If you’re a budding gardener with little to no outdoor space, small potted plants, flowers and herbs can be a great way to brighten up your home. However it doesn’t matter if you have limited space, as kitchen and living room window sills can be the perfect spot for cultivating your own veg patch.
The food experts at Delish shared some helpful tips to make sure pre-potted herbs bought from supermarkets last an age, including one which grows to its best when near a common fruit. In a recent TikTok video, they explained that herbs can be tricky plants to keep alive. Delish said: “If you’ve ever bought one of these potted plants from the grocery store, I am going to show you how to keep them alive and thriving right in your living room.”
How to take care of potted basil
Basil is a popular plant to cultivate, and is incredibly versatile when used in cooking. Delish’s Food editor Francesca Zani said: “Basil is one of my favourite plants. Dainty, beautiful, grows really quickly.”
However you should be on the lookout for when the herbs start to flower. Francesca explained that when it gets to this point, you should trim back the leaf clusters which form.
Usually they will sprout at the top of the herb. These leaf clusters could turn the plant bitter, resulting in an unpleasant smell and taste.
Francesca had some sage advice for plant growers, explaining: “You do not wanna overwater the plant.”
However, if you want to make sure your basil thrives inside, Francesca said there’s one particular fruit you should group with it. She continued: “Basil and tomato are the best of companions. They eat well together and they also grow really well together.”
A gardening expert at This Is My Garden explained that growing these two plants next to each other can also ward off any unwanted pests.
They said: “Basil is another wonderful choice for companion planting with tomatoes. This is one case where the harvest from two plant pairs just as well in the kitchen as the plants do while growing in the garden!”
Basil seeds can be planted in the ground at the same time as tomato transplants in the garden, working in harmony as basil is a natural pest repellent.