A pot of supermarket basil is an almost universal starting point for those looking to get into gardening, as this sun-loving herb is usually easy to get along with. Coming as modestly priced, ready-grown plants on the shelves of the veg aisle, they seem like the perfect thing to grow any time of year. However, after just a few days on the kitchen windowsill, most wilt and die. But this doesn’t have to happen.
When you buy a pot of basil, you are not buying one plant, but a tightly sown clump of more than 20 seedlings. This gives the appearance of an extremely healthy, bushy plant in far less time, which looks great on the shelf, but the reality is that these seedlings soon start to compete with each other, which leads the indoor plant to wilt or die.
Having found her basil plant dead 10 times over the past three months, Joanne Molinaro took to her TikTok to share a video on how to “revive” them with a “simple kitchen hack”.
She captioned the clip: “Don’t throw away that dead basil plant – do this instead.”
Showing viewers her “dead” basil plant, Joanne said: “Believe it or not, I bought these plants back from the brink of death at least 10 times in the past three months.
“These plants may look like they need to be composted, but in reality, all they need is a little water and sunlight.”
Joanne took her basil plant, which was in a glass jar, and filled it with water before putting it on her windowsill – a task that’ll only take you five seconds.
Potted lavender needs to be watered one to two times weekly, or as soon as the soil looks parched.
Joanne showed how her basil plant was looking just 12 hours after watering, and the leaves had already started to spring back to life.
She then checked in on the plant after one day, and the leaves had been fully restored and were looking healthier.