On Tue, 22 May 2007 14:38:48 -0500, "Anny Middon"
wrote:

"Bill Rose" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Anny Middon" wrote:

I normally buy commercial plants for the garden, but this year I decided
to start some herbs from seed.
snip

A couple of points that may be important:

1. Last year I put in a lot of zinnias (commercially produced seedlings)
that had much the same problem. I lost nearly all those plants.

2. I live outside Chicago. Our every-17-year cicada infestation is
starting. Is it possible it's cicadas eating my basil? If so, I'll give
up
on basil until the end of the cicada infestation, the end of July or so.

Anny
Basil grows pretty fast, so I would recommend re-seeding. I and, I
believe Omelet (another poster), have found that our basil does better
in pots. If nothing else, start in pots and then you can, at least bring
them in at night to keep them from being chewed on.

- Bill

Thanks, Bill -- I'll try some in pots. It's odd -- I've grown basil in the
garden many times -- this is the first time from seedlings I sprouted
myself, and the first time it's gotten eaten.

Anny

I agree with Bill, Anny. Try putting the seeds directly into pots and
place them in a sunny location. Herbs do quite well in pots and
overwinter nicely in a sunny window. I do almost my entire kitchen
garden in tubs and pots (tomatoes, cukes, bush beans, radishes,
lettuces, limas, broccoli, herbs, etc, ) and they usually thrive.

One thing I have found after gardening like this for 25 years, is that
some years there are infestations of something that in other years
just don't seem to be a bother. I guess it just follows population
growth and bust cycles. Add that to the happenstance of certain
veggies doing better one year than the next to due whatever weather
we have, making some types of produce happier than others and you get
the usual confounding and fun that garden brings.

My vegetable garden is organic and I won't use sprays. Once in awhile
a crop of something just doesn't do well, but in general, basil is
pretty hearty. What you may also want to do it get a couple of other
seed varieties of basil and experiment with those, too - in other
words, your basic wide-leafed/Genoa basil may get "et" this year, but
another variety or two may do much better. I usually plant several.

Boron