Last week I was at the local nursery chatting with the owner about some of the plants I had bought and the amounts of water they would need. As we were strolling by the herbs I exclaimed about her giant basil plant, to which she replied that she really should trim it back, but doesn't like basil herself. I *love* basil and said since I hadn't been able to get to the herb part of the garden project this year, I would be happy to take it off her hands
. So she gave me a seriously massive armload of basil, which I brought home and stuck in two large cups of water. We ate some a few nights in a row and then I just kind of left it on the counter because I thought it was pretty...This morning I was checking to see whether I should add more water and I saw something sort of the shape of a praying mantis hanging from one of the leaves. Being a bug spazz, I took the whole thing outside to look at it more closely and the thingy blew away, so I thought, oh good, and brought it back inside. The next time I looked there was this big praying mantis marching up one of the leaves.
AAACCCKKK!! BUG in the KITCHEN!! Sorry, I know I have to get over that. But I also knew that this is a good bug because when my daughter was in biology last year, they said that if you found a praying mantis, to bring it in and show the teacher and then let it go.So now the cup of basil is outdoors (courtesy of my non-bug-phobic daughter) and I am hoping that the nice bug will go be beneficial in the garden.
In the whole adventure, I noticed that the basil has sent out roots.
Can I just plant it in some potting soil and expect it to grow? Should I plant it deeper than the roots are with the thought that more will come out of the stem? That would be nice!
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=335