Basil Roots!!! Time to Transplant!!!

Happy happy happy!

Sometimes "Making" Involves Killing

     A potted "sweet mint," for making mint iced tea, has graced our desk for months, but a few weeks ago it began to "look poorly," as my Mom would say.  It was already stressed by the dry air of our apartment and the lack of adequate sunlight; I should have taken it outside two months ago.  But I love to touch the leaves and enjoy the scent wafting around the desk.  A memory, and a tiny little suspicion began to work their way to the forefront of my mind, still dulled by long COVID.  Time to pull out the antique, but still extremely useful, microscope.

     With some white paper, Scotch tape, two fallen leaves, and after a lot of adjusting and re-adjusting the lens and sliding the paper back and forth on the , the culprit came into view.  Two-spotted spider mites.  The leaves look very dry and dull to the naked eye, but under the lens, the surfaces cells' transparency is visible, along with microscopic droplets of water, spider mite feces, and long blue-grey threads here and there that might be fungal hyphae.

     Because this is an edible, and I don't want to use a chemical pesticide - even a supposedly "organic" one such as a pyrethrin - an alternative form of murder is worth a try.  As you can see, I have no qualms about killing certain insects.  Experts recommend spraying them off with a hose, but we don't have a hose, or an accessible outdoor spigot, anyway, so I'm trying to drown the evil little monsters.  And this plant is too fragile to endure even the kitchen sink sprayer.  I absolutely cannot remember if it worked the last time or not.  But here goes!

Plant, soil, and pot, completely submerged in water (pulling the garbage bag over the plant and pressing all the air out ensures the entire plant - and hopefully all the mites - are fully submerged).  We'll see what happens.

Rooting a "Magic" Basil Cutting

"Magic" basil cutting, keeping company with Annie the gnome

        Last week I felt safe attending our monthly Master Gardener meeting.  Why?  Because it's held in a gigantic, many-thousand-square-feet, extremely high-ceilinged room (higher than in a Walmart Supercenter), those of us there were like a few ants in an empty swimming pool, and I sat at a distance from everyone else.  Almost no one walks up and gets right in my face trying to talk to me, and if they do, there's nothing in the way (e.g. a church pew, table, row of chairs, or bathroom or church foyer wall) to keep me from backing well away from them.  (You wouldn't believe how many people don't take the hint and keep getting closer as you back away from them!)  The restrooms are very large, with many stalls, and well ventilated.  Of course I wore an N-95 mask with a second mask over it - and was the only person wearing a mask.  Of course.  A woman has to do what she's got to do to protect her immunocompromised self from everyone else.

        The presenter for the educational portion of our meeting, a fellow MG, spoke on herbs, and brought seedlings and cuttings to share with the rest of us.  She's an expert on culinary herbs; every time she speaks I learn something new, and leave inspired to keep experimenting, both with growing new herbs and cooking with them.

        This is a "Magic" basil stem cutting; I don't know if it's "Wild Magic," which doesn't produce viable seed, or some other cultivar, but regardless, Linda said these root in water, and are "too sweet" for her traditional Italian cooking.  Now it's time for me to learn the difference between sweet and not-sweet basil in cooking.  And even if I don't use it to cook with, the fragrance is delightful!  LIFE is finding its way. It's only been three days and already, tiny root hairs are visible coming out of the upper node!  

"Magic" basil cutting

Saturday August 20, 2022