Hey all. I need some help with planting my genovese basil seeds. I
have a long window planter box, i think its about 36" x 6", and also
some 10" pots.
How many seeds can i put in each of these? It says on the package that
they need to be spaced 12" apart, but that only allows me to plant 3
plants in the box and 1 seed in the pot! That seems like very few.
Also these will be grown in the pots permanently, as i dont have a
garden.
They will be lots of sun on my porch.
Also do i need to do anything with the seeds before planting them?

thanks
jason

You don't need to do anything with the seeds prior to planting. They are
very tiny black seeds that remind me of poppy seeds on bagels. I would fill
your window box and pots with a half potting soil/half composted manure
(just mix it together). You can scatter the seeds across the window box and
cover them with 1/4" potting soil. Wet the soil by misting with a spray
bottle. Soak it very well and put the box in full sun. Check the soil
daily and moisten with spray bottle to germinate the seeds. Once you have
some sprouts, you can use 1/2 strength fish emulsion to fertilize them. In
other words, use 1/2 TBSP per gallon instead of 1 TBSP per gallon water.
Once the plants get to about 1-2" tall, take a spoon and dig under the roots
and separate the plants. Plant them in the pots and window box. I tend to
grow mine closer than packages say because they always allow for maximum
growing space. You could space them 4-6" apart and still get some nice
bushy plants. When you develop two side shoots, pinch the middle two leaves
off to promote more branching and fullness. Always take the middle two
leaves out on all the branches and you'll have a very full plant.

Good luck.

Penny
Zone 7b - North Carolina
"jason molinari" wrote in message
om...
Hey all. I need some help with planting my genovese basil seeds. I
have a long window planter box, i think its about 36" x 6", and also
some 10" pots.
How many seeds can i put in each of these? It says on the package that
they need to be spaced 12" apart, but that only allows me to plant 3
plants in the box and 1 seed in the pot! That seems like very few.
Also these will be grown in the pots permanently, as i dont have a
garden.
They will be lots of sun on my porch.
Also do i need to do anything with the seeds before planting them?

thanks
jason

jason molinari wrote:

Hey all. I need some help with planting my genovese basil seeds. I
have a long window planter box, i think its about 36" x 6", and also
some 10" pots.
How many seeds can i put in each of these? It says on the package that
they need to be spaced 12" apart, but that only allows me to plant 3
plants in the box and 1 seed in the pot! That seems like very few...



Plant them on a 1-2" spacing if you can. The seed is small and may be
hard to handle, so don't worry about the exact spacing. You can just
sprinkle some seed on the surface and cover it lightly.

When the plants get a few true leaves, pick the one(s) that you want to
keep and start cutting the rest for salads. If you time it right the
keepers will be large enough to withstand constant harvesting by the
time you cut off the last non-keeper.

I have grown 2-3 plants in a 5" pot for the winter. They don't get
large, but they do produce enough for an occasional harvest. Winter is
hard because they don't get enough light, but in a south window you can
keep them going.

On 25 Mar 2003 11:45:48 -0800, (jason molinari)
wrote:

Hey all. I need some help with planting my genovese basil seeds. I
have a long window planter box, i think its about 36" x 6", and also
some 10" pots.
How many seeds can i put in each of these? It says on the package that
they need to be spaced 12" apart, but that only allows me to plant 3
plants in the box and 1 seed in the pot! That seems like very few.
Also these will be grown in the pots permanently, as i dont have a
garden.

I assume by "permanently," you mean "for the season." Basil is an
annual. The directions mean to space *plants* a foot apart, not seeds.
If you don't have a place to start seeds, you can just put them in
every inch or so, or just sprinkle 'em around, and thin when needed.

They will be lots of sun on my porch.

Basil is a full-sun plant. Does best with at least 6 hrs of direct
sunlight.

Also do i need to do anything with the seeds before planting them?

No.

Basil plants need plenty of room, not just for the leaves to spread out, but
for the roots as well. The first year I planted basil, I put 3-4 seeds in
each pot. By the end of the season, I had pots with roots sticking out of
the drainage hole, and I could lift the entire plant out of the pot, because
the root ball was so tight.

Now I just plant basil in the ground.


"jason molinari" wrote in message
om...
Hey all. I need some help with planting my genovese basil seeds. I
have a long window planter box, i think its about 36" x 6", and also
some 10" pots.
How many seeds can i put in each of these? It says on the package that
they need to be spaced 12" apart, but that only allows me to plant 3
plants in the box and 1 seed in the pot! That seems like very few.
Also these will be grown in the pots permanently, as i dont have a
garden.
They will be lots of sun on my porch.
Also do i need to do anything with the seeds before planting them?

thanks
jason

"Snooze" wrote in message arthlink.net...
Basil plants need plenty of room, not just for the leaves to spread out, but
for the roots as well. The first year I planted basil, I put 3-4 seeds in
each pot. By the end of the season, I had pots with roots sticking out of
the drainage hole, and I could lift the entire plant out of the pot, because
the root ball was so tight.

Now I just plant basil in the ground.


Thanks for the replies. I'll plant the seeds as soon as it gets a
little warmer here.

jason

jason molinari wrote:

...Thanks for the replies. I'll plant the seeds as soon as it gets a
little warmer here...



If you're planting them in small pots to get them started, you can plant
them now. I started my basil (indoors) over the weekend (in New England,
zone 5A). (PS: we had snow this morning).