help! It followd me home, now what do I do?

[kareina]

While out for a walk this evening a cute little basil plant followed me home. This is all well and fine, as it promises to be good and not piddle on the carpet or anything, but I've never had sole responsibility for another living being before and am not really sure what to do now (sure, I've baby-sat the occasional plant for a loved one, but only ones which were well established in their locations and well cared for before I was told to look after them for a couple of days).

I've nestled it into a corner of the balcony railing, up high enough so that it can look over the edge if it wants (it is a concrete rail), and told it to be good and that I'd be home later. It is a north facing balcony, so it won't get much, if any direct sunlight till winter is over (and winter is coming, but it is also still a ways off yet, or so I assume by how green the tree leaves still are), but it is the only balcony in the apartment, so I figured that it would like it best of the choices it had available. I did take off the icky plastic wrap which surrounded its pot, and then removed the few mouldy leaves whcih were down among the stems near the dirt, probably caused by the enclosed space created by the plastic. Its soil was wet (gee, go figure, there was mould growing in there!), so I just left it to get settled in. I don't know if it is close enough to enjoy the company of the plants on the next balcony or the trees whose tops reach just about as high as my balcony, but hopefully it will be ok there.

So, my questions: How best do I take care of it? I know that baronsnorri frequently moves his little friends into bigger pots so that their roots can spread out a bit. The stems of this little one largely fill the space of the pot, so I suspect that it would like a pot upgrade itself, but since I don't yet know where one can obtain larger pots and more dirt in Milan, it will have to wait a while. And, anyway, I suspect that it is better to let it get used to its new setting and be certain that it still wants to live after the trauma of winding up in a supermarket. How long should that wait? How can I tell that it is time?

How long shall I give it before deciding that it likes its new home and is settled enough that I can charge it rent in terms of the occasional leaf in my dinner? Once it does start paying rent, what is a reasonable tithe I can take? How many (what percentage?) of its leaves can it spare in a day/week/month? Will it need anything besides water, light and, eventually, a bigger pot? How often will it want water? Does it like soggy dirt, wet dirt, damp dirt, or dirt which is dry on top by still damp underneath?

What kind of life-expectancy does it have? Can I expect it to survive the winter and keep growing next year? If yes, will it want to come into the house once it gets cold out? How cold is "cold" if one is a basil? Or is it better to leave it outside to sleep till spring? Is there anything else I should or shouldn't know about my new tenant?

Comments

[kahnegabs.livejournal.com]

trim off the tops regularly for pesto. It will last and replenish itself nicely for at least a season. If you like pesto, you may want more than one plant. Mine do well in half a day's sun and moist soil.

[ldyanna.livejournal.com]

Basil is a tender annual, although if you let it go to seed eventually, the seeds replant themselves fairly easily. The leaves will turn black if it gets even a little bit of frost. You should be able to grow it inside once it starts to get cold but it may need extra light to really flourish.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Feed it up with blood and bone and harvest as much as you can before winter; while you can nurse it through winter with grow lights, it's not worth the effort and you're better to start afresh in spring. Don't forget to water it well!

[madryn-1960.livejournal.com]

LOL! Wow, you're a mum! There are dozens of varieties of Basil. Most are annuals, but some are perennials. Is there a tag which tells you what kind it is? Annuals live for 1 year, set seed, then die. Perennials are, well, perennial. If it's a perennial variety it should keep you company until you leave Italy. An annual will die this winter, no matter how hard you try to be a great parent. It's just nature's way. You can start a new one next spring.

Basil likes warmth and sun. Keep it as warm as you can. With watering, it's far better to give a good soak once a week than to water a little every day. This bad habit kills more plants than dryness. It creates a build up of salts and moulds in the soil. No, no. But of course, a tiny pot will dry out quickly. Use your judgement here.

But for an average size pot one good flush once a week is best, easing off to once a fortnight as the weather cools. Blood & bone is good, but too much can kill. One tea-spoon sprinkled on the top of the earth in spring, one in autumn is plenty. If you wonder what you might do with a huge bag of blood and bone with just one tea-spoon missing for 6 months, you might try sea-weed emulsion instead. This would be my preferred option for pot plants and I use it for all my veg as well. It's an icky brown liquid you can buy in a small bottle from a supermarket or garden centre. Dilute to a weak tea and water in once a month (instructions on bottle). You can use it on all your herbs, but I would be reluctant to use blood and bone in a small pot.

Depending on the size of your plant and pot, you might want to shift to a larger size. Hold the pot in your hands and squeeze gently. If the earth in the pot feels soft and pliant, it doesn't need re-potting yet and it's better not to disturb it. But if it feels rigid and hard, that's a whole lot of roots straining to get out. Check the drainage holes. Can you see any roots trying to escape? Re-pot at once, teasing out the roots gently loose with the tip of a pencil. Cramped roots will "ball" going round and round upon themselves until they choke. If the roots feel cramped and tight inside that pot, get them out without delay and help them spread a little with your pencil. Once in it's new abode, press in firmly and give a thorough soak. Immerse the pot in half a bucket of water with dash of sea-weed in it over-night. Allow to drain well the next day.

Tip prune, taking your tithe a few mm above a node (leaf joint) using a sharp clean knife. I would be into it once it's around 20-30 cm high.

Herbs rarely do well indoors. If it is a perennial variety leave it outdoors. Cool nights should not be a problem, unless you get frosts there.

More plants are killed with kindness than with neglect by new gardeners. All things in moderation, and this might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Make lemon thyme your next purchase - the flavour of the gods, it is simply divine in cooking (tastes like lemon zest in butter). How I wish you had taken this up when I could have supplied you with cuttings!!

[kareina.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice, but I am *NOT* a mum! Rescuing a poor creature that someone else was selling into slavery does not a parent make! No way will anything every have the right to think of me as "mum". Aunite, sure, but never "Mum" (nor mother, nor mom, nor aiti...

[madryn-1960.livejournal.com]

My post was meant as a comprehensive response to your query, not as an insult. Your reply seems to suggest you took affront at the first sentence, and ignored the rest!

[kareina.livejournal.com]

Sorry, the rest I read and filed in the back of my mind in the place useful information to be acted upon is kept, and appreciated it. Sorry I didn't explicitly say so, I was kind of tired when I wrote, so only addressed the one point which needed immediate clarification. No one will ever have the right to call me mum, even in pretend, even in jest, it simply isn't happening. I've been twitchy on that point since I was a small child.

So, the rest of the reply that I should have made last night: Thank you! I knew I could count on you to provide all of the informaiton I needed, and, indeed, it was knowing you which gave me the courage to try bringing home a plant at all--that and knowing that you'd be ready, willing, and able to answer questions as they came up. You were the one I had in mind as an audience when I typed the post. Your love of plants is inspiring!

[madryn-1960.livejournal.com]

PS - only feed regularly in the growing season - wind down the feeding as the growing season winds down. Plants like a snooze over winter. The mould you found was caused by poor air circulation. It was probably kept indoors for a week or so before you bought it and the plastic wrap and bad air flow plus over-watering would cause mould. It should recover well if you keep it outdoors with good air-flow and don't over do the watering. Unless it's an annual kind. In which case ignore all of the above, eat now, and plan better next spring!

[baronsnorri.livejournal.com]

I just brought home a Basil, too. Madryn knows her stuff. I've never seen a Basil survive frost, but they may all have been the annual variety. Herbs, in general, are easy to live with--they are, after all, mostly "weeds" in the wild. Enjoy!