growing basil

captain · Post by **captain** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 10:18 am

Anyone here have green fingers? I've been growing basil plants from seed, they were looking great, and suddenly they've been attacked by little black thingies!
I cant spray anything on them as it would ruin the flavour of the basil.
Any tips?

Barry · Post by **Barry** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 10:50 am

Sounds like aphids. You could spray with a mild detergent and spray this off again when it has done its work.

laserblazer · Post by **laserblazer** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 11:39 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g38H7BxP5ec

piglet · Post by **piglet** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:03 pm

Hi

....difficult one but think I would also try the mild detergent.

I am really interested in growing herbs...do you grow any others?

Carole

Lesley Jean · Post by **Lesley Jean** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:12 pm

Hi Carole, how are you both? hope all is going well in the west. I have been growing quite a few herbs from seed here in the UK, basil, mint rosemary, parsley, thyme and coriander, the only disappointment was the parsley, took ages to germinate and then was quite sparse.

The others were wonderful, I have huge tubs full of them and am still picking now. Had fresh rosemary in the roast veg tonight, and then when I took Basil out for his walk this evening I found an enormous field mushroom, the size of a side plate, which I chopped into the roast veg, delicious.....

Now we have started with some watering systems at the house in Lombos I am hoping to plant some up this winter.

piglet · Post by **piglet** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:40 pm

Hi Lesley

Yep we are fine and love the gardening here...veg just seem to grow.(now I ahve penned them in from the rabits!)

Since posting my response above i have been trawling the internet about basil....what an interesting herb it is!!

re pests...."Spray aphids and whiteflies with a horticultural soap" seems to appear repeatedly on differrnt sites...I wonder where you buy this soap from?
Cant imagine even beginning to ask for it in Portugal...

http://www.garden-helper.com/Learn/Plan ... /Basil.asp

http://www.sacredhearth.com/Garden/Herblore/Basil.html

http://gardening.about.com/od/organicga ... Garden.htm

its amzing how you can lose an hour or to on the internet and discover the most amzing info!!

Lesley Jean · Post by **Lesley Jean** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:47 pm

Yes it is a great herb, I have always loved it with fresh tomatoes straight from the greenhouse and extra virgin olive oil...yummy. It has such a wonderful fresh taste and smell.

captain · Post by **captain** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:16 am

Thanks all of you - I shall try mild detergent spray. These were the first herbs I've grown as I collect wild ones like fennel, marjoram and thyme from round here ( Algarve).