Growing basil from seed

Hallo! We received a grow your own herbs from seed kit as a Christmas present. We planted up indoors (about a month ago now) and waited with baited breath.

It was realy exciting when the first tiny shoots started coming up! Everything (coriander, parsley, chives) seems to have done really well, so much so that I transplanted them into pots a couple of evenings ago. But the poor basil, alas, is still in the seed tray. I can only see one brave shoot that is poking out above the soil by a couple of millimetres. Is basil particularly tricky to grow? Does it take longer to germinate? Is it generally very slow? Should I be giving up hope?

 

I started my basil off in a heated propagator, waited until it had germinated and then put it on a sunny windowsill. I shouldn't give up on your seeds just yet! Perhaps you could give it a helping hand with some bottom heat, failing that - patience is the key (as with a lot of gardening!)
Enjoy your herbs, and feel wonderfully smug as you harvest fresh crops daily for free!

 

Okley dokes, they've been sitting on the floor, so maybe it's a bit cold for them (we don't have carpets). I'll see if I can put some newspapers underneath, try and keep them a wee bit warmer, and see what happens.

Thanks Lynne

 

i sow seeds in 3in pots every 2 weeks to have a steady crop thourgh the summer, they like a sunny postion and to be kept moist

 

you can also pop the tips in the soil, when you pinch the plants out, and they'll root like no bodies business giving you more basil than you can shake a stick at

 

Stez, what a great idea!
I hadn't realised that they needed pinching out, either - so I learnt two new things even before I've got out my of my jimmy jams