How to grow basil on a windowsill

Purple basil is added to meat dishes, salads, lemonade and seafood, and lemon is used for cooking fish. Both varieties can be grown on window sills in wooden crates or ceramic pots. A spicy plant with a rich aroma gives a crop all year round. Even people who have never had their own summer cottage and garden can take care of an unpretentious culture.

Planting material

Flower shops sell basil sprouts and seeds. Ready-made seedlings are more delicate and whimsical. They often do not take root and get sick. Seeds adapt better to unfamiliar soil and give strong and healthy seedlings.

Beginners are recommended to buy small-leaved varieties of basil:

• Clove flavor;
• Yerevan;
• Marquis
• Baku;
• Spoon-shaped;
• Dwarf;
• Osmin.

Squat and compact varieties consume less trace elements and nutrients. Bushes with wide and fleshy leaves need to be fertilized more often with special recharge. The aroma and beneficial properties of basil are independent of size and shape.

The first seedlings will appear faster if you prepare the seeds before planting. Planting material is poured into a container or plate covered with gauze, and a little warm water is added. Basil is soaked for 2 days. The fluid in the container is changed every 12 hours. Stagnant water becomes a source of mold. Microorganisms damage seeds and destroy future seedlings.

The container is placed next to the battery. Heat awakens the plant and starts the formation of sprouts. After soaking, the swollen seeds are treated with a light pink solution of potassium permanganate. Planting material is left in a disinfectant for 2 hours, and then caught with a toothpick or gently filtered. Poured onto dry gauze, you can take a piece of cotton cloth or a paper towel. Planting material is left on a rag until excess fluid drains. At this time, prepare the soil and containers for basil.

Substrate

In flower shops, the soil for herbs is presented, but they are not recommended to buy it. The soil from the package is quickly depleted. Before planting seeds, it is necessary to impregnate the substrate twice with a solution, which includes:

• superphosphate - 50 g;
• ammonium nitrate - 20 g;
• calcium chloride - 15 g.

Fertilize and land brought from the garden, but only once. Soil can be taken from a potato field, cottage or forest edge. Before use, pour the substrate onto a baking sheet and calcine in the oven at a temperature of 100-120 degrees. In this way, they destroy insect eggs and disinfect the soil. After disinfection, the base is watered with a solution of superphosphate and nitrate in order to enrich it with nutrients. Biohumus and a universal substrate for indoor plants can be added to ordinary soil.

A two-centimeter layer of pebbles or broken brick is poured into a pot or box. Grated foam, clay shards and expanded clay are used as drainage. The next layer is the substrate. The pot is filled in two three, they retreat from the sides 3-4 cm. The ground is watered abundantly before planting seeds.

Landing

Basil grows better in individual pots or oblong wooden crates. Square containers are not suitable. The culture has a thick root system. If the bushes are intertwined with each other, then the seedlings will be weak and lethargic, half of the crop may simply die.

Seeds are laid out on wet soil with toothpicks. The earth is divided into squares with a width of 7-10 cm. In the center, make a small depression, put a grain and fill it with soil. Immediately cover with cling film.Watering is not necessary. Tanks with basil, wrapped in bags, cleaned in a warm place until the first shoots. Usually sprouts form on days 7–12, depending on the variety and temperature. The film is periodically opened so that condensation does not accumulate in the pots. The package is completely removed after the appearance of seedlings. A container with basil is transferred to the illuminated windowsill.

Instead of wooden crates and a clay pot, 0.25 L disposable cups are used for growing seedlings. Several drainage holes are made in the bottom of the plastic containers so that water does not accumulate in the substrate. Seedlings live in cups until two full leaves are formed. Then the plastic utensils are cut, the earthen lump is carefully removed together with the root system and transferred to clay flowerpots, in which the spicy bush will grow. Disposable pots are placed on a tray and cleaned in a warm place, each is covered with cling film or wrapped in a bag.

Tip: If the basil planted in the boxes is too thick, the extra shoots are removed. Fingers pinch off the top, and leave the root in the ground. Over time, it will decompose and turn into an additional source of nutrients for young shoots.

Seedling Care

Seeds germinate at a temperature of + 23-25 ​​degrees. A container with young shoots is placed on the southeast windowsill. Basil is sown in April or May, when the day becomes longer. Seedlings need a lot of sunlight.

The film is removed when 2 real leaves appear on the bushes. The first time a makeshift cover is removed for 5 minutes. The airing time is gradually increased, and after 2-3 weeks the film is discarded and the seedlings begin to temper.

Young shoots are sprayed in the morning and at noon with warm, settled water. The fluid is heated to 30 degrees. In the evening, watering is not carried out. The air temperature drops closer to night, and the water does not have time to evaporate from the ground. The fluid stagnates, causing mold and rotting of the roots.

The earth in the pot is loosened weekly with a fork or special rake so that no crust forms on the substrate. Hardened soil does not allow air to pass through well and slows down the development of the root system.

Basil is fertilized every 2 weeks so that the bushes do not lose their taste. The composition of the proper nutrition for a spicy plant includes:

• calcium;
• nitrogen;
• potassium;
• phosphorus.

Fertilizing is introduced for the first time when the bush reaches a height of 40–50 cm. The earth must be loosened before fertilizer so that useful trace elements are absorbed into the root system along with oxygen particles.

Basil does not tolerate low temperatures. Leaves lose their rich color and taste. If it gets colder outside, the pots on the windowsill are wrapped with cling film. The material retains heat in the substrate and protects the root system from freezing. In frost, pots with a spicy plant are covered with plastic bags so that the bushes do not wilt.

Indoor basil is sick less often than garden, but sometimes seedlings are attacked by fusarium and gray mold. Harmful microorganisms multiply in stagnant water and waterlogged soil, so the earth needs to be watered no more than 2 times a day. Excess moisture accumulated in the pan is immediately drained into the sink, and the bottom of the containers is wiped with a dry cloth.

If the islets of gray mold appeared on the soil, the topsoil is removed and discarded, and the remaining substrate is dried. Watering is stopped for 3-4 days. Resume after drying of the earth. Together with water, fertilizers for vegetable crops are introduced into the substrate. Leaves and stems affected by a gray coating are removed and discarded so that harmful microorganisms do not spread to healthy specimens.

Beginners who decide to grow basil in December or February will have to buy a phytolamp. The duration of daylight hours for a spicy plant is from 15 to 18 hours.Bushes fade and get sick due to a deficiency of ultraviolet radiation. Natural sunlight is replaced with artificial. You can use ordinary fluorescent lamps, which are installed at a distance of 25-30 cm from the pot.

Halogen light sources supply artificial UV light to the bushes, but they heat up too much. With prolonged use of such lamps, plants can receive heat stroke. Halogen options are used on the coldest days for lighting and heating the basil growing on the balcony.

Tip: Peduncles that appear on the bushes of a spicy plant are immediately removed so that the seedlings do not lose their rich aroma.

Young shoots and adult specimens do not tolerate drafts. Tanks with basil can not be placed on window sills, if there are cracks in the frames, and also not left next to open windows or windows.

Bush formation

The first crop is harvested 1–1.5 months after seed planting. At the basil four full leaves are formed. If less, the plant is not ready for pruning. To make the bush lush, you need to carefully pinch the top. After the procedure, the spicy plant is carefully looked after: watered, fertilized, loosen the soil and protect from drafts.

Harvested all year. With sharp scissors cut the leaves from the side shoots. Tearing off with hands is not recommended, so as not to damage the seedling. Wounds with jagged edges heal more slowly than hemp remaining after using a sharp blade. There should always be at least 3-4 leaves on the bush, otherwise the culture will not be able to recover and die.

Cut shoots are stored in plastic or glass containers. In iron cans and containers, the characteristic aroma and some useful components are lost. In the right dishes, basil can lie from 3 to 5 years.

Growing spicy seedlings on the windowsill is not as difficult as it seems to beginners. The main thing is to observe the temperature and light conditions, timely water and fertilize the plant. The basil, which is properly looked after, turns out to be lush and thick, with a pleasant and rich aroma.

Video: how to grow basil at home