In the beginning there was basil

So I've been pondering about which topic to write and a revelation dawned on me. Start at the beginning! In the beginning there was basil. Jessica wanted to have some basil for cooking (and some mint for mojitos) so she bought some seeds at Walmart and planted them in a little pot. The idea was for the pot to sit by the kitchen window. But then we bought some additional seeds and since we live in an apartment we had no choice but to move everything to the balcony.

Below is how the basil plant looked as a seedling and how it looked at the height of its growth (before the sad pesto night [we'll talk about that in a future post]).

Basil seedling (left), mint (right)

Full grown basil (center)

Basil is one of the easiests plants to grow in the tropics. They love heat. There are many varieties of basil: sweet basil, greek basil, cinnamon basil, clove basil, etc. Ours is the most common variety: Sweet Basil. You can grow basil from seeds or cuttings. I recommend seeds. Usually books will list basil as a full sun (6 hours of direct daylight) plant. However, here in the tropics it can grow vigorously with only 4 hours of sun although 6+ is better. Most books will list basil as an annual but in the tropics it can be grown as a perennial.  A full size basil plant needs 6-8 inches of soil depth to develop its root. As a rule of thumb the bigger and deeper the container the better. As far as soil for containers always use potting soil; garden soil and top soil are inadequate for containers. Soil must be fast draining but it needs to be able to hold moisture. Any quality garden soil is adequate for growing basil.

If you've only tried dried basil you will be amazed by the difference in taste of fresh basil. So get growing! In a future post we'll discuss tricks and treats (© Jessica) for growing and using basil.