Basil Legacy

If you are a regular follower of me on Twitter (@flconcretegrdnr), you'll remember that on Friday I was tweeting all day about the rain that was due to be rolling through Central Florida this weekend. I can't help myself sometimes, like a lot of natives from England I have a particular passion for discussing the weather. The habit can be traced back to the early 1800's when England was a sea faring nation and the weather was an important topic at any breakfast table. I'm not quite at the borderline obsession point that some of my fellow Brits have reached, but the thought of a good shower rolling through and soaking my plants always makes me a happy gardener.

Yesterday afternoon however turned out to be a weather day I would rather forget. We had a couple of early storms roll through in the afternoon and one of them brought steady torrential rain which lasted for about thirty minutes. The soil in my Concrete Garden got soaked and that appears to have contributed to this happening.

I'll confess, I've been a little worried about the Basil for a few weeks now. It's been growing so well that its been taking over and over shadowing some of the other Herbs. I've been countering that by removing branches from the sides and discouraging further upwards growth . Sadly it looks like my efforts have been in vain and the plant has become too top heavy. The weight was just too much to cope with when the rain loosened up the soil yesterday and over fell a large portion of the plant. 

The news isn't all that bad however. The main branch didn't snap, so the Basil shouldn't die anytime soon and I have some supports I can use to prop it up in the meantime. This means I should still be able to farm the leaves and see if I can help the plant recover once the soil drys a bit. I've also been proactively preparing for the day that the Basil's time is done. I intend to turn the garden into a vast tomato making factory in a month or so when the daytime heat starts to slowly cool and the Basil would have had to have moved on to facilitate that plan anyway.

So in preparation, I've been taking cuttings from the Basil over the last week and starting new plants in a little area I have set aside for seedlings.

Basil is one of the easiest plants to grow from a cutting. Find a side shoot coming off one of the main branches and use a sharp pair of scissors to cleanly separate the two. It is best if you choose a portion of the plant that hasn't already flowered, this will help encourage growth. Strip any leaves from the lower half of the cutting and then place the cutting carefully in a container with rain water (or unfiltered tap water). Place the container somewhere where the cutting will receive indirect sunlight so that it doesn't overheat. Replace the water every couple of days until roots develop and then move carefully over to soil.

As you can see, I have three cuttings, one of which I have already moved to soil and two which I placed in water today. In a couple of weeks if all goes well I will be able to move my cuttings to a large, sturdy pot I have available and then I hope to be able to continue the wonderful legacy that my first Basil plant has started.