So I’m pinky-swearing or whatever you need from me: the three photos in the collage above really, honestly are the same plant from beginning to four weeks later. I know, can you believe it?
And also honestly: even after 20 years of growing things, seeing stunted, bug-eaten plants like my poor basil makes me want to throw in the towel sometimes. It’s just…ugh. These were three basil plants that I grew from seed, nurturing them along and to see them look like this in just a few weeks after planting out? It’s hard. And so I sprayed my homemade garlic-mint spray all over that poor plant, but I didn’t really think it was much for this world. It had only one growing tip left, but seriously, look at it – who would give that guy a chance?
Well, I started seeing results within days – new growth! After a week I still was a bit skeptical – was that old bug-bitten leaves or new? But by week 2, I knew we had a winner and I snapped a picture before applying one more light spraying and then waiting another 2 weeks.