Basil

I have grown Basil very successfully this year and the plants stand in my greenhouse. Just for the fun of it I nipped a few shoots off one of the plants to see if it would take as a cutting. I love the stuff and the smell is heavenly. To my surprise it has rooted. Is basil a perennial ? Can you do the same with chillis too ?

Thank you

Blue :thumb:

 

Hey Blue,

Chillis are perennials, I keep them on the window cill overwinter, but they do need polination, so if you can stick them outside on a good day & pour a bucket of bees over them it will help.

Basil is considered a "tender perennial" needs looking after. You can get african basil which is a def perennial but coarser flavour. Saying that, african or european could lead directly into a Monty Python sketch, so I'd better stop right there.:usr:

 

Hi Blueroses. Basil won't do well outdoors in winter, or maybe even summer (it's a tender perennial) and probably won't do well in the greenhouse either. But it should do fine on the kitchen window cill for you. That's where I grow mine.

 

ziggy you're on good form tonight. I will use my bucket of bees as you suggest :hehe:
I will keep both plants on an indoor windowsill over winter, wrapped in overcoats :wink:

Thanks both

Blue 0)

 

The amount of stuff I am planning or wanting to keep on a window sill is going to require a house the size of Buckingham Palace.:lollol:

 

Haha that sounds familiar Shobhna. My spare room is the only really sunny one I have - South-West facing. It's like a bloomin garden centre in there all year round! Tenders in winter, seedlings in spring, chillis and cuttings etc the rest of the time.

As for basil - I just sow a fresh pot every couple of weeks. One stays in the kitchen for eating, then when it is fully harvested it's replaced by one from the spare room windowsill and a new pot sown.

 

Sounds like my sunny windowsill as well. I only have the one and that room gets very crowded in winter. Although this year I'm hoping the new garage will be ready and will accommodate those plants that are frost tender, but don't necessarily need overwintering inside.

 

Don't kid yourselves on folks.:wink:
Two years ago when we moved into this house I had a big, heated conservatory built - with 36 feet of broad window cills.
I still run out of space and the plants and seed trays end up in the dining room and kitchen window cills.
My long suffering husband utters no complaint about it.
God bless that man.
I just have the feeling that the plants would expand to fill the space :confsd:

 

That seems to happen in the garden...