So we know I can grow orchids…
Sigh… I love them!
But orchids are all I’ve been able to grow thus far in life…. until now!
Hi! Waspy Redhead, burgeoning horticultural genius. Nice to meet you.
As an Earth Day present to myself/completely conspicuous consumption moment of weakness at Target I picked up this adorable seed kit.
Is that not the most precious little thing ever?
The kit contained a packet of basil seeds, a soil pellet that when mixed with water grew like 10 times in size, a mini pot, and a recycled plastic “green house”
I decided to set it up at work because I didn’t have a plant in my office, and it seemed like a fun diversion at the time.
After a week tiny basil buds were already starting to poke through the soil!
Sorry for the poor photo quality, these are all taken with my iphone.
This was taken after 3 weeks.
The leaves still were very small and delicate, and I’ll be honest I was concerned that this wasn’t actually a basil plant. It just didn’t look like what I thought it would I guess. Luckily, the three week mark is right around when it started smelling aromatic and definitively basily.
My basil plant’s one month birthday!
Now a second row of leaves has come in on each bud. The new leaves are more characteristic of a basil plant, and a darker shade of green. It still smells very basily. I think we’re getting somewhere folks! Pretty soon it will be time to re-pot into a full sized growing container, I’m toying with the idea of moving it out onto the porch outside my office. Yes, I’m blessed to have a second story office with a wrap around porch and french doors that open onto it. Do you need a minute to process that? It’s ok if you do. Take some cleansing breaths if you need to, I’ll still be here.
Moving on…I do get lots of birdie visitors though, and I’m afraid they’ll eat my basil. Do birds eat basil? Do you have any advice for the re-potting process? The packaging didn’t give instructions on how to do this. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I’m talking to you, Maggie, of the fantastic urban garden!
Credit: Maggie via EADL
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I plant basil every year and haven’t found it to be a bird-magnet. And being in that tiny pot, it should be fairly easy to replant. Just squish it out the top and put it in a bigger pot.
One of the things that might help is if you pinch the tops off once they get a little bigger- that will help them get bushier and full. Hope that helps! Good luck!!
ps- what is your orchid secret?!? I can’t keep orchids alive to save my life and it is SO frustrating!
I totally almost picked up one of those cute little herb pots at Tarjay the other day, but, I resisted. We have a little garden in our backyard — with peppers, tomatoes, and basil. The basil grows wonderfully and I’ve had my basil plant for 2 years now and no birds have ever ruined it. It’s so convenient to go pull a few leaves off of the plant when I need them! Good luck!
I have those little pots! We bought them last year, but nothing ever grew
Hi! I just cruised over here thinking I hadn’t seen you in my Reader in a while, and sure enough there’s a new post, one that calls me out, even! Grrrr Reader, but YAY for green thumbs!
I haven’t seen a single bird hanging out near my basil, or any of my plants, for that matter. I’m finally putting in tomatoes this weekend, so maybe that’ll make the difference for the birds, but hopefully not.
For your repotting, just be careful not to tug on the roots too badly. It’ll probably be pretty solid by the time you repot, though, so I’m sure it’ll be fine!
How hard is this orchid business? I’m thinking of investing in a couple, one for the kitchen and one for the guest bath. How hard are they not to kill?