P365 2023, Day 16 - Never Give Up

[grundyscribbling]

This is last summer's basil. I brought it in before the first frost and basically forgot about it. It's now half as tall as I am and leggy as all get out. But it's putting out new growth. And I've just found out I should be pruning my basil harder to keep it from getting leggy. So...guinea pig.

(Yes, the pot is in a wading pool. Wags is a goofball who has yet to meet water he doesn't want to play with, so his water bowl lives in the wading pool. I clear dead leaves out every week or so.)

P365 2023 masterpost

Comments

[anerea]

Pinch off the top few leaf nodes when you see the flower buds starting to form (or before) and not just the buds and they provide a lot more leaves.

[grundyscribbling]

I have been told I shouldn't even wait long enough to see flower buds forming - that's how it ended up so leggy in the first place. I'm practicing now while it's indoors. (If I miss and there's flowers, it doesn't much matter - there's little chance anything will help the plant out by pollinating.)

[independence1776]

Sorry; my brain got stuck on a cat playing with water.

[grundyscribbling]

He does. Enthusiastically. Which is why I had to get the wading pool in the first place - mats weren't cutting it. He'd flick/spill water all over the mat, run around through it, and then there would be little wet footprints all over the place. Now at least the wet footprints are mostly confined to right in front of the pool...

[anerea]

My brain didn't even compute: cat≠water

[ysilme]

I used to take cuttings from my basil and just start new plants instead of wintering them and never managing to keep them cut back sufficiently so they don't start out being far too leggy in the spring. But since I have my new and larger veggie beds and am using so much mint for underplanting and attracting useful insects, I harvest such an amount in autumn (despite letting go to blossom two out of three plants) that I'm well-set with basil until the next growth. I'm pureeing it with olive oil and freeze it in ice-cube trays for stews and pasta sauces, as we're so sated on basil over the summer anyway we don't even care a lot for it. *g*
Very practical solution, too, to keep the water bowl as well as the plants in the wading pool. I'm sure it's even more fun like this for Wags!

[grundyscribbling]

Wags thoroughly approves - especially on days when I drop a mint or basil leaf into his water bowl. (TOY! That makes the water more interesting!)

The basil is coming along nicely, though I will probably start a round of fresh plants in addition to these ones. The more, the merrier. (Also, I have multiple packets of seed I haven't even opened yet...)