Keeping Basil Alive?

For about the 6th time this year bought some Basil. Just love it! But it never seems to love me and is always temperamental. Too much water, it dies, too little and it flops. Not enough light, it wilts. Too much light, it shrivels up!

Sure you know the feeling unless you have green hands as well as fingers.

Tips please and can you keep it going over winter?

Not this Basil I guess

I've shed so many tears over my basil here - which is strange, as I've grown it easily in so many other climates.

Have you tried the Strauchbasilikum, the one that grows as a woody(ish) plant? The leaves are not as tender as other basils so I don't use it for salads and such - but it's great in soups or anything that cooks for a longer time.

Strauchbasilikum seems hardier, or at least more suited to this climate. I've managed to overwinter it inside... without too many tears.

Sorry, Basel has been dead for years.

/runs

Thanks, I enjoyed the Fawlty Towers

About Basil. It`s not an overwintering plant, as far as I know.

I buy a couple in Spring and plant them out in garden - they like lots of water but not "wet feet" (which could happen in a pot?) They also seem to dislike too much direct sun. Half sun/shade is what makes mine happy.

Mine are dieing off now - I think the nights are getting too cold?

Time to buy dried Basil for winter.

I did try drying some leaves - don`t know if they keep their aroma too well?

Does anyone here know if home-dried Basil is any good?

I don't understand. We keep basil on our West-facing kitchen windowsill with no problems, unless we go away and it doesn't get enough water. It does need watering about every two or three days, and sometimes it's only noticed when the leaves start to droop, but they perk up very quickly if you catch it soon enough.

Once they've gone leggy just pinch out the flowers or growing tips, and any woody bits should be cut back down to green to encourage new growth to appear.

I guess the key is to regular small amounts of water, which is easy as long as you keep it somewhere you're going to see it every day.

It is better to freeze it

I've grown basil happily for years in a self-watering trough. Came to Switzerland and bought new basil plants, put them in the same trough, and ... meh. Limp yellow leaves almost immediately. I've tried it in a sunnier spot, a shadier spot, protected it from thunderstorms, only watered it when the top of the soil is dry... with the result that it's still alive, but it still looks like crap. Tastes ok though.

Basil is an annual plant, meaning it grows, flowers, and dies in a single year.

The optimal time when leaf production is at the maximum only lasts a couple months, typically in the Summer. I have thrown away lots of money trying to coax basil to grow and thrive. Unfortunately it is also the favorite food of most insects and crawling slimy things.

My solution: buy it in bulk (Aligro sells 500G sacks of fresh basil leaves for around 25 CHFs), put the leaves in a bucket with olive oil, liquidize it with a stick blender (go the extra 9 yards and make pesto with garlic, salt, pepper, parmesan and roasted nuts), then freeze in ice cube trays. Presto: abundant basil for cooking or sauces for the whole year. The only thing you can't do is have fresh leaves for salads.

Something I just remembered ..... a couple years back (when I was still very ignorant about the different lifespans of plants here) I refused to admit my newly bought Basil was not going to grow beautifully (after slugs had attacked it).

So I kept it alive thru winter by placing it on a windowsill above a radiator, with a plastic bag over it. And it stayed alive! But still looked miserable.

The next springtime I planted it out in garden - and it was the MOST hugest, pungent Basil I`ve ever encountered!

Being so cheap (in Germany 1 Euro a pot) I never again attempted the "Zombie" treatment. Done it with Sweet Potatoes, but again, not worth the effort - Migros sell them for about Sfr5 a kilo.

You sure about that?

"But you told me to freeze!"

I've been growing pretty good basil for years, so I reckon I can answer this one.

Basil is, as has been said, an annual. Your best bet is to sow it in early spring indoors and put it outside only after you're past the last frost. You'll be able to harvest right into October in Switzerland. Things to bear in mind:

1) Watering: It likes quite a lot of water, but do let the soil dry out for a day or two between waterings, it won't like to sit in mud.

2) Fertiliser: Once the plants are established, if they're in pots, they'll want some fertiliser. I fertilise every two to three weeks.

3) Soil: If in a pot, make sure it's well drained by adding plenty of sand or gravel or perlite, and make sure there's a hole in the bottom of the pot!

4) Clipping: Pinch out as soon as you have two or three pairs of leaves, and then keep pinching out to encourage branching. This will give you a bushy plant. Then, later in the season, nip out the flowers as soon as they form. (I usually let one plant flower, as the bees enjoy it!)

5) Harvest: As needed, and don't be afraid to cut it back good and hard. It will generally spring back with more vigour than before.

Hope that helps!

Freezing is better than drying, but the very best way to preserve basil is to put it in olive oil, as though you were making a pesto. This keeps the essential oils in place. You can then go ahead and freeze it, for example in ice cube trays.

I like the olive oil idea! Best to keep the leaves whole or chop it up first?

I chop it up. Then you can pop it straight into your dinner without even thawing it out. Or, use it as a base for a fresh pesto.

Technically, in that it doesn't regrow from a bulb, you're right, but in fact a basil plant will happily survive for several years in a good spot indoors, if cared for correctly and flowers/dead bits chopped off. It will grow new stems from old, like herbs in the mint/oregano family, so just chop back the leggy ones and new ones appear.

Yes, you're right!

It can be a short-lived perennial if kept indoors. I find it's best to treat it as an annual though and sow fresh each year. Outdoors it's definitely an annual in this part of the world!

I'd love it to survive through the winter and is still in its pot. So where is the best place to put it and should I get a bigger pot for it or leave it in the one it has now?

My flat's quite dark, ground floor but does get some direct sun! Think it's south facing one side and north the other.

If something refuses to grow and thrive no matter how much you care for it, best to trash it and start over. Basil is a great life coach.

Is that advice for my relationships or my plants and kids?