#basil propagation

[planthouseandgarden]

Easy Tips to Grow and Propagate Basil at Home

Looking to enjoy a steady supply of fresh basil throughout the year? In this guide, I’ll cover easy tips to grow and propagate basil at home, ensuring you have a flourishing herb garden no matter the season. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or a beginner, these tips will help you successfully grow and propagate basil for culinary and health benefits. The Benefits: Why You Should Grow and…

[outragedtortilla]

basil propagation update

[ramyeongif]

basil

[jensownzoo]

Minor amount of transplanting done this morning.

My two pots of Thai sweet basil have grown sufficient roots so into a deck railing box they go.

They've got nasturtiums and a French marigold to keep them company. And of course because of squirrels:

A nice protective grill to keep them put until the box fills out a bit more.

My original transplant of Thai sweet basil flanked by parsley in another deck railing box but in the back. Yes there is a wire napkin holder upturned over the basil (squirrels again). Doing good despite a decent amount of shade throughout the day. The direct-seeded French marigold is just starting to get hints of true leaves. So many came up that I'm going to have to start transplanting some of them out of the box next week.

Volunteer coleus growing in a decent-sized pot on the porch. Since coleus and pineapple sage are both thirsty bitches, I decided this was a good place to transplant the rooted cutting.

One of the two surviving cuttings is definitely healthier than the other. I'll give the second one a chance, but if it hasn't perked up in a week or so it'll get culled.

Two cells of loofah (luffa, luffah...however you want to spell it) seedlings in one of the raised beds in back.

And here's the structure they'll grow on. The loofah and passionflower vine can duke it out, one on each side. Hopefully by planting out the loofah now it will lure all the striped cucumber beetles into the back of the house so next month I can plant cucumbersnin the front with fewer problems. Probably not as I think the best strategy is just timing, but I can hope.

Volunteer redbud tree that I had to remove from a garden bed. Put it into this Tidy Cats litter bucket planter with the extra Chinese cabbage to see if it wants to be a tree. If so, I'll retransplant it later when it's big enough to stand above the ground cover in the side yard.

Bonus flowers:

The peas are going nuts. Hoping for a good crop. What I don't use right away will get blanched and frozen for stir-fries later.

[dunyun-rings]

I need to get bigger pots for most of these soon, but this is my attempt at indoor gardening so far. If anyone knows how I can fix the parsleys please tell me. They seem to hate life

[boomania-a]

For the people that are not familiar with the HSR Racht siblings:

Basil got permakilled by being sent into a blackhole.

Dev delves deep into Propagation research since its cloning(?)

Dev finds a way to clone him through propagation (also abundance, but shush) war crimes.

Yes, both Devona and Basil are previously IPC Operatives from the Security Dept. that - under circumstances - betrayed the Preservation and allowed themselves (Devona, specifically, she got a little too carried away in a Swarm: Sting nest) to join the Swarm.

[eggwhiteswithspinach]

MY BASIL PROPAGATED

[twinksegs]

the sandwich i made for lunch is so fhdhdjfhdhdhj tasty

[breelandwalker]

Witchcraft Exercise - Creating Correspondences

There are dozens of plant species in the arsenal of the green witch. Commonly-used varieties and usage varies somewhat between traditions, but most of us are fairly familiar with industry standards like basil, bay, rosemary, sage, and so on.

But what do you do when faced with a plant that has no listed magical correspondences anywhere that you can find in your witchcraft library? Simple - you create some.

Allow me to demonstrate with a little plant I found in my own backyard. It's a common weed called Virginia copperleaf (Acalypha virginica). But despite it's widespread range and abundant growth as a field weed, there are surprisingly few references to the plant in regional folk medicine and none at all that I could find in contemporary witchcraft.

So in order to incorporate this hardy little weed into my practice, I set about creating some correspondences for it.

First, I researched the physical properties of the plant. It is a small annual spurge with long taproots, a resistance to drought and many herbicides, and a reputation for fast growth and being difficult to eradicate from fields due to prolific seeding. The leaves turn coppery-red in the fall and small spiky flowers bloom among the foliage. It is also mildly poisonous. The juice of the plant may cause contact dermatitis or a mild rash in some people and if ingested, it may cause GI symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea.

Next, I researched references to the plant in folk medicine. I could only find a single reference that cited copperleaf as a possible diuretic and expectorant. That does track with the previous mention of GI symptoms, but it doesn't mean the plant is safe to use. I did discover that an alternate name for the plant is three-seeded mercury or mercury weed, likely because of its' tendency for fast growth and the fact that it is propagated by the wind.

So now comes the business of creating the correspondences, using the physical properties of the plant as a basis.

The first and most obvious association is strength. Any weed that is resistant to drought and herbicide and uprooting is bound to be useful for spells involving tenacity and fortitude. Prosperity is also a likely use, both because of the name copperleaf and the way in which the plant grows and spreads quickly. Because of the alternate name mercury weed and the wind propagation, it could be used for wind magic or communication spells. (I often associate the element of air with communication and the name of a messenger god is right there as well, but your mileage may vary.)

The plant could also be used as an ingredient for baneful magic, either to bind and frustrate someone's efforts by consuming available ground where their ambitions might grow, or in its' capacity as a mild poison, to cause physical discomfort and stomach trouble.

So in the end, I have a handful of copperleaf and a listing in my witchbook that details the properties of the plant and notes that it could be useful for spells involving strength, tenacity, prosperity, wind, or communication, as well as possible baneful uses including binding, discomfort, and sickness.

This is my system for assigning correspondences to previously-unknown plants, and I encourage readers to use it as a template for their own practices or to create their own system. Either way, I recommend the use of a field guide or plant identification app like PlantNet to properly identify plants as you find them. Remember to forage and harvest responsibly, be a good steward of the land around you, and always label your plant cuttings.

Check out more tips for harvesting local wild plants here.

Happy Witching! 💚🌿

(If you're enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. You can also check out my show Hex Positive wherever fine podcasts are heard. 😊)

More witchcraft exercises here:

[ramyeongif]

basil

[gardening-guy]

the current kitchen potted plant ensemble 🏡🌱🍅🌶️🪴

here's how everything in my kitchen window is doing rn! i just sowed new seeds for a sweetie cherry tomato plant & two catnip plants, so in total, the plants in the kitchen window are:

2 lemon drop hot peppers 🍋🌶️

2 black cherry cherry tomatoes 🖤🍅

1 basil plant 🌿

1 basil water propagation 🌿

2 orange hat microdwarf cherry tomatoes (but that will turn into 5 since there's several in each container) 🧡🍅

1 ground cherry 🍅🌱

2 catnip plants 🐈🌻

1 sweetie cherry tomato 🍅🫰

(plant names in image alt text, seeds from both @tomorrowsgardennc and bentley seed co)

[prince-liest]

The roots grew roots, so it's time to plant! I can't wait to have a giant monster of a sweet mint bush in like two months.

I, uh, may have just proplifted this sprig off of a mint plant at Home Depot when I went to buy some basil a week ago. I can't tell if the fact that this mint has only been in the water for a week speaks to the characteristics of mint, or the efficiency of water propagation with fertilizer in the water, but either way, it sprouted roots real quick!

[askskyyoung]

You a plant lady right? What do you know about mint plants?

-@piltivorcango2hell

Mint? Oh Janna, I love mint so much!

Where do I start? That it's all I want to grow as an alternative to fencing if I ever move from Piltover to a cottage somewhere?

It wards off ticks and bothersome pests and grows so easily. If not controlled, it can easily take over a huge area of space but it smells so good!

You can use it in so many recipes, and it's so refreshing in lemonade and water and salads and rice dishes. You can just snip a mint stalk and propagate it in the ground just like that! And the different virieties! There's spearmint, peppermint, sweet mint, and even mint that tastes like chocolate and pineapples! Did you know basil is part of the mint family as well? It's so easy to grow Ina, and... and... um... ehem...

I...got too ahead of myself I think...

Why do you ask? Are you thinking about starting a garden?

[iloveschiaparelli]

Harvesting & Processing Basil

Finally! The long-awaited basil post! I wanted to wait until the process was completely finished before putting this together. I deeeefinitely made some mistakes, as you will soon realize.

Part I (October 9): Harvesting the Leaves

I didn't take a picture directly before the harvest, so these ones from 12 days prior must suffice. This is more or less what I started with:

As you can see, it's a fairly healthy plant, albeit smaller than you might expect. My first attempt at basil died in July, and was replaced in August with a cutting from someone else's plant that was being given away on the local freecyling facebook group. I was pleasantly surprised to find out it the cutting had roots, so I planted it and this is what it became in ~ 2 months.

I wasn't originally planning to harvest on any particular day. It was more like I just, on a whim when I got home for the day, grabbed some kitchen scissors and went outside to cut some leaves. I was originally only planning to take a few, leaving some to grow. That was, until I discovered that the plant was flowering. If you don't know already what basil looks like when it flowers, here are some pictures! If you don't know, basil dies after it flowers. (At least that's what I've been told) So when i saw this, I knew I had to go ahead and harvest the whole thing. There is also a photo at the end of the flower/seed pods that are precursors to the flower. I had never understood how the ends of basil look different when they're growing new leaves vs. about to flower until I saw this. Now I know what to look for.

I was texting a boy basically the entire day while harvesting, so it took several hours longer than it needed to, because I kept pausing to type on my phone. I went out at like, 3pm, and finished + came inside around 6-7pm. Yes, we are dating now.

This is what it looked like at the halfway point, when I was just laying all the stems in a pile and collecting small leaves in the strainer:

That is when I realized it was hubris to have such a small vessel, so I grabbed a large mixing bowl from inside.

This is what the plant and both bowl & strainer looked like when I finished picking off of the main plant:

I was... shocked, haha. I did not expect the stems to have so much volume when picked. As you can see, I left some leaves at the end of the plant where there were flowers, so that I could enjoy them for a while longer until they withered. Also left some "undesirable" (by me) leaves behind on the woody stems.

The next step was to separate the leaves from the stems. Remember, I was winging this whole process and not thinking ahead. Otherwise, I might have been pulling off the individual leaves from the start. I got this setup, with a paper towel for a working space, and a slightly smaller mixing bowl as the receptacle for stripped leaves. I used bag clips and the weight of the bowls to prevent the paper towel from blowing away:

For the most part, I just relied on my fingernails to cleanly break the leaves from the stems, then threw the stems to the back of the paper towel and the leaves into the bowl. I only had to use the scissors a few times, especially for cutting off pieces of leaves where bugs had begun to eat them, or they were extremely yellow, but I wanted to still use the green part. Here are some process photos, including a couple of tiny heart-shaped leaves. There's also one leaf where, when I cut it, just the clear strip of cellulose remained where the rest of the leaf had been, and I thought it was cool that I could see through it.

When i was done, I threw the stems back into the planter. With the stems removed, everything fit in the smaller mixing bowl just fine. Since the basil was in the planter for only ~2 months, the plan is to remove the roots and re-use the dirt for something else (like giving more space to + propagating my African Violet! Which is something I've been wanting to try lately. I already saved an egg carton to potentially use for starting the leaves.

Part II (October 10): Washing & Drying the Leaves

I was going to wash the leaves and lay them out to dry on the same day, as I believe is recommended, but I got lazy LOL. So I returned the following day. I started by putting leaves in the strainer and rinsing them under the faucet, but quickly realized that that was going to be annoying and take forever. I finally decided that the most efficient course of action was just to fill the bowl with water so that everything got soaked. I used warm water, with no solution or vinegar or anything added.

I got an extra large baking sheet and put down a paper towel on it. I had just begun pulling leaves out of the water and laying them out on the paper towel when I realized that this was too much water involved. I fixed the issue (somewhat) by pouring all the wet leaves into the strainer and shaking it gently to remove as much moisture as I safely could, then set it down to let it continue to drip down into the bowl while I worked. Setup A vs B:

Although I started off trying to make sure everything was evenly spaced, I had roughly 14 layers of paper towels to put down so I eventually faded into chaos, as every ADHD gardener is wont to do. Some vague asf process photos & what the stacks looked like:

I let it sit for a few hours while I cleaned out my food dehydrator. Now, this is the part where I Completely forgot to be taking process photos, so Unfortunately, I don't even have any pictures of the dehydrator to share, except for this product photo of the model that I was using:

I laid out all of the still-slightly-damp leaves in all of the trays, trying to keep them evenly spaced and not overlapping but (kind of) failing. Then I shelved it to wait overnight for the leaves to air-dry. Had I been doing this properly, I would have let the leaves sit on the paper towels, in a single layer, instead of stacked up or in the dehydrator the way I did.

Part III (Several Day Period Oh My God): Dehydrating the Leaves

It is utterly embarrassing how difficult it was to get these leaves dry. The recommended temperature for basil/herbs is 95 degrees Farenheit, for 12-24 hours for basil. I started off at the lowest dehydrator setting, 100F, for 13 hours and started it overnight.

In the morning, two of my three roommates were complaining about the smell and asked me to move it outside to the porch (direct sunlight) I obliged, and seeing as the basil was still thoroughly damp, added another 6 hours on.

Then I forgot it overnight again. *sigh*

I brought it back inside and realized that all of the leaves on the top were brown (albeit mostly dry), but many of the leaves at the bottom were still wet. This is when I posted my cry for help on Tumblr dot com, and was told to not put them outside again.

Unsure what to do and overwhelmed by other tasks, I pretty much gave up. I ran it for roughly 12 more hours indoors a day or two later as a last-ditch effort, but didn't check it right away.

October 22nd was the day I finally took the time to check the leaves and I was immensely and pleasantly surprised to find that almost all of the leaves were dry! I knew that it had likely been exposed to moisture in the powered-off dehydrator, so I ran it for 2 hours just to get rid of any atmospheric moisture and then set to work on grinding it up.

Part IV (October 22): Processing the Dried Leaves

This was, honestly, the second-most-fun part of the process immediately after the harvest. It was a little bit tedious, but I still enjoyed it. It's also when I started taking pictures again.

First of all, I spilled several leaves onto the floor while trying to empty the trays into a small metal mixing bowl that I was using to collect the dried leaves. Unfortunately, they had to be swept away because our kitchen floor is dirty.

A week or two earlier, I had washed out an Old Bay seasoning container, anticipating putting ground basil in it. I know that whole leaves preserve the flavor better, but I am working with what I can here!!! This is what worked best for me this time. My roommate Lilly has a tiny asf mortar & pestle that she allowed me to use, so I washed it out. I grabbed a funnel for the Old Bay shaker, and set up shop at a foldout table right in the middle of the kitchen floor. I put on the podcast that I'm currently working through, a Behind the Bastards miniseries titled Behind the Police. It was released in summer of 2020 and is all about the history of the institution of police in the USA. Super interesting.

This was the setup:

So, the way I did this was, I would gather a few leaves at a time into the mortar & pestle, grind it up in a circular motion, and then pour the ground basil into the funnel and the Old Bay container. Pretty simple and straightforward.

A few leaves in the bowl were still damp/limp, and wouldn't crumble in the mortar & pestle. I just removed them as I went. I included the brown leaves from the top tray because, at this point, I was just happy that I wouldn't have to throw everything away.

This is what it all looked like when I was done! As you can see, only a few leaves had to be removed.

Part V: Conclusion & What I've Learned

It's absolutely incredible to me how much those leaves at the start reduced, until they only filled a tiny handheld bottle!!! Yes, that is ALL of the leaves!! To drive home how insane this is, here is a side-by-side of the initial harvest of leaves-only, and the bottle that it filled at the end:

Just crazy! It's a bit hard to comprehend the scale from these pictures, honestly.

From there, it was just cleanup and storing the dehydrator, then writing BASIL

basil BAsil. BASIL

BASIL. BASIL

all over the Old Bay container so that it wouldn't be mistaken.

The plan if i didn't have enough room in the bottle was to portion out & give away bags of whole leaves at the punk rock market, like I've been doing with zines (oh! that's something I haven't posted about!). I was slightly disappointed that I didn't have enough, to be honest

Going through this process has given me an insane amount of increased respect to spice harvesters both currently in the spice world, and throughout history. It's a LOT of work to harvest & process just one bottle of basil! It's like that one post talking about how our ancestors are probably proud of us, or at least happy for us, to be surrounded by spices and luxuries that previously were only available to the rich and powerful.

Also as someone with Indian heritage, which is known for its spices LOL, this honestly felt like it connected me a little bit with that culture that I wasn't raised in. Not in any crazy metaphorical way, just coming to appreciate the process and work that goes into spice production, in a way that I wasn't able to before going through this process. The significance of spices carries more weight for me now.

I don't think I'll be able to use all of this basil before next year. I honestly don't even cook with dried basil that often, it's just nice to have fresh basil. What I might do is manage a plant again next year, for the gardening experience, then just straight-up give away fresh & dried basil at the market like I was originally planning to this time. I could plan it a little bit better, though, to ensure that I can feel confident in the quality.

8/10 enjoyment. Tedious & frustrating at times, but ultimately very rewarding, and mostly fun! This is the first, and likely only, harvest I've had this year in 2024. I look forward to expanding next year!!! I can't wait to see what I'll grow then. Time to start planning, I guess!

[bakersimmer]

List 5 (or more, or less) of your nonsims interests. These can be hobbies, shows, books, other games, etc.

Thanks for tagging me @simscici 💛

Music – I'm always listening to something. I also enjoy making my own playlists (the main one has grown into a bit of a monster, to be honest). Music is just part of my everyday life. According to Spotify, I listen to more music than 96% of users in my country. Quite possible, because I sometimes listen to music from the moment I wake up until I go to bed. 😂 Back in school, I used to be an assistant at the school radio. Our so-called DJ was this guy who knew everything about music. He was a walking encyclopedia. We had a challenge to find a song he hadn't heard before. I think that's when my obsession with digging for new music really started. And let's be real, this was the era of Winamp and torrents, and every download was a gamble between discovering a new song or a virus. 😅

Cooking – I used to work as a cold kitchen chef for several years, so cooking is still something I really enjoy. I care a lot about plating and the little details. I hate boring white plates. I collect all kinds of ceramics, and I'm constantly switching up which dishes I use. I really believe a good meal starts with your eyes. And why shouldn't you treat yourself to a restaurant-style experience at home.

Baking – My username is based on facts. 😂 I'm a trained baker-confectioner. I love making cakes and desserts, and I also know how to bake naturally leavened bread, like rye loaves and sourdough. Every year, I make different flavors of meringue kisses for my family and friends for Christmas. Their absolute favorites are malt meringues and orange meringues.

Puzzles – Jigsaw puzzles are like a full brain reset. It's literally the only activity that completely shuts off all my other thoughts. It's a kind of meditation, I guess.

Plants – I've always wanted a home full of plants. My last apartment had mold issues, and the only thing that survived the damp winters was my monstera. When I moved, I took it with me, and now, that same plant is growing in eight different homes and two offices because I've propagated and shared it so many times. I've got a growing collection of other houseplants too, and they're all thriving now. Except for one that my cat loves to chew on. I also have a Click & Grow smart garden where I grow edible plants. Nothing beats the taste and smell of the basil you've grown yourself. 🤤

If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged. 💛

[ghettogardener]

So, as per American usual, this week has been gross. I doomscrolled for hours this week, then I made myself go outside and touch organic dirt.

BUT. I got my hands on some greenery, so that helped.

I used a bunch of trader joes' paper bags that I had been saving as biodegradable container filler.

I got pretty drunk today. It was nice. I listened to Viola Davis's autobiography and I soaked some seeds.

I refuse to be judged for day drinking in trump's hellscape of America.

So, I got 6 containers of Shade tolerant wildflower pots going, and I transplanted all of my mature aerogarden pod plants into dirt. Hallelujah.

Have a great week, everybody!

I love you guys

Ps, I decided to propogate 3 Basil. I dipped the ends of the stems into an Aloe cutting, and I tossed them all into some mini Family Dollar progating vases.

This will be my second time propagating Basil this way, and it is extremely successful. It turns out Basil is an excellent companion plant to peppers and tomatoes.

Stay safe out there!