Hi

I'd like to try purchasing a supermarket Basil plant and growing more from
some cuttings. Being a complete beginner to gardening, I'm not really sure
on how to take a cutting or encourage it to grow. I found the following
posting which half-explains it, but could someone take me through the
process step-by-step?

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=g:...r=&ie=UTF-8&oe
=UTF-8&selm=6s7e9i%245fr%241%40cedar.nationwideisp.ne t

What are my chances, given that it's March and my window faces west?

Cheers,

Mark

"Mark" wrote in message
...
Hi

I'd like to try purchasing a supermarket Basil plant and growing more from
some cuttings. Being a complete beginner to gardening, I'm not really sure
on how to take a cutting or encourage it to grow. I found the following
posting which half-explains it, but could someone take me through the
process step-by-step?


http://groups.google.com/groups?q=g:...r=&ie=UTF-8&oe
=UTF-8&selm=6s7e9i%245fr%241%40cedar.nationwideisp.ne t

What are my chances, given that it's March and my window faces west?

I think a better way would be to save the cost of buying a pot of basil and
instead buy a pack of seed. I've seen mixed packs with different varieties
of basil.

If you want to start with a pot from the supermarket, it tends to be lots of
young plants in a pot so you wouldn't need cuttings. Just carefully divide
the plants into separate pots and keep ppinching out the tips to get them
bushy. You'll only have one variety this way though.

If you've got any space outside you'll also probably get better results by
putting them out in the sun. I grow all my herbs in the piece of sunny
ground nearest to the kitchen door.

Martin

On Mon, 10 Mar 2003 14:55:09 +0000, Mark wrote:

I'd like to try purchasing a supermarket Basil plant and growing more from
some cuttings. Being a complete beginner to gardening, I'm not really sure

Hi Mark,

I grew basil for the first time last year and it was great - with certain
constraints.

First off - supermarket basil - this is OK but very cramped in its pot.
Secondly - you don't grow more basil from cuttings - its not one of those
plants.

So if you want to go the supermarket basil route, get a the freshest
healthiest pot you can find, take it home, knock the plant out of the pot
gently, break up the root ball into say, 4 sections very gently, and
re-pot into four pots, and place on a warm sunny windowsill. Eat! If you
keep picching out the tops, rather than cropping it to the soil, it will
re-grow giving you more basil for your money.

An easy alternative is to fill some pots with compost (normal stuff,
doesn't need to be 'potting'), buy a packet of basil seeds from the
supermarket, and following the directions, sow them in you pots, water,
and hey presto (in a month or so) you have basil. Repeat sowings every
month or so will ensure lots of basil right through to autumn.

A more difficult alternative is basil outside in the gound - I
experimented with this and reverted to the warm windowsill! OUtside for
me, the basil got slugged and too cold.

Other herbs are also easy, and some of them you can propogate by cuttings
- e.g. sage and rosemary.

HTH,

Sarah

"Sarah Dale" wrote:

Secondly - you don't grow more basil from cuttings - its not one of those
plants.

Au contraire, it roots just fine for me. Stick a slip in potting soil,
keep it damp. There's at least one variety, "African Black" I think but
don't hold me to it that's a sport and doesn't breed true from seed; all
the plants you buy are propagated from cuttings.


Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at www.albany.net/~gwoods
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1200' elevation. NY WO G

In article , Sarah
Dale wrote:

A more difficult alternative is basil outside in the gound - I
experimented with this and reverted to the warm windowsill! OUtside for
me, the basil got slugged and too cold.

I agree. Basil does well outside in really hot summers but it's the one
common herb that's really on the brink for being grown outdoors.

Other herbs are also easy, and some of them you can propogate by cuttings
- e.g. sage and rosemary.

I'd add (from a purely culinary point of view) that even in my not too
sunny garden oregano does very well, and keeps reseeding itself. Also,
of course, mint & parsley. (Moroccan mint tastes very good and is less
invasive than some others).

Lazarus

In article ,
Gary Woods wrote:
"Sarah Dale" wrote:

Secondly - you don't grow more basil from cuttings - its not one of those
plants.

Au contraire, it roots just fine for me. Stick a slip in potting soil,
keep it damp. There's at least one variety, "African Black" I think but
don't hold me to it that's a sport and doesn't breed true from seed; all
the plants you buy are propagated from cuttings.

This is OK for you people in sub-tropical climes :-(

More seriously, we should be able to do the same, if we treat basil
as a hothouse plant. I have never tried cuttings, as it grows very
well from seed, but it is definitely too tender to grow outside in
most years in most places. Excluding varieties like the one you
mention, I agree with Sarah Dale. Basil grows very well on a sunny
window ledge INDOORS from spring until autumn (when it gets too dark).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679

I have been growing basil from seed each summer for at least six years. At
first I had very little success and lost most of the young seedlings well
before the pricking out stage. As luck would have it, I met the proprietor
of a herb farm who told me that basil grows best in small clumps, therefore
his advice was not to prick them out singly into pots. The following year I
took his advice and found that all my clumped basil seedlings grew very well
indeed, each later producing a fine crop of leaves for most of the summer.
I have not had any success growing the purple leaved varieties which I
understand have a stronger flavour.

Rufus
-----------------------------------
"Martin Sykes" wrote in a message:

I think a better way would be to save the cost of buying a pot of basil
and
instead buy a pack of seed. I've seen mixed packs with different varieties
of basil.
If you want to start with a pot from the supermarket, it tends to be lots
of
young plants in a pot so you wouldn't need cuttings. Just carefully divide
the plants into separate pots and keep pinching out the tips to get them
bushy. You'll only have one variety this way though.

"Martin Sykes" wrote:

If you want to start with a pot from the supermarket, it tends to be lots
of
young plants in a pot so you wouldn't need cuttings. Just carefully divide
the plants into separate pots and keep ppinching out the tips to get them
bushy. You'll only have one variety this way though.

Ah, thanks. Just one more question: what exactly is "pinching out"? I'm a
novice gardener..

Cheers,

Mark

"Mark" wrote in message
...
"Martin Sykes" wrote:

If you want to start with a pot from the supermarket, it tends to be
lots
of
young plants in a pot so you wouldn't need cuttings. Just carefully
divide
the plants into separate pots and keep ppinching out the tips to get
them
bushy. You'll only have one variety this way though.

Ah, thanks. Just one more question: what exactly is "pinching out"? I'm a
novice gardener..

Go "pinch" with your fingertips and nails, and take out the last sets of
leaves. In this case don't pull off anything bigger than a centimetre.