Basil relishes hot weather

You know that basil you planted over Memorial Day? Those plants that are now turning yellow and just sitting there, doing nothing in the garden? It’s not your fault.

It’s not your fault that they are sulking and pitching a major fit. They are sulking as only a prima donna from the Mediterranean and Southern Asia can do when confronted with the excuse for a summer we’ve been having. With true arrogance, your basil is unhappy about the temperature of the air, the temperature of the soil and even the temperature of the water we use to nourish it. I wouldn’t be surprised if your plants are whining to Mother Nature about the temperature of the rain She has been dumping on them, as well.

You see, in their homelands, basil were able to bask in the warmth of 80-plus degree days and warm nights early in the summer. The soil their roots sank into had been warming since early spring. The rains were gentle and warm. Not so in the Inland Northwest – at least not this year.

Before this week, the last time it hit 80 degrees was Memorial Day weekend; the weekend you put your basil in the ground. We have had a few days here and there since then, in the upper 70s, but not enough to warm the air and ground to basil’s liking. The warmest soil in my garden as of this writing was 63 degrees. Warm enough to grow peppers but not the temperamental basil.

So what’s a gardener to do? Give in to the temper tantrum? If you want any pesto before the frosts in September put an end to the basil completely, you are going to have to. There is no time to argue or negotiate. The basil will either win special treatment or wither to nothing.

Unfortunately, plants that have yellowed and are not growing are not likely to recover quickly unless we get some warm weather soon. So there are a few options we can try to sooth the rage.

Consider covering the little lovelies with a couple of layers of floating-row cover or Remay. This fabric is porous to water and sunlight and will increase temperatures around the plants by 10 degrees during the day and five at night. The fabric can be suspended on hoops or stakes over the plants a few inches but not laying on them.

A few milk jugs filled with water can be put under the cover to serve as a hot water bottle for the poor things.

A light dressing of fertilizer (5-10-5) will put some food at the roots and sooth the hunger pangs should the poor darlings wake up on a warm day.

As a back up strategy, buy some basil seed and plant it in the garden after we have had a couple of weeks of warm weather. Just don’t let the prima donna see you sneak it into the garden. She doesn’t want you to know that basil seed is so easy to grow that even seeding it in mid-July will still give it time to grow to a respectable size before the end of August.

You can even start some of the seed in the house in a warm place with good bright light now, so that the plants are ready to go into the garden in the latter half of July. Again beware of jealousy, it has ruined many good relationships and I certainly don’t want to ruin the relationship I have with a bowl of fresh pesto and a crusty loaf of warm bread. Some meals are made in heaven.

Lastly, if cool weather returns in July, it may be time to take the final step and put the poor plants out of their misery. We will need to thank them for trying to grow but this was just not to be their year. By adding them to the compost pile, we make something useful out of their short lives. Maybe the worms will appreciate basil-scented soil.

Gardening in the Inland Northwest is always a challenge, but I haven’t met a gardener here that didn’t welcome a challenge. We wouldn’t garden here if we didn’t. So put on your best parental face and gently but firmly remind the prima donna that is in your garden. You will do all you can for her but she is just going to have to be patient with Mother Nature for a little while longer.