Tomatoes and basil
Lou12
Posts: 1,149
in Fruit & veg
I put two very healthy and vigorous basil plants in with two tomato plants in a very large pot.
The tomatos are doing great but the basil have shrivelled and lost their nice green colour - they are now pale whiteish green.
I am wondering if I should have put them in with tomatoes.
They are not waterlogged, it's a good, deep and free draining pot in full sun.
What have I done wrong?
0
Posts
I feed the tomatoes once a week with tomato food so the basil gets it too.
It might be too sunny for the basil? I know mine has got sunburn on sunny windowsils. It goes really pale and hardly grows any bigger.
Basil needs to be treated more like soft leaved herbs, such as mint and parsley. It needs quite a bit of water and enjoys a liquid feed, likes a bit of shade but not hot sun.
Did you harden off the basil before planting it? Basil is very sensitive to temperature change and leaves turning white is the usual sign of this.
Yes it was properly hardened off but I had no idea it didn't like full hot sun, I assumed it would thrive in it.
Thank you, I'll take it out of the pot and put it somewhere out of the heat
Hi Lou. That is a good idea as the two plants require different feeds. Basil needs a fertiliser high in nitrates to promote strong, healthy leaf growth and the tomatoes need a high potash feed to produce lots of flowers and fruit.
I see, I should have thought of that really. Instead I was thinking one pot pesto
I know what you mean Lou - when asked what I grow, the answer is 'ratatouille'!
Ha ha don't tell me you've got a pine tree, an olive tree and garlic in that famous pot too
Not quite Ladybird4