Growing basil in containers
Growing your own herbs doesn't require much space. In fact, even though I do have several types of gardens with various vegetables, fruits, and herbs growing, I still grow some of my herbs in containers inside my indoor greenhouses and even before I splurged to purchase my greenhouses, I grew herbs in indoor containers. The cost of seed packets is relatively a lot cheaper than purchasing seasonings from the grocery store. So for today's article I will be sharing how I grow basil in containers inside.
Growing basil in containers
Basil loves natural sunlight, and needs plenty of light to grow, however if you live in a shady area where you don't receive much sunlight, then LED grow lights can be used for basil plants. In which case, it happens to be what I specifically use. I have written an article about greenhouse lighting, which explains more about what grow lights I prefer using.
I keep the grow lights on my basil plants for at least ten hours daily. The grow lights I use merely cost pennies throughout a full year of usage. So there're no worries needed! There's no high energy usage involved.
Keep in mind that basil is an annual plant. However, allowing the basil plant to flower will give you plenty of new seeds for replanting. So I always encourage some of my plants to go to seed while keeping the rest of them pruned back. New seeds are always a good thing!
Planting basil from seeds
Before planting the basil, prepare the soil in containers, add water and stir the dirt around with a hand tool such as a seed planting trowel.
Next, add a few seeds to each container. I normally plant three to four seeds in each because some may or may not germinate.
Now, cover the seeds with soil. I just take a handful of soil and sprinkle it over the seeds, then pat the soil down and water lightly.
Use clear plastic around the tops of your containers. This will allow the moisture to stay inside the containers so that you won't have to water again until the basil seeds sprout.
Once the seeds begin to sprout, take the clear plastic off of the tops of the containers. Tips: plastic wrap or clear shower caps work great for this purpose.
When watering my basil plants, I prefer spritzing water on the soil with a spray bottle. Basil needs moisture, but doesn't like to have its feet wet. So never over water, but do make sure that the soil never dries out completely. The plants will need to be watered about twice a week depending on the temperatures. If over watered, the roots will rot.
Once the basil has grown to about six inches tall and has sets of leaves, it's then time to start pruning it. Using garden scissors, make your first cut right below the first set of leaves. Repeat every few weeks as needed. Doing so will help the basil plant become more bushy.
Use the cuttings fresh in recipes or dehydrate them for later usage.