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[Nels Tomlinson <nels.tomlinson AT gmail.com>]

Basil likes heat, and light.  

In Fairbanks, we used to hang cheap shoplights over the basil and
tomato plants, so that the top leaves were barely touching the tubes. 
We hung tinfoil off the sides of the shoplights to make sure that all
the light hit leaves, and raised the shoplights as the plants grew.

We'd start the basil and tomatos in late February, and plant them out
in late May or sometimes even the first week of June.  They'd have
done better in the tropics, but they didn't get tall, pale and
spindley, and by mid July we usually got enough basil to sell at the
Farmer's Market, with some left over for pesto.  We'd pick them until
the frost killed them.

We never got anything but green tomatos, even with varieties from
Siberia; winter always came too early, with hard frosts in late
August, or early September at the latest.

Nels

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 12:33:38 -0500, Chris Clarke <hstead AT nc.rr.com> wrote:
> Folks,
> 
>         I decided this year I was going to do it right, and
> start my seeds early enough to be useful... nothing like
> thinking about seeds in April.   Well, I started about 25
> basil seeding in a nice little Jiffy peat tabs about three
> weeks ago.  The package of seed said it would take about
> 7 - 14 days to germinate.  Well, it didn't.  It took all
> of about 18 hours.  Seriously.  They had already germinated
> by the time I got home the next day.   However, since then,
> they haven't grown well.  I am only putting them in a sunny
> window (no lights), but they have only just now gotten their
> first set of real leaves.  They are skinny, tall, slightly
> pale plants, all of which suggest that they need more light.
> 
>         Does anyone have advice on what I can go to get
> faster growth?  Is that normal growth?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Chris
> 
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