the right size and label the top of each row with the sharpie.  Growing in a row guarantees that you don't mix up your plants if you're sprouting a few varieties (been there, done that).

Gently spoon the soil into each section of the carton.  Once each section is full, I like to add about a teaspoon of water to pre-moisten the soil.   Then, use the back of the spoon to dig a little spot for 1-2 seeds in each section about 1/4 inch deep.  Use the spoon to cover it back up and voila, you have a mini garden ready to sprout.

Plastic spoons are great for apartment gardening when you don't want to make a huge mess

Be sure to keep the tray in a warm place (sun unnecessary) and water enough to moisten the soil every other day as needed.  Once the seeds sprout, keep them in the sun as much as possible.  The best part about using a egg crate is that, when the seedlings grow too big for their spots in the carton, all you have to do to remove them is scoop the entire ball of soil out with a spoon (I heart spoons) and transplant into a larger pot.

The Final Product (for now)

 So that's how you plant an egg carton garden.  I only put one seed in each section, so we'll see how this turns out.  I'm thinking that all three cilantro will sprout, 2-3 basil, and maybe one sickly chili.  Time will tell!

Happy Apartment Farming!

Christine

Beautiful Basil

 

This is my sweet basil plant.  I didn't grow this bad boy from seeds, though that's one of my next sprouting adventures.  I got this plant about 6 months ago from a nearby Giant Food grocery store. It comes from Shenandoah Growers, a regional grower that I've had a lot of success with lately (well, except for a mint plant- but more on that later). 

Basil is relatively low maintenance, though it does prefer regular watering.  I use plastic pots I get from Walmart (they water from the bottom) and Miracle Grow potting soil.

 

Mmmm. Soil. 

To use the basil, just pull of the leaves from the top whenever you need them.  Great for pretty much any Italian dish ever: lasagne, caprese, bruchetta, pesto.  You name it, add basil. It's a good idea to pull off the top leaves from time to time regardless as a way to prune your basil. 

And how much did this all cost me?

• Basil Plant: $3.99
• Plastic Pot: $2.00
• Potting mix: $6.00 for the whole bag, approx $0.01 for this plant

 Total: $5.00

The best part is that just a handful of basil leaves cost anywhere from $5-10 in the grocery store.  Win to the win, baby!