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I bought some basil already potted from Whole Foods. Set it by a bright, sunny window in my kitchen. I watered it by putting water in a bowl and putting the plant in the bowl. Waited for it to dry up before repeating. The leaves are turning brown and wilting. What did I do wrong?
Are there herbs that are made for growing inside? Any particular ones that are just too difficult? What tips/advice would you give for inside herbs? Thanks!!
I bought some basil already potted from Whole Foods. Set it by a bright, sunny window in my kitchen. I watered it by putting water in a bowl and putting the plant in the bowl. Waited for it to dry up before repeating. The leaves are turning brown and wilting. What did I do wrong?
Are there herbs that are made for growing inside? Any particular ones that are just too difficult? What tips/advice would you give for inside herbs? Thanks!!
Do not put water in a bowl you are rotting out the roots
just place plant in a pot with a dish underneath it and water it once a week or if the dirt is to dry
Location: where the moss is taking over the villages
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I'm guessing it's okay to let it dry out (not sure the water bowl idea is good or bad as long as it isn't over watered). Maybe just move it away from the window at night & keep it in your bedroom which is probably the warmest room at night? I'm not sure basil really likes to be inside.
Maybe repotting it in a larger pot would help it keep warmer. Not sure. I'm not a winner with the basil yet either. Just passing along impressions: sorry.
This year I just popped the basil plants in with the tomato plant pots (I read they were good companion plants) & they did a bit better than usual: they lasted until November. I have plastic sheets around the potted tomatoes right now - outside.
Anyway, the basil plants were in huge pots outside & not alone. I've been using diluted fish emulsion in the waterings, letting the pots pretty much dry out but not to the wilting stage. A month after getting them, the basils never look as good as they did new... *sad smiley*
I love basil leaves with moist mozzarella & sliced tomato. On toasted bread: heavenly.
PS: Rosemary & mints seem to thrive. Even the deer leave them alone. Sometimes the sage plants survive under my care, also. I think mint will grow ANYWHERE.
Last edited by sarahkate_m; 11-06-2009 at 06:08 PM..
dulce and sara has good advised, mine basal is doing fine on the south facing window. I would grow herb that i use, not because it ability to survived.
Location: somewhere close to Tampa, but closer to the beach
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Skatergirl,
The easiest herbs to grow include: Oregano, Rosemary, Bay leaf (a tree which can be kept as a small shrub in a container),and Sage. All of these are pretty tough and are perennial..meaning they will stick around when the basil throws a drama queen style fit and dies out...the worst drama queen of the herbs in my opinion is Cilantro..love the stuff but boy is this one complex..
I can't tell you how many people used to come into the nursery i was working at complaining about their cilantro plants..we had enough trouble just getting it placed in a spot in the herb displays where it would live..and they said it was an easy grower..lol
As for Basil, when ive grown it, i usually had it in a spot where i got filtered light..where it was warm but not hot enough to cook it.. in a spot which stayed moist but not wet..Also, keep any flowers snipped off..this will lengthen it's life span..
As for mint, spearmint, or peppermint, keep these contained as they will spread like wild fire if planted in a flower bed..
I bought some basil already potted from Whole Foods. Set it by a bright, sunny window in my kitchen. I watered it by putting water in a bowl and putting the plant in the bowl. Waited for it to dry up before repeating. The leaves are turning brown and wilting. What did I do wrong?
Are there herbs that are made for growing inside? Any particular ones that are just too difficult? What tips/advice would you give for inside herbs? Thanks!!
I'm new at gardening but basil in my apartment years ago was my first attempt. Here's what I observed. First of all it's an annual plant, and will only last so long no matter what you do. If your plant was exposed to killer frost conditions or chilled at the store, it might have gotten the signal to croak. How's that for laymens terms? LOL You might be better off just starting it from seed indoors early spring and satisfying yourself with that. What variety might also be a neat experiment.
Globe/ genovese basil thrives like crazy in full sun right along with tomatoes. I usually would start mine in a large container outside, and when it would start getting woody stem stage (thats near the end of its life) I'd take it indoors where full sun was available and prolong it's life until as late as december in NY. I attribute this to radiant floor heating fooling it into thinking summer was very long, but the ruse could only last as long as strong sun were available. The closer to winter solstice we got, the more it withered to oblivion. The timing with your current plant might be off.
The only 2 times I've had a complete failure to thrive was when some odd bug was laying tiny black eggs underneath the leaves on everything I had outdoors. Spraying them with diluted soap might have been too late because they never did bounce back. The other time was starting them with a packet of expired seed. They just wouldn't get up and go like the starter plants I get from nurseries did.
This year in WV I planted outdoors 4 different varieties of basil, and I regret not having kept at least one of them in a container for the winter. Cinnamon basil was very hearty even in extreme heat its leaves didn't wither. It grows in a tight round ball, with leaves smaller than a pinky tip. It's still hanging around at this late date outdoors, the end stage for it has exceeded all other varieties. It's smaller leaves aren't conducive to whole leaf recipes, but it's got a nice flavor.
The ruby basil was a sleeper all along and never seemed to thrive. The flavor doesn't stand out in my mind. It was more showy in color than anything else IMO. 2 globe basils were along the southern edge of the garden and got over 3 ft tall. Like pole beans, the more I'd harvest, the more readily it would grow, and pinching off those flowery buds prevents it from going to seed. I gave it plenty of room and used miracle gro organic garden soil mixed in with clay soil if that's any help.
Thai basil is both a beautiful ornamental as well as super sweet basil flavor. The aroma in the garden is wonderful, but it paled in comparison to a new variety I found- blue spruce basil. The scent this plant gave off made you think flowers were blooming all around you whenever you'd walk by it (even in midday heat), and it's flavor was even sweeter than thai basil. Next year I'm getting more, and doing the container method. I liked it with tomatoes caprese (which usually is prepared with genovese basil). I'm also wondering if it will smell as great in the house as it does outside, or if it depends on strong sunshine & heat to thrive the way my first basil did.
Other more forgiving indoor herbs are chives, wheat grass, sprouts, oregano is doing pretty OK indoors but as a perennial I have a backup outside version wintering over, spearmint/peppermint/ applemint (I was undecided to let them out of their containers after hearing my friend cussing how invasive they were for years hahahaa), and lemon grass has surprisingly turned out to be a champ indoors. Lavender is nice but it's evergreen so I planted it outdoors. It works indoors too but I killed one that way last year- not certain what went wrong. Maybe it likes 4 seasons, but likely the water drainage wasn't right. Lavender and thyme both like dry feet so pea gravel in the bottom of the pot should help you out. I didn't have that set up- it was still in it's peat pot when I killed it.
My biggest problem with all of them is keeping a spirited male kitten from chomping them. I grew his very own cat grass, peppered it with catnip, and he snubbed it. He prefers swatting the chives, chewing the lemon grass, rub against/ knock over the cardamom, and scaling my braided money tree as if it were an oak. Sometimes I look at him and wonder if his little cat brain sees his own private amazon jungle adventure. He appears to enjoy plants as much as I do.
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Any suggestions?
