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Homes & Gardens
CostaBlancaPeople 12th - 18th June 2018
www.costablancapeople.com
Let’s plant different species of plants as well as herbs Herbs are something that most of us like, whether it’s just to look at, to smell or to add to our food as flavouring. Herbs can be grown either indoors or outdoors, so you don’t even have to have a garden to grow them, although a windowsill so that they can get the natural sunlight and fresh air will always improve on their growth and flavour. There are many types of herbs but one of the most popular is Basil and therefore some detail will be gone into in this article. Basil can be grown from seed or an easier way to almost guarantee growth is to buy them as seedlings. These can be obtained from most supermarkets and nurseries.
BASIL (Osimum Basilicum) is called ALBAHACA in Spanish As far as it is known, Basil was grown in Egypt over 4,000 years ago (since written records began) and may have been used for embalming. The first part of its Greek name explains that Ocimus organised fighting combats in honour of Pallas who was a ruler and had 50 sons! The Greeks believed that when Ocimus was killed in a gladiatorial fight that Basil started to grow. In India it has been used for centuries as a condiment. Basil is thought of as a “Royal” plant. Handy tip! If you want to get rid of ants in your kitchen then a pot of Basil placed on the windowsill should do the trick! Water it sparingly and replace it every few months. Basil is easy to grow from seed, as long as it is in a sunny spot. The seeds can last up to about eight years. As they are so tiny your best bet, if growing from seed, is to start them in flats and cover lightly with soil. When the seedlings are about an inch in height, thin them out so that each plant is roughly two inches apart. Once they have grown and you
want to move them somewhere else, or plant them elsewhere, then they need to be at least three inches tall before you do this so that they have plenty of root growth on them. They should also have two sets of leaves on them already before this is done, so if your plant is tall enough but there are only one set of leaves, wait until the next set also have grown. Move them to a sunny location as mentioned previously, but they do need to have some shade during the hottest time of the day - generally between the hours of 10 and 3 - especially when they are young. They need to be planted 1 foot apart from the other with the rows about 15 inches apart. Basil does not like weeds, so if you want to grow it as a border plant then you will have to remove the weeds as and when they grow. Basil is happiest in light fertile soil that is drier rather than too damp. Once the plants start to meet up with each other then the cultivation may stop. If they are still very young do not place them where it is windy as this can harm them as much as the direct heat of the sun. It can grow between 12-20 inches tall. When it flowers there are generally either little white or lilac (purple basil) flowers, then in turn small black berries will grow and these contain the seeds for the next generation of plant. The best time to pick the leaves is mid-summer when the plants start to flower and the flavour decreases. It is best to pick the larger leaves first. If you do this every few weeks it will encourage the plant to grow more leaves and so on. You can get a second/third crop by cutting the plants right down to 2-3 inches above the ground. Culinary uses for Basil once picked: - It is an herb that can add a subtle flavour to salad dressings, sauces for pasta (including Pesto or tomato) and also soups and stews. It goes really well with garlic. Have fun! Marc Vijverberg