Sweet Basil

2 years ago we had so much basil that even after giving lots of it away we had huge plants to dry at the end of the season. We filled several 2 quart containers with dried basil. Last year we got almost nothing. All of the plants in the greenhouse failed. We bought 6 plants to set out in the garden. Only 2 lived and they were scanty producers.

This year everything in the greenhouse has done extremely well except for the basil. Experience is supposed to be a good teacher. What was different 2 years ago? For one thing our greenhouse was really just a big cold frame then. We did not have the bottom heating pads. We seeded directly many things into egg cartons. We used store-bought potting soil instead of home made.

Having read lots of stuff on the internet about growing basil, there seems to be no problem with anything we are doing; but I think it is time to go back to the egg cartons and no bottom heat. Basil is too wonderful to forgo. There is only 2 and ½ weeks before garden planting time; but we will start over with the basil and see what happens. I’ll let you know how it goes. Any suggestions?

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/