growing basil

harrys_nan

I just cannot seem to grow Basil from seed.
I use seed compost, fresh seed purchased a couple of weeks ago. The pot is on my kitchen window sill, it's light but not sunny this time of the year.
I don't have a problem with flower seeds, so can anyone explain what I may be doing wrong?
I have a couple of shoots come up, but then they just die

wellused

I grew basil last summer and it took ages to germinate.

trollopscarletwoman

harrys_nan wrote: »

I just cannot seem to grow Basil from seed.
I use seed compost, fresh seed purchased a couple of weeks ago. The pot is on my kitchen window sill, it's light but not sunny this time of the year.
I don't have a problem with flower seeds, so can anyone explain what I may be doing wrong?
I have a couple of shoots come up, but then they just die

Can't honestly say what's going wrong there but I start mine off in heated/unheated propagators. Failing that a clear sandwich bag just to add a little more heat on the windowsill.

I'm MSE (in other words mean) as I don't have the heating on much.

andrewf75

Lack of sun I'd have thought. I've only ever grown it in summer.

JulieM

It's probably too cold at the moment, I've never had any luck with sowing basil seeds in February, I would say mid March at the earliest.

Sally_A

Always water from the base to avoid stem rot. I don't have a lot of luck with Basil, but when I get the one pot out of 6 that takes - it goes mad.
Then I tend to freeze leaves - whole in a small pot, like a Philadelphia cheese pot, and just keep adding to it as I harvest.

safestored4

I don't claim to be an expert but have no trouble growing Basil from seed on our South facing kitchen windowsill.

Just fill a pot with compost, water and allow to drain. Then sprinkle the seed on top of the compost. Do not cover the seed with additional compost. Cover the top of the pot with clingfilm held on by an elastic band round the edges. Pop it in a warm sunny place and do nothing until the seed germinates 5 or 6 days later. Allow to grow on for a couple of days then remove the cling film and grow on as normal. If you have sown the seed too thickly clumps can be removed and potted on once they are big enough to handle.

This works for me, I have just removed the cling film from the first of this years pots.

whitesatin

I've just planted some in a pot today. It is on my kitchen window ledge which gets the sun from afternoon through the evening (when it is there at all!). I will be inspecting it every day and if it takes, I will be starting coriander and maybe some other herbs.

harrys_nan

Thanks for all the input, I have just sown some more and put it in a sunny windowsill in a windowsill propagator, I hope this attempt works.
The weather isn't cold here in Devon so I don't think that's the problem as I cant grow it in the summer either.:)