Basil Jungle

Every summer, I spend as much time as possible barefoot in the garden.  Weeding the raised beds, deadheading the flowers in baskets and watering everything in sight!  With the lack of rain this year I spent most of my time rehydrating the wilted and crispy flowers, and struggling to keep a few things alive- sorry, dahlias! 

But it catches me by surprise every year, one day I turn around BAM something has  thrived and grown out of control!  This year, it was in the office where my partner works.  When dropping off a morning smoothie, there it was, sitting quietly in the corner aerogarden…a basil jungle!

This seemed like the perfect opportunity to share the little journey my plant friends are going to make through live tweeting.  So, I start snapping some photos and share a few of my crazy plant lady thoughts along the way…

While I am proud of these two for thriving, the other poor plants had barely set four spindly leaves so it was clear, the basil is out of this hydroponic paradise.   I generally try and do this while the plants are MUCH younger so the roots can still be taken out with the plant above and they all get plopped nicely into a new pot to live outside until the first frost.  But, time got away from me and these plants are huge!

So, I tugged and the plant didn’t give- so I pulled and rriiiiipppppp, the majority of the roots completely separated from the plant.  Well, nothing I can really do now except try and set them up as best as possible.  I realized that I certainly wasn’t the only one that accidentally subjected plants to cruel neglect and torture- hopefully there is someone else out there who will empathize with my situation.

After trimming off the plastic container and floofing up the roots a bit, into a container they go.  Terra cotta with some fresh potting mix is what’s kicking around, so it will have to do.  

I decided to take a quick break to get my dog involved.  If there is something related to dirt and/or digging, he’s there!  But, to his dismay, he was only involved to the extent that he got garnished.  I couldn’t resist!

…back to the plants.  After a good watering, they have settled into their dirt bound home just fine.  

I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on the mint plant so it doesn’t overgrow and succumb  to the same fate as the half-root basil plants (but, I’m hoping for the best, obviously).