Starting Basil Seeds Indoors

Basil is my favorite herb. I grew an abundance of it last year. I made enough pesto for our family and many of our relatives. This is an herb I absolutely recommend growing. Making your own pesto only costs a fraction of the store bought varieties.

STEP ONE

For me, this is the most difficult part. You will have to choose what type of basil you want to grow.

Here is a short list of some basil varieties. Click on any of the varieties, I linked online stores where you can buy them.

Sweet basil

Lettuce leaf basil 

Mammoth basil

Genovese basil    

Nufar basil 

Spicy globe basil  

Greek Yevani basil

Fino verde basil  

Boxwood basil    

Purple ruffles basil     

Magical Michael  

Dark opal basil   

Red rubin basil

Osmin purple basil

Cuban basil

Thai basil  

'Siam Queen'     

Cinnamon basil   

Licorice basil     

Mrs. Burns lemon basil 

Lemon Basil

Lime Basil

African Blue Basil

Spice Basil

Sweet Dani Basil

STEP TWO

Start seeds in flats filled with equal parts of perlite, vermiculite and peat. Press the soil enough to eliminate any air pockets, then dampen the soil. Drop a couple of seeds into each container, lightly cover them with soil. Wrap plastic around the seedlings and put them in a bright area. If you have a light system in place, that is even better. I live in Seattle, and it is always dark but the kitchen light is usually on. I keep my seedlings on top of the cupboards near the lights.

STEP THREE

Water the plants lightly, about twice daily. If you used plastic to cover them, remove it once the plants emerge.

STEP FOUR

Once the leaves formed your plant can be re-potted or put  in the garden. Word of caution. They will die if there is a frost. These are warm loving plants. To plant into the garden pinch off the bottom two leaves, turn the container upside down and gently tap until the plant slides out. Bury roots and stem to cover the spot where the leaves were pinched of. Pat down soil to eliminate air pockets.

STEP FIVE

Love your plants. I prune the leaves as the plants grow. We always have a fresh supply in the house. One important tip - never let your basil plant flower. Once it does, all the flavor is gone. It is a mean thing to do to the plant, sorry, but remove those flower buds as soon as you see them form.

Enjoy your plants and your pesto.

Prepare Vegetable Gardens For Winter

Halloween is over and it is time to put our vegetable gardens to bed. This is mostly a matter of cleaning up, covering up, raking up, and gathering all of those wonderful leaves for compost. Plants that are not killed outright should be prepared for dormancy. One of the first things one must do is clear out the blackened stems and foliage of annual veggies and flowers. This prevents the possibility that disease, bugs, eggs, pathogens or icky stuff will sleep in your soil over the winter. 

Consider this a good time to make any necessary repairs to your beds and boxes. As I still live in an apartment, I do not have to worry about this too much. 

While it appears as if all activity in the garden has stopped, there's a lot going on under the soil until it freezes. Newly transplanted trees and shrubs, divisions of perennials, and hardy bulbs are all growing roots, drawing on soil nutrients and moisture around them. Earthworms and various microbes in the soil are still processing the organic material they're finding. Most likely, the organic mulch you spread to protect the soil during the summer months has substantially decomposed. It's important to spread new mulch now -- a thicker winter layer -- to protect plants and soil over the winter months. The idea is not so much to keep the soil warm as it is to keep the temperature even. Once the soil is frozen, mulch keeps it frozen. So if you have shade trees, convert the fallen leaves to mulch and use it throughout your property.

It is time to plant your garlic

home grown garlic

Hello Gardeners,

We have come upon my favorite time of year. Along with that, time to plant my favorite bulb - garlic. I love garlic and use it all the time in soups, meats and salads. Garlic is a necessity for every kitchen. Garlic requires cool weather to do well, and the most robust bulbs are produced from fall planting. Planting stock is readily available, so now is the time to go to your garden center and pick it up. Plant the garlic at least two weeks before the first frost so that the roots set. The timing of fall planting should be such that the roots have a chance to develop and the tops do not break when the ground freezes.

My poor basil plant

She commit suicide off the balcony today. It was very sad. I had to turn the remaining leaves into tomato basil soup....which turned out delicious.

It is funny, fall is here and I am already thinking about the seeds I would like to germinate this Spring. If only I had more land to work with.

Pōhutukawa - New Zealand Christmas Tree

I was very lucky to find a BBC Garden of the World series on YouTube. The series is called Around the World in 80 gardens. The first episode that I watched was about South America. Did you know that in the Amazon they grow their gardens in pots on the river? I watched the episode about Indian gardens, those were just amazing. Finally, I ended with gardens of Australia and New Zealand which brings me to the topic of this blog - Pōhutukawa - New Zealand Christmas Tree. 

The brush-like blooms of pōhutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) add brilliance to a Northland beach in summer, and signal the arrival of Christmas. Related to guavas, feijoas and eucalypts, the pōhutukawa is a familiar sight on the northern North Island coastline, which is its natural range. It was favoured by early European boat builders as the timber provides natural curves and is immune to sea worms. The trees have since been planted in coastal areas throughout the country.

This tree blooms every December (summer time ), in New Zealand . The tree grew quite large and the blossoms were beautiful. I would love to have a couple of these trees one day. I came to discover that this plant does very well in parts of California.  If you are interested in buying seeds, here is a link to a New Zealand vendor. 

First Cute Little Potato Harvest

potato flower means it is soon time to harvest

I planted a single seed potato in one of my ten pound green planters from Lowes. It was my first time growing potatoes. I wanted to first discuss why I chose to grow potatoes instead of any other exotic herb or vegetable. Potatoes are a staple in our diet. They feed the poorest of the poor. They are starchy, versitile, and are used in any cuisine. I cannot think of a world cuisine that does not use potatoes.

Potatoes are easy to grow and can be stored for a very long time.They prefer a slightly acidic soil with a pH factor of about 6. They should be planted in early spring, and the soil should be at least 45 degrees F. They should not be grown in the same soil year after year. I grow them in pots and my soil is always new, so crop rotation is not an issue here.

One week before planting, I set my seed potato on the dry warm balcony with full light to induce sprouting. Then I chopped up the sprouts, with the eyes or ´buds´ fully intact. The seed formed a thick callous over the cut which helped prevent it from rotting once planted. This is an important step that should not be over looked.

The best way to get more potatoes is to keep covering the plant with soil. Do not bury the plant entirely with soil. Leave just enough for the plant to push through. Some people do this with tires, others build potato boxes.

Why do wine makers plant mustard seeds in young vineyards?

Mustard planted in vineyard

Lately I have really been into wine making.

Unfortunately I do not  have the space to start making my own wine. All I can do is read books about it, and daydream about the day that I will be able to press my own grapes. As I was looking at vineyards, I noticed that many wine makers planted mustard seeds in the vineyards. In fact, in California´s wine country, many vineyards are awash in yellow mustard flowers.


When soil temperatures reach about 60 degrees, nematodes gear up to start damaging the vines. At this moment mustard seeds destroy the nematode reproductive cycle. Crisis Averted!

 The best type of mustard plants to grow are those with high levels of Glucosinolate, or extra spicy compounds. Examples of these are black mustard, nemfix mustard, ida gold mustard, oilseed radish, diakon radish and wild radish. Mustard plants help break down the nematode population just as they gear up to damage young vines. Young vines cam be very sensitive to nematodes.

Plants and Poison - Cherry Laurel Water

For the past few weeks I have been doing my family genealogy. At the same time, I have been watching a series Who Do You Think You Are, where a number of celebrities from the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom trace their ancestors. Today I watched an interesting episode about Alexander Armstrong. The episode I am referring to is featured below.

Armstrong is one of those rare people that come from an aristocratic family. One of ancestors was poisoned by something called Laurel Water. Before watching this episode I did not know what laurel water was, so I went straight to google. The Laurel plant is grown usually as a shading shrub but can be pruned into a tree. It is not uncommon for animals to die from this poison. Farmers need to be careful what kinds of plants they put on their property.

Growing 17 types of tomatoes!

I had no idea that there were so many varieties of tomatoes.

Cloning Ancient Trees

I few years ago an article was featured on Yahoo discussing a group of botanists, Archangel Project, who made it their life work to clone old growth trees. When I first learned about this project, I was amazed. I really hope others can appreciate the significance of this.

These images shows us 100 percent DNA of a living 2500 year old Giant Sequoia, over 200 feet tall with a circumference of 50 feet.

They have a presence on Facebook. There are other arborists that clone ancient trees. We can find them by conducting a quick google search. Today I learned that it is common practice to dip the cutting into rooting powder. This will stimulate root growth when the stem is planted directly into the dirt. I am very interested in cloning ancient trees.

If there is anything I would like to do before I die, that is clone African Shea Trees and make an orchard in Chihuahua Mexico.