Basil is a plant that is often used by cooks for a wide variety of dishes. For example, purple - added to meat, seafood, used as an ingredient in a salad. And lemon - perfect with fish. If desired, everyone can grow basil from seeds on the windowsill. He is quite unpretentious. And if you follow a few simple rules, this spice will grow all year round.
Preparation for landing
You can buy basil seeds in a flower shop. It is also grown from seedlings, but the advantage of planting from seeds is that the latter can take root in the soil. Shoots will be strong and healthy.
If you are not an experienced gardener, buy seeds of small-leaved basil. It will be easier to care for him. Before growing basil on the windowsill, they need to be kept for two days in gauze soaked in warm water. Place the seed tissue in a container and place it in a warm place.
Change the water twice a day so that mold does not appear in the container. Treat swollen embryos with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Place the seeds in a disinfectant solution for a couple of hours. And then - dry on the fabric.
The soil for cultivation can be purchased at a specialized store, or brought from a summer cottage or from the forest. To destroy insect eggs and protect the future plant from infection, the soil should be calcined in the oven.
In addition, for planting basil from seeds on the window, you need to prepare an oblong wooden box or pot. Pour pebbles or broken bricks to the bottom. Next, put expanded clay or grated foam - this will help remove excess moisture from the soil.
Two-thirds of the capacity is filled with earth — 3-4 cm should remain to the sides. Before planting, the soil needs to be well watered.
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Landing and care
Planting basil is recommended in April or May. After all, seedlings will need light, and at this time the day is increasing. After sowing, you need to close the pots with foil. Periodically, this film will need to be removed to ventilate the plant. At first, five minutes, and then increase this time.
When the first real leaves appear on the seedlings, it is completely removed. Twice a day, in the morning and closer to noon, moisturize shoots from the spray gun with warm, settled water.
If you want a spicy plant to give a good harvest, you need to take care of it regularly. It’s easy to do it:
- Every week, the soil in which the basil is planted must be loosened so that oxygen enters the roots of the plant.
- Every two weeks, fertilize adult shoots - this will help to maintain the excellent taste of the plant for a long time. The first time fertilizer is applied when the bush reaches about 45 cm in length. Before feeding him, the earth needs to be well loosened.
- If the weather on the street deteriorates, the plants need to be insulated by wrapping the pots with foil. This will help maintain heat and prevent sensitive roots from freezing. In frosts, from above the bushes are covered with polyethylene. Otherwise, they may simply fade.
- So that the plant does not hit the mold, you should not water it too often. Twice a day is enough. The accumulated liquid must be regularly removed from the sump. After which, wipe it with a dry cloth.
If mold has already appeared in the pot, the topsoil should be removed and discarded, and the remaining soil should be well dried. Temporarily, before the soil is completely dry, you need to stop watering. Leaves and stems with a gray coating are removed, so as not to infect the rest.
You can also grow basil from seeds on the windowsill in the winter (in the video below you can see step by step how to do this). But in this case, you will need to purchase a phytolamp. After all, if the plant will not be lit daily for 15-18 hours, it may wither. Due to the lamp, daylight can be artificially increased.
Please note that if there are cracks in the window frames, you cannot grow basil next to them. After all, its shoots do not tolerate drafts. For the same reason, do not leave it on the windowsill when airing.
Harvesting
After 1-1.5 months after planting, you can begin to harvest. At this point, the shoots should have at least four formed leaves. For the splendor of the bush, you can gently pinch it from above.
Cut the leaves from the sides of the bush with sharp scissors. You should not harvest with your hands - you can harm fragile shoots with this, they will recover more slowly.
And never cut the leaves completely. Always leave 3-4 leaves so that the plant does not die.
Store chopped basil in a plastic container or glass jar. Dried spice, in good conditions, can retain its taste for a very long time - up to five years.
Step-by-step landing photos:
For culinary purposes, leaves are used that are cut when the plant reaches a height of 15 cm. The life span of such a bush is 3-4 months.
Important! Cuttings must be protected from sunlight, since as a result of exposure to ultraviolet radiation, plants can get burns and die.
Planting basil seedlings in 2017
Basil: growing from seeds in the open ground