Met a guy at the community garden who taught me why my basil kept dying

I was at the Miller Street community garden last July, pretty frustrated because my basil plants kept turning yellow. This older guy named Ed walked over and just said "you're drowning them, honey." He showed me how the roots were getting waterlogged because I was watering every day like clockwork. Turns out basil actually likes to dry out between waterings, about 2 inches down in the soil. Ed had been growing herbs in that same plot for 12 years and his basil was huge and dark green. Has anyone else had a random stranger totally change how you care for a plant?

2 comments

2 Comments

raymartin23d ago

Wait, is it really 2 inches down on the soil you're supposed to check? I always test just the top inch with my finger and thought that was the rule for everything... Ed sounds like a real old-school gardener though, nice that he took the time to show you with the actual roots. I've had luck letting my basil get a little droopy in the heat before watering, seems to make the leaves come back even stronger.

beth_mitchell21d ago

Dusted off my finger test for years until I started killing plants that way honestly. What finally clicked for me was when I left a moisture meter in my pot for a week and realized my top inch was bone dry but the bottom half was basically soup. I switched to sticking my whole finger in up to the second knuckle and it made a huge difference especially with my tomatoes and peppers. Basil is funny though, I let mine get a bit droopy on purpose too, seems like they bounce back with more flavor than if you keep them constantly wet. Ed sounds like he knows his stuff, those root demonstrations are the kind of hands on lesson you never forget.